Kirk Miller Insurance Agency is currently the largest commercial insurance agency in the nation for Farmers Insurance. As an all-lines agency, we underwrite everything from home insurance to auto insurance to commercial, HOA, and life insurance. We have been in business since 2006 and have expanded to a team of almost 25 people.
Due to industry requirements, we must abide by an immense number of rules and regulations. In order to protect our clients’ most sensitive data, it is imperative that we have cutting-edge systems in place and that we use the full power of information technology. This becomes even more important with those in our office that work remotely.
Automates came to us as a referral from an associated agency eight years ago. We’re proud to say we were one of the first ones to work with them. When we started working together, Tommy Thornton and his team made quick work of learning the ins and outs of our industry, how to link all of our systems, and how to set up our information technology so that it flows with the systems already in place.
At the beginning of our relationship with Automates, we were only experiencing some minor computer and network issues. However, as our agency expanded over the years, we began experiencing more and more IT-related problems, and we really needed their help. They’ve always been there, and when we nearly tripled in size, Automates grew with us.
Especially with all the cybersecurity threats going on now, it’s nice to have someone who’s monitoring all our systems so we don’t have to think about it. If something goes wrong, Automates is there to take care of it for us. In a crisis situation, we sit back and let the experts handle it. By working with Automates, we’ve been able to lock our system down and make sure that security concerns don’t compromise our clients’ data.
Automates has taken so much off our plate. We have the luxury of relying on them instead of trying to figure things out ourselves, and it’s been a huge relief.
On top of that, we’ve established so much trust that we can just leave our computers on and they can remote-in while we’re in a meeting, saving us a substantial amount of time that we can then use to better serve our clients.
To other growing business owners in the insurance industry and beyond: we highly recommend you start hiring to your weaknesses. For most business owners, IT is a weakness. Hire it out to a professional like Automates and feel the same relief that we do. Doing so also transfers risk, which, as an insurance agency, we know the importance of. Allow yourself to let go and focus on what you’re best at in your business.
