Marsh-Berry Announces New Innovations for Agency Owners

CLEVELAND, OH – August 29, 2000 – Owners and managers of insurance agencies can now see exactly how their agency's performance can improve by using the exciting new innovations Marsh-Berry has added to its ALERIS Web site. The new section, called Executive Outlook, gives subscribers the ability to perform "what if" scenarios on numerous industry ratios for their agency. By editing data in areas like Return to Owner and Employee Productivity, they can see how making changes can improve performance. No other product in today's market provides agency owners with such keen insights into achieving success in their agency. The first new feature in Executive Outlook is the Deluxe e-PIN calculator. The e-PIN calculates a Performance Indicator Number between zero and ten that is based on 15 key industry ratios that quantify an agency's value. It is here that the "what if" scenarios are most valuable. In addition to sizing up their own agency, they can also compare their agency's performance to industry averages and the best 25% of the industry average. Another valuable feature in Executive Outlook is Practice Explorer. Here agents can view the actual practices employed by high performing agencies and compare them to the practices employed by their own agency. Their results are shown in a graphical, user friendly format after providing data through an on-line survey. Located in Concord, Ohio, ALERIS is a Marsh-Berry company that provides interactive information technology to owners and managers of insurance agencies to help them improve their agency's performance. In addition to Executive Outlook, ALERIS also offers the industry's preferred benchmarking tool for agency performance as well as Proven Practices, the industry's only interactive best practices tool. All ALERIS products are located on the ALERIS web site at www.aleris.com. For more information, visit www.aleris.com or contact ALERIS at 1-877-4-ALERIS (1-877-425-3747) or e-mail dougt@marshberry.com.