Brian King, President and CEO of Barton Mutual Insurance Company, shares how the carrier replaced a legacy system from 1981 with the modern Finys Suite. He explains the key factors influencing their decision—including cultural alignment, vendor experience, and the need to catch up with industry standards. Brian highlights the overwhelmingly positive feedback from agents and staff following the transition, especially regarding the usability of Design Studio. He concludes by encouraging other insurers to consider Finys, emphasizing the importance of cultural compatibility in such partnerships.

About Barton Mutual Insurance Company

Barton Mutual Insurance Company, based in Missouri, sought to replace its decades-old policy administration system to better compete in the evolving insurance market. Their leadership team prioritized a solution that would align with company culture, offer proven reliability, and accelerate modernization.

The Challenge: Outdated Technology Holding Back Growth

Barton Mutual’s legacy system, implemented in 1981, lacked the functionality modern carriers need. The technology gap made it difficult to integrate new tools, launch products quickly, and meet the expectations of agents and policyholders.

Why Finys Was the Right Choice

During vendor evaluations, cultural alignment emerged as the most important factor for Barton Mutual. They valued a technology partner with a proven track record, industry expertise, and the capacity to support growth without delays. Finys met these criteria while offering the comprehensive Finys Suite and the intuitive Design Studio platform.

The Results: Positive Feedback and Greater Efficiency

• Agent Adoption: Over 350 agents across five statewide meetings reported overwhelmingly positive experiences.
• Staff Empowerment: Employees appreciated the control and flexibility Design Studio provided, enabling faster implementation of needed changes.
• Competitive Edge: Barton Mutual can now integrate new tools, launch products faster, and keep pace with industry leaders.

Full Transcript

I’m Brian King. I work for Barton Mutual Insurance Company. I’m the president and CEO. When we looked at replacing our legacy system, there were several factors. A lot of those had to do with how long the company had been in existence, how many other clients they had. We didn’t want to get in a situation where we were being forced to put things off because there were so many different people trying to get on there as well. But I think the most important factor ultimately was whether the company was a fit for our culture. Well, we were using a system, our current legacy system, that was put in place in 1981, and I may not be entirely up to date on current events, but there have been some changes in technology since then. So for us, it was more about playing catch-up with the rest of our competitors or the rest of the industry.

We just weren’t able to do things that many companies and carriers could, and we needed to get back in the game, so to speak. So that’s really what we were looking for. Replaced that legacy system with a newer, modern version that made us a little more nimble, a little more agile, able to get to market with some things if we had an integration we wanted to take advantage of. We have just completed a series of meetings with our agency force throughout the state of Missouri. We held five meetings in five different locations, and had about 350 agents total at those meetings. I can just honestly say that most of the feedback is overwhelmingly positive. There are a few times when you get somebody who struggles with technology to begin with, but overwhelmingly, the response so far has been positive from our agents.

Our staff thinks Design Studio is very easy to use, and they have found it to be something that they like using. They like having control over when things can get done. So they’re always looking, can we get more turned over to us? They’ve enjoyed using it. I would say for another insurer that’s looking to move to a system, I would absolutely recommend that they take a good look at Finys and do their due diligence. When it came down to it for us, as I said, there were several factors, but the most important one for us was culture. And I don’t know what another carrier may be looking at, but that would certainly be a big piece, I would think, for most of them. And I would recommend that they give Finys a long, hard look.