For years, the life insurance industry has dreamed of a "paperless application" that agents could fill out and submit electronically in the field, without carrying stacks of hard copy documents. However, there were always a few "missing links" that kept the dream from becoming reality.
Now, those links have synthesized, and their combination will make 2012 a year of powerful industry transition to paperless applications. The biggest links are tablet computers (especially the iPad), 4g Internet connectivity and advances in electronic signature technology.
An emerging industry standard is for insurance companies to publish a library of product applications and supporting documents in a "fillable PDF" format. The agent accesses the appropriate application on a tablet PC, fills it in using an application such as PDF Expert ($9.99 from the Apple App Store), and e-mails it immediately and directly to the home office, with an e-mail copy to the client.
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