Utica National Insurance Group Honored with 2022 Innovation Award by Naviant

Media contact:
Jenifer Hein | +1 888.686.4624 | JHein@Naviant.com

Utica National Insurance Group Honored with 2022 Innovation Award by Naviant

NEW HARTFORD, NY; SYRACUSE, N.Y.; VERONA, WI.; ROSEVILLE, CA.; MIDDLEBURG HEIGHTS, OH; OREM, UT — May 25th, 2022 — Utica National Insurance Group, a top 100 nationally recognized insurer that provides personal and commercial insurance products and services to its customers, headquartered in New Hartford, NY, was honored by Naviant Inc Wednesday morning at the 2022 Naviant Summit for its outstanding achievements in Digital Transformation. Utica National Insurance Group was awarded the 2022 Innovation Award and recognized for the creative and highly successful innovative uses of its OnBase document management solution.

The criteria for the prestigious Innovation Award are based on how the solution has changed the way the organization does business, the return on investment, and the extent to which the organization is using the solution to meet broader organizational goals. Additionally, the award’s criteria consider the level of innovation and creativity present in the organization’s development, use, and vision for the solution.

Utica National Insurance Group, a leading expert in the personal & commercial insurance industry, committed to providing its customers with reliable, excellent service when they need it most, was awarded for its creative, impactful use of the OnBase intelligent process automation solution. Before implementing OnBase, the company’s Claims Department relied on an imaging system with very basic workflow abilities, which required considerable manual intervention. The company was also using a core document software system in tandem with another imaging platform, both of which were several versions behind and had minimal to no vendor support. Together, the systems came with a hefty price tag between licensing and maintenance and posed a critical risk to the company from a legal and operational standpoint.

Today, OnBase has become the backbone for Utica National Insurance Group’s claims department’s document and workflow (FNOL) management. This solution, supplemented with ShareBase and Content Composer Module (CCM), have supported the company in its journey to modernize the overall claims management process. CCM has specifically given the company the flexibility to modify and personalize letters, which has resulted in a great adjuster and customer experience.

On the difference the solutions have made, James Shaver, Claims Technology Program Manager at Utica National Insurance Group, said, “The implementation of the core product (OnBase) and CCM has drastically increased the efficiency and efficacy of the Claims Department.” Of some of the most significant benefits, he remarked, “The reporting dashboards feature has provided insights into inefficiencies and allowed us to further improve our process of queue breakouts and/or roles and groups, and automating the intake and indexing of documents from multiple vendors has reduced the time to get the right document to the right person and reduced operational overheads.”

“We are very excited to be awarding the 2022 Innovation Award to Utica National Insurance Group in recognition of their continued proven ability to find new ways to utilize and optimize their solutions,” said Michael Carr, President & CEO of Naviant. “Naviant is proud to support Utica National Insurance Group’s initiatives and views them as a shining example of digital transformation excellence to inspire all organizations striving for innovative change.”

Looking to the future, Utica National Insurance Group is looking to further modernize and enhance its current setup’s experience. It plans to do so by utilizing the additional offerings of OnBase, like maximizing advanced capture, expanding on their solution’s Web API capabilities, and integrating OnBase with their modern claims management platform to maximize the synergy and benefits across the two.

About Naviant

Business processes and solutions that empower better and faster decisions are what we do best. As a nationally recognized intelligent automation solutions integrator and business process consulting organization with over 30 years of experience headquartered in Verona WI, our clients do more with less by streamlining processes and gaining visibility into the information they need to make better decisions. As a long-standing key partner of Hyland, Naviant helps organizations operate more efficiently using OnBase software platform, Brainware intelligent capture platform, and Hyland RPA platform, all of which are Hyland products, as well as the ABBYY intelligent capture  and Kryon RPAs.  Naviant’s “process-first” approach brings focus to the importance of process improvement prior to implementing best-in-class ECM solutions and technology. Naviant is a top-tier partner for Hyland’s OnBase, a single enterprise information platform for managing content, processes, and cases, that combines ECM, case management, business process management (BPM), records management, compliance, and capture functionality on a single platform. In addition, Naviant also partners with Kryon Systems for Robotics Process Automation (RPA) technology to enable organizations to drive business agility and efficiency by offloading repetitive high-volume work to a digital workforce (aka software robots).  To learn more about Naviant, please visit naviant.com. Process focus. Excellence.

AM Best affirms National Guardian Life Insurance Company A (Excellent) Rating

Madison, Wis. (May 27, 2022) – National Guardian Life Insurance Company (NGL) is pleased to announce AM Best has affirmed its A (Excellent) rating effective May 6, 2022. This rating reflects the excellent ability of NGL to meet its ongoing insurance policy and contract obligations and further attests to its financial strength.

“2021 was a pivotal year in NGL’s history. Throughout the year, NGL sold past acquisitions, as well as a variety of older blocks of acquired life insurance policies. These sales raised meaningful capital and helped NGL reach levels of capital that give it unprecedented strength in its 113-year history,” said Knut Olson, President and CEO at NGL.

“Significantly de-risking the liability profile of the company over the last two years and having the highest level of capital measured by AM Best will further allow NGL to make good on policyholder commitments and weather potential economic headwinds that might arise over time. Additionally, we can now selectively explore potential opportunities that add more functionality, product and scale to our core lines of business,” said John Horbal, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer.

According to a news release from AM Best, NGL continues to maintain the strongest level of risk-adjusted capitalization, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), which has been bolstered by the sale of several legacy blocks of business. NGL enjoys a market leading position in the preneed life insurance space and continues to look for opportunities to expand sales through alternative channels and new product offerings.

Olson continued, “As we look ahead, NGL is poised to expand its preneed business and make an even greater difference in the death care industry.”

AM Best is the world’s oldest and most authoritative insurance rating information source. The financial strength rating is based on a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative evaluation of a company’s balance sheet strength, operating performance and business profile.

As a longtime leader in the insurance industry, NGL is dedicated to serving policyholders and partners by offering high-quality products that are among the safest and most stable in the industry.

To learn more about NGL’s financial strength and stability visit our website, www.nglic.com. For the latest rating, access www.ambest.com.

About NGL

Established in 1909 National Guardian Life Insurance Company (NGL) is an insurance company headquartered in Madison, Wis. Licensed to do business in 49 states and the District of Columbia, NGL markets preneed and individual life and annuities, as well as group markets products. Information about NGL can be found at www.nglic.com; Facebook: Facebook.com/NGLIC and LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/national-guardian-life-insurance-company.

Ratings current as of 05/06/22. National Guardian Life Insurance Company is not affiliated with The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America a/k/a The Guardian or Guardian Life.

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Endres Manufacturing Recognized for Project of the Year

Endres Manufacturing Company, a steel fabricator in Waunakee, WI was recognized for their steel fabrication work on The University of Wisconsin, Natatorium Project in Madison, Wisconsin. The UW Natatorium Project was selected as a project of the year and one of the most complicated and largest projects ever taken on by Endres Manufacturing Company. The recognition was given by the Steel Plus Network, a business network of structural steel fabricators and suppliers from across North America. Endres is one of Wisconsin’s largest and most highly respected structural steel fabricators.

Read more here

Spherion Staffing and Recruiting in Madison and DeForest Presented President’s, Bronze Circle, On-Premise Office of the Year, and Top Sales Growth Awards

CONTACT:
Alex Hopkins
All Points Public Relations
(847) 897-7469
ahopkins@allpointspr.com

Spherion Staffing and Recruiting in Madison and DeForest Presented President’s, Bronze Circle, On-Premise Office of the Year, and Top Sales Growth Awards
Local Staffing and Recruiting Company Recognized with Prestigious National Honors

MADISON, Wisc. – Spherion Staffing and Recruiting (Spherion) in Madison and DeForest announced today that it was recently presented with the President’s, Bronze Circle, On-Premise Office of the Year and Top Sales Growth Awards during the company’s annual national meeting.

Despite continuing to face pandemic-related workforce challenges, Diana Schafer and Margaret Leitinger, Spherion franchise owners in Madison and DeForest, were recognized for their monumental growth in 2021.

“Margaret and I couldn’t be more grateful for the recognition from the Spherion team,” said Schafer. “Our goal is to support both job seekers and businesses in Madison, DeForest and surrounding communities. We work incredibly hard alongside our teams to ensure we provide optimal service to both clients and candidates. We couldn’t have done this without our incredible staff who work hard with us every day to ensure that we find great fits for job-seekers and employers alike, and live up to the Spherion name and mission. We’re appreciative to have been presented these awards and hope to continue that growth in the year to come.”

The 2022 Spherion National Meeting was held at the ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas March 24-26 and was themed How Sweet It Is! At Spherion’s first in-person meeting since the pandemic, franchisees had the chance to reconnect with each other and with members of the corporate team face-to-face while gaining insights on the status of the brand as well as the staffing industry. Throughout the three-day meeting, franchisees attended general sessions, keynote speeches, and also participated in breakout sessions. The meeting concluded with an awards reception where Schafer, Leitinger and several other franchisees were recognized and celebrated for their accomplishments.

“Our 2022 national meeting provided a fantastic opportunity to once again gather as a community and reflect on our growth while learning and preparing for the year to come,” said Rebecca Rogers Tijerino, president of Spherion. “We certainly had a lot to celebrate, including dedicated franchisees like Diana and Margaret who continue to make Spherion the incredible organization it is today. Congratulations once again to the entire team in Madison and DeForest!”

Spherion brandishes the power of local through a network of independent and empowered franchisees like Schafer, Leitinger. Each Spherion franchisee enriches their community by connecting and facilitating employment opportunities every day. When businesses and job seekers are successful together, their investments in each other flow back into the neighborhoods where they live and work.

To learn more about Spherion Staffing Madison and DeForest, visit www.spherion.com/Madison-WI.

About Spherion

With more than 75 years of staffing and recruiting experience, Spherion stands out as a leader in the industry, leveraging the power of local to support its vast network of independent franchisees. True to its tagline, Let’s Get to Work, Spherion provides workforce solutions to more than 4,000 businesses nationwide across its more than 200 offices. With recent awards including recognition on Entrepreneur magazine’s Franchise 500 list and being named a top recruiting firm by Forbes, Spherion has a proven ability to cater to the ever-changing demands of America’s workforce. Backed by the global leader in human resources, Spherion is prepared to provide workforce solutions through its General Staffing franchise model and newly launched Professional IT model to even more job seekers and organizations.

To learn more about Spherion’s services, visit https://www.spherion.com.

For information about the Spherion franchising opportunity, visit https://www.spherion.com/franchise/.

Wisconsin Small Business Administration Honors Oak Bank With Volume Lender Award

For Immediate Release  
Contact: Karen Virnoche, 608.441.6000 
kvirnoche@oakbankonline.com 

Wisconsin Small Business Administration Honors Oak Bank With Volume Lender Award
Oak Bank ranks at the top among Wisconsin banks of its size in the number of primary loans approved for small businesses in 2021.

Fitchburg, WI – Oak Bank announced they are the recipient of the 2021 Wisconsin Small Business Administration (SBA) Volume Lender Award for banks with an asset size between $400 and $500 million.

Oak Bank received the honor for having the most approved 7(a) loans in the state among similar-sized banks. The 7(a) Loan Program is the SBA’s most common small business loan program that helps businesses cover a variety of needs, including working capital, purchasing new equipment and new building construction.

“The last couple of years have been a challenge, especially for small businesses,” said Terry Taylor, Oak Bank President. “We are proud to have partnered with our local businesses for the last 22 years, but especially as they’ve weathered the uncertainty of the pandemic. We strongly believe in building long-lasting relationships and are committed to helping all our businesses not only survive but thrive for years to come.”

“SBA programs help fuel economic growth and build strong communities,” said Linda Zimdars, Oak Bank Senior Vice President of Business Banking. “It gives me a great amount of pride to see our ‘Financing provided by Oak Bank’ signs on construction sites when I drive around the Madison area. That represents one of the ways businesses utilize SBA financing. I know that Oak Bank has made a difference to so many businesses in our community. We work hard for them, working side by side with business owners, and in the end, their success is our success.”

Another example of that commitment was evident during the pandemic when Oak Bank joined other financial institutions across Wisconsin in processing a collective total of 33,000 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans worth a cumulative $2.2 billion. 

“When the pandemic started, we wanted to help small businesses stay open. We worked many late nights to ensure funding of the PPP and other government programs,” said Zimdars. “We knew we needed to be there when our business clients needed us the most.”

In May, Oak Bank will receive the 2021 Wisconsin Small Business Administration (SBA) Volume Lender Award at the 32^nd Annual Wisconsin Lenders Conference.

About Oak Bank 

Founded in 2000, Oak Bank celebrates 22 years of deep roots in the Fitchburg community and Madison area. The community bank meets the financial needs of homeowners and businesses by offering top-notch service, quick answers, and unique solutions, all while supporting over 125 local nonprofits each year. Visit oakbankonline.com to learn more.

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