Apr

29.09

Gripping Life in the Palm of Our Hands

by Natalie Daly

In 2005, Primerica teamed up with Palm Inc. to develop software that would allow the company’s licensed representatives to take life insurance applications on a handheld device. They aptly named it: TurboApps.

TurboApps was an immediate success for our company. Instead of being buried in paperwork, representatives and Home Office application processors could process applications electronically and instantly.

Before TurboApps, representatives mailed in:

  • More than 30,000 life insurance applications per month
  • More than 18,000 loan applications
  • Over 20,000 new representative applications … and more!

The new TurboApps technology saved time, money … and thousands of trees! Plus, the software made taking applications virtually error-free and helped the representatives receive their commissions sooner. This new, secure way of taking applications also helped qualified clients get insured faster. It was a win-win.

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Since its release:

  • More than 695,000 applications have been sent via TurboApps.
  • TurboApps was honored with Computerworld’s Best Practices in Mobile & Wireless Award for “Business Evolution through Mobilizing Field Workers” and was also a 2007 Computerworld Honors Finalist.
  • Clients can be sure their information is password protected and encrypted, plus their business is issued faster.

Primerica has further enhanced TurboApps’ capabilities by adopting the new Windows Mobile 6.1 platform. When this platform rolls out this year, it will allow representatives to:

  • Adapt more easily to familiar “Windows” interface
  • Call, email or text a client within the TurboApps software
  • Run multiple software applications at once
  • Use Office Mobile

Primerica prides itself on using technology to help our representatives succeed in their businesses. TurboApps has changed the way we do business and has allowed us to keep pace in this fast-track business world.



Tags: applications, ComputerWorld, innovation, life insurance, Palm, Primerica, save money, software, software development, technology, Turbo Apps, TurboApps, Windows Mobile, Windows Mobile 6.1, wireless

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 at 12:13 pm and is filed under Primerica. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

48 Responses to “Gripping Life in the Palm of Our Hands”

  1. May 4th, 2009 at 11:57 am Brett Says:

    Will Primerica be able to use the Palm Pre as business device?

  2. May 5th, 2009 at 8:34 am Administrator Says:

    At this point we are are consolidating to a single operating system, Windows Mobile, which we think is best for large enterprise-wide mobile business applications. Once we have all lines of business applications deployed on WM we will evaluate supporting additional mobile platforms, including the yet-to-be-released WebOS from Palm.

  3. May 26th, 2009 at 11:59 am Brett Says:

    Thanks, yeah it would be really great to be able to have Turbo Apps on a WebOS device.

  4. May 28th, 2009 at 9:32 am Gerald Says:

    Can the Turbo Apps on WM also work directly on/from a laptop PC using Windows XP or Vista?

  5. June 1st, 2009 at 8:32 am Administrator Says:

    Not at this time. Our plan is to build-out Windows Mobile smartphone for all product lines before extending to other platforms. The technology used to build TurboApps was chosen in part for its ability to allow us to extend to desktop Windows- and Web-based environments, in addition to Windows Mobile smartphones.

  6. June 17th, 2009 at 6:13 pm ernest Says:

    Are there any plans to use iphone apps?

  7. June 20th, 2009 at 6:42 pm david Says:

    for some reason turbo apps wont work on my sprint touch pro. when i run it from my phone it loads then say an unexpected error has occured in turboclient.exe. i redownloaded it more then twice, what can i do?

  8. June 29th, 2009 at 9:25 pm Israel Says:

    Yea, I too really want to know if an iPhone app is being considered.

  9. June 30th, 2009 at 8:34 am Administrator Says:

    Not at this time. Our plan is to build-out Windows Mobile smartphone for all product lines before extending to other platforms. The next logical platform for our user base would be Windows- and Web-based environments.

  10. July 2nd, 2009 at 9:25 am Carlos Says:

    Are there any plans to work with metro pcs?

  11. July 6th, 2009 at 3:44 pm Administrator Says:

    Currently we have discount arrangements with the 4 major carriers – AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile. We will consider supporting others as demand dictates, but until now there have not been any requests to
    add Metro PCS.

  12. July 17th, 2009 at 1:13 pm Alex Says:

    How far out do you think you are from working out something for the app store on the iPhone?

  13. July 17th, 2009 at 1:19 pm Alex Says:

    I’m sorry on on my comment above I left out that considering all the comments and answer above how far out do you think you are from developing something for the apple app store?

  14. July 24th, 2009 at 12:30 am Philip Says:

    Have you tested the new HTC Dash 3G from T-Mobile?

  15. July 24th, 2009 at 12:34 am Philip Says:

    Have you tested the HTC Dash 3G or the HTC Touch Pro 2?

  16. July 27th, 2009 at 11:21 pm Kip Says:

    Listen up Primerica………….iPhone, iPhone, iPhone!

  17. September 20th, 2009 at 10:39 pm joe Says:

    With windows mobile 6.1, is there a handheld, or do we have to get a phone that cost us $30 a month for a service plan?

    Is there anyway just to use a hand held and avoid costly fees?

  18. November 1st, 2009 at 2:03 am Kaisi Says:

    Will Primerica ever consider any other mobile platforms, especially Android OS?

  19. December 13th, 2009 at 11:58 am Darrell Says:

    Please consider speeding up plans for iPhone. It is truly the future!

  20. December 15th, 2009 at 2:26 pm Guillaume Says:

    Yeah, I’m using an IPHONE and if i need to switch for a paml treo i’ll do it but if you launch an apps for the iphone until the next year I’ll wait for it ;)

  21. January 27th, 2010 at 11:18 pm Robert Says:

    I’d like to add to the consideration for an iPhone app as well as more Mac support! ;)

  22. January 28th, 2010 at 3:04 pm Andrew Read Says:

    Yes, you really need to start on an iphone app. Better yet, an iPad app. The iPad has just come out and it would be perfect for Primerica. Watch the keynote on their website. If you don’t get started on it, I want to start developing an app (if I knew how)! Windows mobile is old and out-dated. It’s time to move on Primerica! =)

  23. January 31st, 2010 at 2:57 pm ken Says:

    yes, iphone, iphone, iphone…. and do consider the up and coming ipad, as I here there will be an upgrade in ipad 2.0 for electronic signature as well.

    it really is the future of portable computing, and you don’t want to miss the bandwagon.

  24. February 11th, 2010 at 6:15 pm Dallas Says:

    I really would like it if iPhone was supported. Even if it would hold the data then synce it with a windows computer later.
    I just signed on with primerica and already have an iPhone. I really don’t want to get another phone even I I can write it off as a business expence.
    On everyone I know, they have an iPhone instead of a windows based phone.

  25. February 13th, 2010 at 5:55 pm Jorge Says:

    Any iPhone, iPad Apps on the pipeline?(…please)
    How about TurboApps on the web?

  26. February 17th, 2010 at 3:27 pm matt Says:

    Are there any plans in the works 4 either palm or android at this time?

  27. March 10th, 2010 at 8:41 pm Jorge Says:

    From an IT perspective, it makes total sense to stick to one particular platform until you finalize the development of all services that will be offered with it. However, given the popularity of the iPhone platform as well as Android platform, and considering that there has been a continuing drop in usage of the WinMo OS it might not be such a bad idea to explore other platforms as you charge fwd with completing TurboApps in WinMo.

    Keep in mind that less and less people have WinMo devices, therefore, many new people (as i did) will have to purchase another mobile device just to be able to use TurboApps. It’d be nice if they could continue using their devices (limited number of platforms and devices) and just get to work pumping TurboIBAs into them.

    By the way, in the video I did catch a glimpse of someone working on a mac… C’mon… I know someone there talked about it already.

    Now, in my opinion, if TurboApps and CallAtlanta were all completely web based it would make life simple for a lot of people as well.

    That’s my 2 cents.

  28. March 26th, 2010 at 9:56 pm Jon Says:

    Dash 3G compatible?

  29. April 11th, 2010 at 5:27 pm manny Says:

    Oh yeah I would be so pumped if Primerica did a Iphone/Ipad app. Id pay or find a way to make it work it would def. revolutionize everything. I bought an epix and don’t have service on it but I use that to do my turboapps and my iphone is well my iphone. I truly love what our company is doing but if you are considering an iphone app or even android consider us lightyears ahead of the competition, as if we weren’t already!

    sorry for the spelling errors

  30. April 21st, 2010 at 1:17 pm Joseph Says:

    The fact that I have to use a Windows phone is the only thing that I don’t love about Primerica. The quality of my life went down when I got a Windows phone. I have owned both an Android phone and an iPhone phone. Both are so far superior to the inefficiency and buggy windows it isn’t even funny. Please please please, develop turbo apps for anything but windows. Please.

  31. April 23rd, 2010 at 12:43 pm J Says:

    “Apple’s iPad to Propel the Adoption of E-Signatures in Insurance, Says Silanis”

    http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/04/prweb3855814.htm

  32. May 14th, 2010 at 1:09 pm Andre Says:

    I wonder if there are emulators that can have the iphone or the android phone create a system in a system. This would be similar to parallels for mac and windows. Anyhow, apps should try as hard as they can not to ever marry themselves to a particular company. That is one pit fall for having a hardware company develop the app vs an small private company. But four years ago we did not quite have so many tried and true companies to do so. Thanks for your hard work on the application, from what I see it works great!

  33. May 23rd, 2010 at 2:48 am Robert Says:

    Agreed. iPhone and iPad IS the future..

  34. June 7th, 2010 at 9:54 pm matt Says:

    hello, i have a question for the administrator, are there any current or future plans for turboapps to run on android? either i the works or a future plan?

  35. June 9th, 2010 at 3:55 pm curious to know Says:

    If Primerica truly wants to lead the industry, Android and iPad apps just make sense. Anyone who has dealt with the outdated Windows mobile platform, then tries Android, will be convinced. The future is not winmo.

  36. June 9th, 2010 at 11:59 pm Christopher Says:

    the new iPhone came out and you HAVE to make an iPhone app for Primerica!!! YOU HAVE TO!

  37. June 28th, 2010 at 5:34 pm Michael Says:

    what about blackberry?

  38. July 15th, 2010 at 11:54 am Miss T Says:

    Do Primerica associates get discounts for the HTC Pro2?
    If yes, how and where do we go?

  39. July 22nd, 2010 at 8:33 am Administrator Says:

    There are wireless discounts for Primerica representatives. Log in to Primerica Online to learn more. http://www.primericaonline.com

  40. August 25th, 2010 at 10:00 pm Daryl Zornes Says:

    Will you ever offer a windows based system, compatible with Turbo Apps, on a Nextel phone? I currently have Nextel and DO NOT want to switch carriers. They are the best I have found, and trust me, I’ve tried them all!!!

  41. September 23rd, 2010 at 1:38 pm lawrence Says:

    We really need to focus on switching to The Android OS! Please make that transition because its better than any OS out there! Windows mobile just gives me to many problems. I’ve had to buy 4 phones in the past year with that OS!Go to Android!

  42. November 2nd, 2010 at 12:41 pm William Tavares Says:

    There is an app that allows the android device to be able to use Windows programs. It’s called Citrix Labs Receiver, I haven’t figured out how to load the turbo apps to it yet, but I will let you all know when I figure this out.

  43. November 10th, 2010 at 5:12 am Jerome Brito Says:

    The Apple iPad is a game-changer and if Primerica doesn’t jump on this opportunity then they need a “Check Up From the Neck Up”.

    The iPad engages its users to move beyond mere productivity—applying technology to a something you already know how to do and delivering a more-efficient outcome—and into the realm of innovation by allowing people to create new ways of seeing things, new ways of presenting ideas, new ways of communicating, and new ways delivering almost every fathomable type of information.

    That in itself is what we do in the field everyday is create new ways of seeing things when we sit down at the Kitchen Table as we take our clients from program “A” to program “B” and the iPad fits like a glove in that respect.

  44. November 30th, 2010 at 2:06 pm Terry Turley Says:

    Please consider building an iPhone application with a financial calculator and quick quote.

  45. December 6th, 2010 at 7:41 pm Chad B Says:

    I would love to see a full PrimerIca IPhone app with Calendars and client tracker like the fast start planner. Make it an all in one business app w/ links from POL, turbo apps, Life manager etc. That would be an amazing tool.

  46. December 13th, 2010 at 8:06 pm Jack B Says:

    Teammates, the main issue with moving to a different OS has nothing to do with the OS itself. It has more to do with the screen technology. Ever notice how you can use a regular pen to select things on a Windows Mobile phone however doing that wont work on an iphone, android phone, Palm Pre, even the HD2 etc. Its because WinMo uses whats known as ‘resistive” screens where as more modern OS’s use “capacitive” screens. Resistive screens can be used with anything, a pen, a toothpick, a stylus etc. Capacitive can only be used with a finger or something that has an electric current. While capacitive is widely considered a better technology, it doesn’t allow for the level of precision that can be had from a resistive screen. Our clients would have to sign the apps with their fingers which would result in most likely some very inaccurate signatures. Its kind of like the difference between signing your name with a pen vs. signing it with fingerpaint.

    Hopefully that makes sense.

    Best of luck

  47. February 7th, 2011 at 6:34 pm danielle Says:

    Can u tell me what specific phones through Sprint I can use the turbo apps on or how to find out.

  48. February 8th, 2011 at 9:40 am Administrator Says:

    Log in to Primerica Online and navigate to Field Technology to find out which phones are compatible with TurboApps.

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