October 26, 2015 – Today at the insurance industry organization Target Markets’ Annual Meeting, SynchroNet unveiled their new service CloudMGA, a cloud-based IT hosting service for Managing General Insurance Agencies.  Designed to address the specific needs of the small to mid-size MGA, CloudMGA provides remote user desktops and cloud hosting of policy management applications and document libraries in a scalable per-user/per-month delivery model. 

n addition, CloudMGA delivers full application administrative support and expertise as part of the service along with security features that exceed the most stringent compliance standards for cloud computing.

With twenty years of experience with MGA applications and the unique workflows of the E & S wholesale market, SynchroNet recognized that many MGA owners were struggling to compete with larger firms as the technologies and IT expertise required to run the necessary automation systems become more complex and out of reach.  Many of their customers liked the promise of the pay-as-you-use model of cloud-based IT but were reluctant to trust that they could get performance, reliability, and security for their policy, document, rating, and forms applications.

SynchroNet’s founder Gordon Wingate explained that the design of CloudMGA developed around the concerns that they had heard from the MGA community.  “Clearly, SynchroNet has a long track record of delivering remote desktops and hosted IT to some very large enterprise customers.  For CloudMGA we had two important new challenges: to deliver cloud security better, and to add some deep MGA application expertise.”

MGAs work hard to prove to carrier companies that their data is secure to win their sponsorship of new programs and to pass disaster readiness audits.  For CloudMGA, SynchroNet added new levels of data encryption and monitoring for active intruder activity on top of the data backups, anti-malware, and firewall security.

The deep application and MGA business process knowledge came through the addition of Tim Moudry to the CloudMGA team.  Moudry was stepping down from a 25 year career as an Associate Director at the Myron Steves Company to pursue new challenges, having completed the development of the firm’s exemplary private cloud IT system.  The system design earned Moudry a seat on VMware’s Mid-Market Advisory Board for the completeness of Myron Steves’ automated disaster readiness model, implemented by Moudry, Manager of Operations William Chambers, and SynchroNet.  “At Myron Steves we had all 200 company users on full virtual desktops.  Anyone could work from anywhere, and if a disaster took out our Houston datacenter, our DR datacenter in Phoenix would take over with no loss of access to applications or telephone service to our agents.  As a team we were very proud of what we were able to create.”

Moudry is excited about his role in CloudMGA.  “IT is changing again.  SynchroNet’s idea to build a shared model where smaller MGAs can get the same user experience as larger firms is exactly what is needed now.  My role will be building a similar cloud model for the technical support of ConceptOneTM and our customers’ other applications.  Every MGA has their own mix of programs and I have spent many years learning how to make them work together.  My passion is creating a seamless user experience and I know CloudMGA will deliver.  We have assembled a team of smart people who focus on the users with a lot of attention to detail.”

Bryan Guilbeault, Director of Business Development at Epic-Premier echoes Moudry’s confidence in the team.  “For years, SynchroNet and the CloudMGA team have demonstrated a keen ability to improve system performance and reliability for our customers.   Because of that track record, Epic-Premier supports CloudMGA for ConceptOne™ customers who want their applications delivered and supported in a cloud model.”

SynchroNet, LLC, is an IT professional and managed IT services firm with offices in Houston, Texas and Hartford, CT.  Founded in 1987, SynchroNet is a VMware Enterprise and Elite Partner that specializes in building and supporting advanced datacenter technology solutions.  They also provide IT as a managed service to the insurance and energy industries through their VM360 and CloudMGA solutions.