A LOOK BACK
Knight Archer: A Look Back
By Carol Fisher
Knight Archer Insurance started as a small family insurance business some thirty years ago. At that time, there were only two employees. In 2006 when I started with the company, there were well over forty employees. Back then, Knight Archer already had a penchant for purchasing agencies. Three agencies had joined our insurance group before 2006: Qu’ Appelle Agencies, Quality Agencies, and Cottonwood Agencies. There were whispers of more expansion on the horizon.
In the meantime, we had lots of work to do. The computer system we used for policies was relatively new, and there were many kinks to work out, along with instructions to be prepared for each area of the system. Staff members had to deal with lots of growing pains, sometimes locking out their co-workers, causing tons of frustration.
And as a result of purchasing those three agencies, we experienced a backlog of policy documents that needed to be scanned into our computer system. It took a while but eventually got done and was worth the time and effort. Little did we know that our scanning days were far from over.
Changes were coming from our management team as well as SGI
Canada’ s management team. Knight Archer was seeking a paperless system while SGI Canada was seeking a similar goal of having each of its policies available through its computer network. So all of our SGI commercial files needed to be scanned since retention of all policy documents is a requirement for the insurance industry.
As the scanning was coming to an end, or so I thought, lo and behold, Knight Archer purchased two more agencies! This resulted in more scanning of policies, of course, and lots of additional work for everyone. More clients, more work. Knight Archer’ s trend of purchasing and merging with other agencies continued, and now there are thirteen Knight Archer agencies throughout the province as well as an agency in Winnipeg. Our staff now comprise a team of approximately 160 persons, both brokers and motor licensing issuers, with each team member diligently performing his or her job, looking after our many clients.
SGI’ s motor licensing department was going through its own transformation as its system, too, was in its infancy stage. The initial system had basic Windows applications that were easy to work with but had a few glitches. There were times when overloaded computers would crash or inefficient processes would cause frustration for clients as well as for motor licensing issuers. We all attended issuer training sessions regularly as new functionalities were added to the system.
There were two major updates to the SGI system that further stressed motor licence issuers. Oh, the long forms that had to be processed during these updates! Customers needed to get plates and have their drivers licences processed even though the software system was not available. Long delays ensued, but finally, the required information was gathered, entered, and balanced.
Now, motor licensing runs quite smoothly. Licensing now occurs through the Internet, over the phone, and of course, in person at the counter. The current SGI system is quite a change from the“ olden days” when everyone had to complete a four-part form and then send it off to the main office for processing. The registrations were done in the same way, but they were completed annually, unlike the one-month registrations that we can now do. Back then, we needed patience if we wanted to drive!
What will be the next mergers or purchases for Knight Archer Insurance? Who knows?
As for SGI, well, technology has come a long way. What’ s around the bend, only time will tell. +
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