As Canadians many of us suffer from an inferiority complex when it comes to advanced technology and processes. We feel that anything technically superior must come from the US, Asia or Europe. I myself have always regarded Silicon Valley in California as the center of the proverbial IT Universe and when it comes to the world of insurance, London would be the center.

Many of you know Brovada as the Nexisys company. It was the first of our software solutions for brokers and insurers. As we grew, we expanded our product offering to include Nexpedite and NexQuote. Now it’s time to evolve. Over the next couple of months our broker solutions will be consolidated into NexCenter.

Brovada presents the first real time endorsement upload that provides feedback such as premium and rating information - with no portals required. It’s the Holy Grail insurance has been looking for.

I was recently asked to speak at a leadership conference for the executives of NAMIC. The topic I was requested to speak about was very familiar to me and one that I’m very enthusiastic about so I was thrilled with the opportunity. The topic was “Portals or No Portals”, not a ground shaking topic to everyone in attendance but one that was important for them to hear and understand.

I was recently in Costa Rica meeting with some colleagues. Rather than go to the famous resort area in the north I visited the authentic part of the country far removed from the serenity of the vacationer’s retreat.

In political election campaigns, when parties start pulling ahead they often find themselves contending with attacks and false accusations. These days Brovada is facing this challenge. Frankly, it’s an honour. It speaks to the fact of how much ground we are gaining. However some persistent falsehoods need to be rebutted.

“It’s the economy, stupid.” That famous phrase won Bill Clinton his presidency, focusing attention to the most important issue of the time. Replace that with ‘endorsement’ and you have the urgent issue brokers are now bringing to their vendors.

Do you remember when McDonald’s had free smiles on their menu? I remember asking my mother why they would put that there. She said they wanted their customers to know that they really cared about providing good friendly service.

Five years seems to have flown by. Brovada’s inaugural year coincided with the birth of my second child or my princess as I refer to her. I find that as she has grown over the last 5 years, Brovada has grown in similar ways.