Mendix Eases Master Agent Automation
Mendix Inc., a software company based in Boston, says its agile computing platform enables it to build custom cloud solutions to automate complex business processes quickly and flexibly and for tens of thousands of dollars not hundreds.
There aren’t a lot of options for master agencies seeking to automate their back offices. In fact there are basically two: Choose from one of three purpose-built software solutions that may not do exactly what they need or spend a lot of money and time on a fully custom deployment. Now, there is a developer who wants to add a third option: a custom application without the custom price tag.
That could be good news for master agencies. Their ability to differentiate themselves from the competitors can hinge on their ability to automate processes for their subagents and carriers. Using the same software as a competitor can put them back at square one.
Most master agencies have chosen between the two leading software packages: RPM Software’s Agent and Salestream Software’s Masterstream. The former is known primarily as a robust commissioning system and the latter as an instant multicarrier quoting tool. Both are praised for their capabilities, but often criticized for their limitations.
The lack of continued product development is understandable; the master agent market is small. Only one competitor has emerged to challenge the two incumbents. Qudex.com launched in fall 2009. It claims to handle inventory management, call accounting, audit management, reverse auction, RFP process management, infrastructure management, wireless management, network security, business process optimization, trouble-shooting and support. However, it also includes features just for agents, such as CRM, subagent and commission management.
Mendix’s Business Development Manager Vince de la Mar said Mendix Business Agility Suite can provide the functionality offered by all of these software applications and more. While he likes Mendix’s odds in a head-to-head comparison, he said that companies that already are using those solutions can continue to use them by integrating them into a custom Mendix portal.
“If you have a quoting application that works fine, we can integrate this into a Mendix portal and build out new functionality (e.g., commission automation, provisioning, trouble ticketing, opportunity management),” de la Mar said. “So you don’t always have to migrate; you can reuse existing components and investments.”
The ability to integrate with virtually any existing environment makes Mendix more flexible that most development platforms, de la Mar explained. It can accept data from any file, any database, any application and any Web service.
De la Mar said that Mendix, in fact, prefers not to recreate the wheel when it comes to CRM. “Instead of customizing standard CRM systems, it is our philosophy to keep them as they are and to build out all customizations and extensions in [the Mendix platform] on top,” he said.
Master agents can extend their CRM system to their subagents by building out a Mendix portal on top of their CRM system. Data input by subagents is tied back to the CRM system.
The Mendix approach falls somewhere between a custom development team and a rigid out-of-the-box solution. “We build it from scratch but reuse modules that we’ve built in the past. The result is that it’s a 100 percent fit with your processes,” de la Mar explained, noting this is important because no two master agencies do things exactly alike.
While a soup-to-nuts custom deployment commonly take 18 months to two years and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, a similar comprehensive project can be built on the Mendix platform in six months and at half the cost, de la Mar said. But he said that projects can be much more modest with just quoting, order entry and commission automation.
About Mendix
Mendix, a Siemens business, is the only low-code platform designed to address the full complexity of enterprise software development challenges. Deploying point solutions to departmental problems solves things at a micro level—but if you want to make a significant impact on your business, you need to go bigger and build powerful portfolios that move the needle sustainably and strategically.
With Mendix, enterprises can take on more complex, transformational initiatives by engaging everyone in capturing requirements, forming ideas, and embedding value assessment throughout the lifecycle of the software portfolio.
Focus on the right problems while relying on governance and control to avoid unnecessary risk. Mobilize your organization. Build the change readiness muscle. And when the next big idea drops, turn it into an outcome quicker.
More than 4,000 organizations in 46 countries use the Mendix low-code platform. An active community of over 300,000 developers has created over 950,000 applications – and counting.