What is the Certified Insurance Service Representative Program?
The Certified Insurance Service Representative (CISR) Program is an educational program designed for customer service representatives. The designation represents a benchmark for an insurance professional’s commitment to customer service and their client relationships.
What are the requirements to earn the CISR designation?
The CISR Program is an intermediate level insurance education program, and participants should have a working knowledge of the applicable policies that are covered in the program courses. To meet the requirements for the designation, CISR participants must complete and pass the corresponding examination of five of nine courses offered in the program. They have three calendar years after the year they passed their first examination to complete the designation.
The complete list of CISR courses include Agency Operations, Commercial Casualty I, Commercial Casualty II, Elements of Risk Management, Insuring Commercial Property, Insuring Personal Auto Exposures, Insuring Personal Residential Property, Life & Health Essentials, and Personal Lines Miscellaneous.
What are some details of the insurance-specific material in the CISR courses?
The program consists of nine, one-day courses all aimed at raising the standards of insurance knowledge and customer service. The courses cover essential aspects of commercial and personal lines coverages, exposures, and technical information. Course material also covers the latest forms for various foundational insurance policies for both personal and commercial lines.
Courses on the commercial lines side (Commercial Casualty I, Commercial Casualty II, and Insuring Commercial Property) cover key concepts and policies including legal liability, insured exposures, commercial general liability, business auto, workers’ compensation, excess liability, and commercial property coverages and exposures.
The CISR courses, Insuring Personal Auto Exposures and Insuring Personal Residential Property, cover foundational policies and concepts including elements of personal auto policy coverage, residential property and homeowners policies. An additional course, Personal Lines Miscellaneous, addresses coverages such as watercraft, recreational vehicles, personal excess liability, and business property of residential customers.
Finally, the course, Essentials of Life & Health, covers elements of life insurance policies and health insurance, including Medicare.
How do I make sure my CISR designation remains current?
To keep their CISR status current, designees must update their designation by completing an annual update program. CISRs can attend National Alliance one-day courses or 16-hour courses, receiving up to two years of update credit.
Courses that satisfy the annual CISR update include:
- Any 7-hour, classroom or online, CISR, CSRM, or William T. Hold course.
- Any two 4-hour, online, William T. Hold Seminars, Ethics or Insuring Flood Exposure courses.
- Any classroom or online CIC, CRM, or CPRM course. (Satisfies up to two years of update credit.)
- Any Ruble Graduate Seminar, MEGA Seminar, ProFocus Seminar, or Dynamics Series course. (Membership dues are required to receive update credit.)
What is a CISR Elite?
The CISR Elite Program demonstrates commitment to customer service and insurance knowledge at a level beyond the CISR Program. Insurance professionals who have already earned the CISR designation have the option of earning the more advanced CISR Elite status by completing the remaining four CISR courses and passing the respective exams within a three-year period.
Who should obtain a CISR designation?
While the CISR designation was created for account managers and customer service representatives, any employee of an agency, insurance company, or an insurance-related business is eligible to attend CISR courses and earn the designation. This includes agents as well as agency managers.
Specific targeted job roles include customer service representatives for both commercial and personal lines, broker marketing representatives, and account managers.
What is the value of earning the CISR designation?
The goal of a CISR designation is to empower insurance employees to provide exceptional account management and customer service. The CISR Program also offers career-building benefits for the insurance professional. Earning the CISR designation demonstrates that an account manager or customer service professional has technical knowledge and expertise in insurance and understands liability, exposures, and coverages.
CISRs keep their knowledge up to date with the latest coverages and forms by maintaining their designation.
What is the history of the CISR Program?
The CISR designation program dates back to 1986, when a group of Kansas CICs saw a demand for an intermediate-level training program for insurance customer service representatives. The first CISR designation was awarded in 1987, and by 1996, the CISR Program had expanded to all 50 states. In 2001, an online training option was introduced, giving participants online and in-person options to complete the CISR designation. Today, there are 28,200 CISRs nationwide.
What are the available formats of the CISR Program courses?
All CISR courses are available in three formats: self-paced online instruction; live, in-person classroom instruction; and online, instructor-led webinars. Insurance professionals have the option of choosing the format that works best for them. Online courses are accessible by computer, tablet, or smartphone, creating flexible and versatile options for participants. Each course consists of 7-hours of classroom instruction.
All CISR courses are taught by active insurance practitioners with expertise in the field. Courses are taught with the latest industry information, including forms and policies used by insurance professionals every day. The National Alliance CISR courses are continuously reviewed, updated, and expanded in order to meet the needs of the industry and its professionals.
What happens to my TIIA designation and credits?
Starting January 31, 2023, IIAT will no longer offer live TIIA classes. If you have earned the TIIA designation, it will remain active.
Already have the TIIA designation?
Haven't completed the TIIA designation, but have earned credits?
- How you can still earn the TIIA & add the CISR designation to your credentials
- How to possibly transfer your TIIA credits towards the CISR if you choose not to complete the TIIA designation
Questions?
For general questions about TIIA and CISR designation and classes, please contact IIAT’s Felicia Rodriguez at education1@iiat.org or 512.493.2413.
If you have any questions regarding your credits in the CISR Program, you may contact Jonathan Hernandez, at The National Alliance, 800-633-2165 ext. 3314 or jhernandez@scic.com.
