How Cross Pointe Insurance Advisors Cut Manual Statement Processing Time by Nearly 70%
How Cross Pointe Insurance Advisors Cut Manual Statement Processing Time by Nearly 70%
Direct bill automation helps reduce time spent on manual accounting tasks and increase time focused on clients and growth.
THE METRICS
- 2x improvement in matching accuracy
- 67% reduction in time spent on direct bill reconciliation
- 100% coordination across AMS360 and BenefitPoint
We are committed to investing in technology that allows our teams to focus on clients and growth, not manual tasks. Ascend’s automation technology has improved our Direct Bill process and provided an amazing onboarding and integration experience for our team.
Noah Styles, COO
Customer type
Customer size
180
Integrations
AMS360, BenefitPoint
HQ
Fort Smith, AR
About
Founded in 1882, Cross Pointe Insurance Advisors is one of the oldest and largest independent insurance agencies in Arkansas. With 15 offices across Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma, Cross Pointe Insurance Advisor continues its long-standing mission to educate and serve its communities with tailored insurance solutions. Through its independent model, the agency empowers clients with personalized, best-fit coverage options to meet their needs.
It’s rapid growth—tripling in size over the last five years—has prompted a renewed focus on operational efficiency, especially in streamlining billing and accounting processes.
Challenges
As the agency scaled, so did the complexity of managing direct bill commission statements—particularly from major partners like Blue Cross Blue Shield. With an annual direct bill revenue of $16M+ and high volumes of statements, the accounting team at Cross Pointe was running into:
- Manual Burden: A single team member was dedicated to processing statements, spending 36 hours per week handling repetitive tasks and error-checking due to inconsistent or incomplete carrier data (e.g., missing dates or policy numbers).
- Inconsistent Statement Formats: Carrier statements came in varying formats with inconsistent levels of detail, requiring time-intensive manual input for complex benefit structures.
- Data Discrepancies: Policy mismatches, outdated data, and multi-line entries across systems created bottlenecks and risked unapplied cash at month-end.
With a goal to reconcile 100% of statements by month-end without unapplied cash, the team realized they needed an automated, scalable solution. However, they were also wary of potential disruptions, the need for high data quality, and whether they’d be trading one problem for another.
Solution
Cross Pointe Insurance Advisors partnered with Ascend to modernize and automate their commission reconciliation processes. Ascend’s AI-powered Direct Bill Automation platform was implemented to work seamlessly with their existing AMS360 and BenefitPoint systems—streamlining workflows, improving accuracy, and freeing the team from tedious manual tasks. The solution delivered:
- AI-driven automation that eliminated data entry, regardless of commission statement format
- Intelligent policy matching within AMS, with suggested matches and tools to resolve exceptions quickly
- Continuous month-over-month improvements to automatch rates as the AI learns data patterns unique to the agency and carrier
- Seamless posting back into both AMS360 and BenefitPoint to keep general ledgers fully up to date
Results
Cross Pointe Insurance Advisors transformed their manual and time-consuming reconciliation process into a scalable, efficient system—with measurable results:
- 67% reduction in time spent on the direct bill reconciliation process, from 36 hours weekly to 12 hours weekly
- More than 2X improvement in matching accuracy (from 40% to 85%+)
- Seamless coordination across AMS360 and BenefitPoint, enabling faster close and cleaner books
- Smooth acquisition integration: After acquiring another agency in April 2025, Gwen reported that onboarding the newly acquired policy data and statements was “abnormally seamless” with Ascend—saving the team significant stress during what is typically a chaotic process
With Ascend as a foundational automation partner, Cross Pointe is now better equipped to support its continued growth via acquisitions. Their newfound efficiency in billing and reconciliation is helping set the stage for a more scalable, intelligent back-office operation—one that’s primed to support both clients and team members into the future.
The commission split structure takes up nearly 75% of our time manually. The hours we spend each month resolving exceptions were the same hours we spent again next month on the exact same issues - but not with Ascend.
Gwen Lehmkuhl, Direct Bill Leader