With the help of IBM software and solutions provider Streebo, ANICO developed a basic mobile Web app that field agents could access via a Web browser on practically any mobile device. The Web apps singular functionality serves up customer information rightly sized for different mobile screen sizes, such as the iPhone and iPad.

"We don't have the resources to develop native apps, it's a lot harder to maintain," says Deanna Walton, assistant vice president responsible for field systems at ANICO. She adds, "a mobile Web app is more attractive because you dont have those security concerns."

ANICO launched the mobile Web app in early February with little marketing fanfare. The idea was to roll this out slowly. On the first day, 100 agents signed up. At the following agent conference, agents quickly asked for more functionality. Recently, 200 agents accessed the system in a single day.

Deanna Walton, AVP Field Systems

Walton and her team are working on bringing more functionality to the mobile Web app. Agents will be able to get quotes and pending case-status information over the mobile Web app. Just last week, Walton was in a team meeting discussing the possibility of pushing rate sheets over the mobile Web app.