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M Financial Group Moves to E-Z Data’s Hosted
Version
of SmartOffice, Transition Completed Ahead of
Schedule
Infrastructure support is now
provided by E-Z Data; M Financial will use
E-Z Data’s
integrator toolkit to develop future customizations
PASADENA, CA, November 10, 2008 –
E-Z Data, a top provider of customer
relationship management (CRM) and practice
management solutions for the financial services
industry, announced today that M Financial Group
has completed its move to E-Z Data’s standard
SmartOffice solution to support its Member
Firms. E-Z Data is hosting the application. M
Financial successfully completed the upgrade to
the non-customized version of SmartOffice on
October 13, 2008, six months ahead of schedule.
The project brings an additional 1,000 users to
the SmartOffice user community of financial
services professionals, including insurance
companies, banks, broker-dealers, general
agents, agents, and investment advisors.
“Less than a year ago, we decided that the
opportunity to transition to the E-Z Data hosted version
of SmartOffice would allow us to deliver even greater
support for our Member Firms by shifting the resources
we needed to support the application,” said Curt Rynties,
Vice President, IT, M Financial Group. “SmartOffice has
been enhanced to include nearly all of the
customizations we had built to service our unique client
base, as well as a powerful integration toolkit,
SmartIntegrator, which facilitates the delivery of
additional functionality at a fraction of the cost of
traditional custom development.” The company is using
SmartIntegrator today to deliver upgrades to its
proprietary SmartOffice extensions, M Lightning and M
Black Lightning, which provide streamlined access to the
most common uses of SmartOffice from desktops and
Blackberry devices.
The switch to the hosted environment reduces the
resources required of M Financial to manage SmartOffice.
The company’s Member Firms continue to receive support
from M Financial’s Customer Service group through
personalized training, custom report writing,
integration with carriers and other M technology tools,
and inforce policy data feeds.
“While E-Z Data did not offer hosting services when
we first purchased the SmartOffice product, they’ve
since built a very mature infrastructure service group
with a proven track record of performance and
reliability,” added Rynties. “The extensive testing,
communication, and training resulted in a very positive
Member Firm experience with the upgrade. Many users have
already commented that the new interface is more
flexible and intuitive, and the solution is faster than
ever.”
About M Financial Group
With over 115 Member Firms in 36 states, M Financial
Group is one of the nation’s leading financial services
design and distribution companies. Since 1978, M
Financial’s network of independent insurance,
investment, and executive benefit firms has served the
needs of ultra-affluent individuals, corporate
executives, successful entrepreneurs, and Fortune 1000
companies. For more information about M Financial Group,
please visit
www.mfin.com. About E-Z Data, Inc.
Leading financial services organizations and top
financial advisors worldwide rely on E-Z Data’s practice
management, agency management, and CRM solutions to
systematize proactive, hi-touch communication with
clients, increase sales, and reduce operational costs.
E-Z Data solutions are used by more than a quarter
million financial services professionals and
industry-leading firms including HSBC, M Financial,
MetLife, National Financial Partners, ProEquities,
Prudential, Royal Alliance, and Securian. For more
information about E-Z Data’s solutions, go to
www.ezdata.com or call 800-777-9188. Contacts:
CaroleAnne Hardy
E-Z Data, Inc.
caroleanne@ez-data.com
626-585-3505
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