Chapter I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

The success of companies today is defined by numbers. The product, the brand,

and the market are entities which drive the business to its goal but in the end, only the

gross sales and revenues are accounted for. That is how important sales are for a

business and this is where computers come in.

Selling is a science which can be mastered and perfected. By using computers,

companies use a proven method to enhance their sales force and guarantee revenues.

Enormous numbers of computers ranging from small, inexpensive micro-sized units to

super computers are now being used in banks, financial institutions, and in almost all

private companies around the world.

In many businesses, especially corporate ones, the use of computers is a must. It

increases productivity, speed and accuracy. It continues to push innovation among all

industries. It guarantees a secure storage of vital information where the data can be

used over and over again in many years to come.

Background of the Study

The Philippine American Life and General Insurance Company, has been the

premier life insurance organization in the Philippines for over five decades now.

Leading the nation's life industry with 30% share of total premiums, Philamlife
insures over a million policyholders. It has the most extensive network of more than 200

offices throughout the Philippines, over 8,000 sales agents and 1,000 employees. It

offers the most comprehensive range of insurance products and services.

Philamlife was founded in 1947 by Cornelius V. Starr and Earl Carroll, two

visionary men who set out to help revive the post-war Philippine economy utilizing

Filipino resources and self-reliance. Through a nationwide campaign named "House of

Savings", the Company effectively tapped the resources of individual families and built

up a reservoir of capital that was channeled into various industries and sectors, thus,

helping spur the growth of the economy.

Through the years, Philamlife has effectively fulfilled its dual role of providing

financial protection to its policyholders, and helping in capital formation by converting

insurance premiums into investments.

Objectives of the Study

The main objective of the proponents' research is to design an online system that

will maximize the sales potential of a life-insurance agency and efficiently track all the

sales activities of each agent.

Specific Objectives:

1. To develop an online system to walk agents through the stages of the sales

process thus making sure agents follow a scientific approach in closing a sale.

2. To provide easy accessibility for the managers and staffs when tracking all the

sales activities of agents, but maintaining a level of security for private information.
 3. To develop a simple tool for agents to track their activities, clients, prospects

and future payments.

4. To provide a secure storage for all information and sales activities of an

agency.

Statement of the Problem

The researchers' interest to conduct an investigation has led them to understand

the company's present problems:

1. What are the demographic profiles of the respondents in terms of:

a. Age

b. Gender

c. Civil Status

d. Position

e. Length of Service

2. What are the common problems encountered during the implementation of the

existing system?

a. No clear sales process to guide the agents in every sale.

b. Prospect and client lists are done manually by agents.

c. Difficult and time consuming in keeping track of all schedules and

appointments.
 d. Inability of managers to keep track of the agents’ sales activities.

e. Storage of files is susceptible to be damaged as well as lost of files.

3. What is the difference between the existing system and the proposed system

in terms of the following:

a. Accuracy

b. Reliability

c. Efficiency

d. Speed

e. User-Friendliness

Assumptions

Based on the statements of the problem, the proponents have made a plan to

create an online sales management system that will guide all the agents through the

stages of a sales process thus maximizing the sales potential of the agency. The

following assumptions are as follows:

1. The common problems encountered during the implementations of the existing

system will be eliminated.

2. The stages of the sales process will guide the agents in closing more sales

and maximizing the sales potential of the agency.

3. Prospect and client databases will be computerized and easily updated.

 4. Managers will be able to easily track all of the agents’ performance thus

increasing overall management and productivity of the agency.

5. Storage of files is now safe, not susceptible to damage or breakage and can

be easily accessed.

Scope and Limitation

After several interviews and observations, the researchers have come to identify

how to maximize the sales potential of the agency. The aim of the research is to provide

a specific agency of PhilamLife an online sales management system. The proposed

system will track the sales activities of the agents and guide the agents through the

stages of the sales process.

The scope of this study are as follows:

- Tracking of prospect and client for every agent.

- Stages of the sales process for each prospect that includes fact finding, setting

of appointments, making the sales presentation and closing the sale.

- Automated computation of sale details for every sale and tracking of agent and

agency performance reports.

- Capability to approve or deny every sale.

- Automated email reminders to agents for upcoming payments of their respective

clients.
The limitations of this study are as follows:

- This study is limited to the sales process of the agency and will not account for

the billing and accounting of the clients since Philam Life has its own accounting

department.

- The products that will be attached to clients will only serve as tracking for

amount of premium, mode of payment and future payments and will not calculate the

billing information of the client.

- Only the commission, future payments and other sale details with regards to the

agent are computed.

- The database of the proposed system will only store information of agents and

clients that belong in the respective agency the system was made for.

- For management and security purposes, the manager will be able to track the

activities as a whole, while agents will be limited to track his own respective activity.

Significance of the Study

The proposed system would be very helpful to the following sectors:

Economical Significance. If implemented and used, the proposed software can

be considered to be economical because it can help the company strengthen their sales

revenues while decreasing company costs in paperwork.

Educational Significance. The outcome of the this study will be helpful to the

company beginning with the improvement of the system and for the future researchers

by providing an idea of this study that will somehow be of help in modifying or improving
the outcome of the research.

Social Significance. The manager or the authorized personnel as well as the

agents who would want to know the information of the data can get the records faster

and easier by accessing it online.

Technological Significance. The proponents had this study because it is

beneficial to the company’s managers and agents to have a computerized database of

clients and to have a safe storage of sales activities which can easily be accessed

online.

Direct Beneficiaries:

Proponents. Conducting this study is significant to the proponents because it

can add knowledge in their filed as in information technology student. It also develops

the communication, writing and grammar skills of the proponents. And most importantly

the proponents’ skill of making the proposed study enable them to research more about

the programming languages that best suits to the proposed system, and adds significant

knowledge and experience to the proponents capabilities of making a system.

Company. This study is significant to the company because it will improve the

productivity of its work place and increase the overall performance of its agencies in

terms of sales. It will also reduce the overall cost of the company since data are stored

online.

Managers. This study will make monitoring easier for the managers since all the

agents’ sales activities are easily accessible online.

Employees. This study will make the employees’ work faster and more efficient.
The employees will be able to focus on more productive work since a lot of paper work

has been reduced.

Agents. This study will maximize the earning potential of agents and help the

agents in organizing prospect lists, clienteles and future appointments. The agents will

also be able to easily track all their sales history online.