Update News for February 2009

Here is a quick run-down on what you will find in this bulletin:

• • New Category Progress

     

     

  • Level to age 65, 70 and 75

     

     

  • Changes for Web Software

     

     

  • New Service for On-Line PDA/Phones

     

     

  • What’s Next?

     

     

These topics will be dealt with in more detail throughout this bulletin.

New Category ProgressCompulife has completed the change over to new categories in our PC and PDA software programs. We are still working on the changes to our web based versions (more on that follows).

We are quite excited about the number of companies who were able to provided limited pay versions of their no lapse products. We were event able to add a “pay to 100” category to the new “to age 121” categories during January.

Compulife has been contacted by one life insurance company about including its survivorship no lapse UL product in our software. We would like to underline that we are happy to move forward with this if and when the first company is prepared to provide us with the information required to do so. It appears that this company may be the first.

Adding survivorship will not represent a major change simply as Compulife already provides Joint Life last-to-die quotes for the Canadian market. We anticipate the calculation procedures will be quite similiar to the Canadian methodology, and if that is the case it means that we are already tooled for the project.

We would like all companies to have an equal opportunity to get in at the beginning and so this is fair notice of our intent.

Level to age 65, 70 and 75Let’s not forget that many of the no lapse UL products can be manipulated to provide premium and coverage guarantees that look like term products. It makes perfect sense for companies to consider giving us premiums and rates for level to 65, 70 and 75 scenarios so that younger consumers can guarantee that their term insurance needs are met until they retire.

Changes for Web SoftwareWe are now focussed on changing to the new categories for our web software. Once the changes have been made, and once the new categories are working at our own web sites, we will alert those web engine users as to the availability of the new web programs.

New Service for On-Line PDA/PhonesAt the same time as we are making changes to our web software we have decided to move forward with a new service for PDA/phones.

An increasing number of subscribers are calling to say that they have Blackberries, Apple Iphones, and/or other smart phones which have web access. To date we have focussed on PDA software that did not require the expense of having to purchase web services for these smart phones.

Having said that, costs for such services are coming down and devices that use those services are becoming more popular. It is not a surprise to learn more and more subscribers are asking what we have and this new service will address that.

Currently we have a generic site that we point subscribers to. Here it is so that anyone and everyone can have a look:

www.termcomparisons.cc/blackberryThere are two basic problems with the service as it now exists:

First, anyone can use it and you don’t even have to be a Compulife subscriber to do so. That is why we have no links to it on our web sites and why only those who have asked for it have been given the address. Needless to say we are now making it public because that generic service will end shortly.

The second problem was that agents were required to quote ALL companies, including those which they do not sell for. Our PC and PDA software allows you to select which companies you will quote. Many subscribers do not want to show quotes for companies that they are not appointed with.

The new service that we will be providing (FREE with your subscription) will address both of these issues.

IMPORTANT: Once again, the new service will be available FREE to ANY Compulife subscriber (NOT Term4Sale Agent subscribers) who request it.

When you ask for the new service, Compulife will create a personalized web site that allows your PDA to run online quotes from the web. Not only will your name appear on your web pages and quotes, you will have the option of selecting which companies appear in your comparisons.

Once again, this will be personalized to you and will be for your use ONLY. This software is NOT intended for use on a public web site and/or for use by other agents. We expect you to keep your personalized web address a complete secret. Once again, it will be for your personal use ONLY.

WARNING: Compulife will be monitoring activity on these PDA web quoting sites. If we detect volume indicating it is being used by more than one person, or links on the web pointing others to the web address, Compulife will terminate that service for that user.

If you want web quotes on your public web site, then you need to either purchase Compulife’s web software or go to one of our authorized web providers and purchase the service there. This new service is NOT an attempt to offer an alternative to those services and web quoting. If you are an agency, and you want to offer web quotes for your agents online PDA’s, then you can do so by buying these services and tailoring the web pages for PDA’s.

To summarize, this new service is an alternative for PDA quoting for those agents/agencies who are subscribers to our PC software. This new service is FREE and will be included with your subscription to Compulife.

Once the new service is available, either in later February or early March, Compulife will place a notice and application form at this address on the web:

www.termcomparisons.cc/blackberryOnce you have completed the short application form, and we have verified your subscription, we will email you a link for your new PDA service, and a link to the web page where you can select the companies that you will be quoting at your PDA site.

Video Tutorials ProgressDuring February Compulife will work on rolling out video tutorials for the material that we have just covered. We will also be doing tutorials on the Income Calculator and Retirement Calculator. These are equally simple and effective marketing tools that make it easy for a client to identify their insurance and retirement saving needs.

Apart from the Analysis tutorials, if you have an area where you would like to see us do a tutorial, drop Bob Barney a note at:

barneyrl@compulife.comWhat’s Next?We are now turning our efforts to some maintenance work that is needed to the data entry systems. Those programs have not been updated for quite some time, and some need to be converted to take advantage of the newer programming compilers that we have been using for the Windows software that we already distribute to you.

Having reviewed where we are heading over the next few years, and the changes that we would like to be able to make in the future, we have decided to stop and do a much more extensive overhaul than simply changing our data entry software. We have determine that we would also like to implement a better data storage structure that will make maintenance easier on both a data entry basis, as well as a programming basis.

To achieve our goals in this regard, we will be spending a fair bit of time reviewing our new data storage needs, and then building conversion software that will convert our existing data files into our new data file structure. Once we have done that, we will then introducing new comparison software that does exactly what it does now, but which derives its results from the new data structure. In other words, you will end up with a new program that does exactly what the old program did/does.

Once this first stage is completed, we will have both old program and old data, with new program and new data. Moving forward we will use the old data entry systems to maintain the old version, then converting old data to the new data forms for general distribution.

The next stage is to create the new data entry systems that talk to the new data format. Once we are satisfied that the new data entry system give us everything that we have now, we will then switch to the new data structure alone. We will only do this once we have thoroughly tested the new software to ensure it gives us no problems in maintaining the date. This may take several months. As far as the part you use, by the time we make that transition, you will have been using the new software for several months.

The point of sharing this with you is that the process will be quite lengthy and so from this fall throughout most of 2009, you will not be seeing many changes and improvements to the software that you use, even though the underlying foundation will be going through a massive change. Once the foundation has been reconstructed, and all the tools to work on the foundation have been built, the program will be in a position to make some substantial moves forward.

Think of it as transplant surgery, where you need to keep the patient alive and well, at the same time as you are swapping out the organs.