Lotus business partners, CRL Computer Group and T. Norris and Associates have recently joined forces to install Lotus Domino on AS/400 at crop insurance specialist, Sentraoes, ensuring they keep pace with the exacting demands of local farmers.
Rodney Fitzgerald, account manager at CRL, says crop insurance differs from other forms of insurance as farmers can get coverage for natural crop risks at any stage for an insured value of his choice. "This is a time critical industry as farmers can insure their crops during any stage of the growth cycle. With Domino, a field agent is kept up to speed on the latest offers via his electronic mail connection to head office," he explains.
"Being a crop insurance company, communication between head office and our field agents are vital," says Barrie le Roux, IT manager at Sentraoes.
"Domino streamlines this process for us as it provides an integrated electronic business, messaging and application development environment." With CRL providing the hardware, T Norris and Associates took care of installation and aspects of training. "The Sentraoes team worked with us throughout the installation which provided them with hands-on training that was later enhanced by means of a more structured training session," said Tim Norris, T Norris and Associates MD.
According to Le Roux, the company currently uses Domino for messaging and electronic documentation but aims to expand these services, particularly in the area of Web applications.
"With farmers rapidly embracing the computer age, - particularly with regards Internet and e-mail usage - the time is right to commence development of a Web site. As more functionality is implemented farmers will be able to monitor their own portfolios and insure their crops by accessing the Sentraoes Web page running on Lotus Domino," he concludes.
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