We Compared Three myCOI Alternatives for COI Tracking— Here’s What We Found Out

In this guide, we’ll dive into the strengths and weaknesses of the myCOI platform for COI tracking, as well as analyze the pros and cons of three myCOI alternatives: Jones, Ebix, and Docutrax. Here’s a quick recap:

—Jones is known for its quick document review times (under 24 hours), as well as experience reviewing complex and uncommon insurance documents and endorsements. In addition, Jones offers integrations with common accounting software like Viewpoint Vista, CMiC, and Sage 300, as well as being the only insurance compliance software with an embedded Procore integration.

—Ebix manages subcontractor communications, and helps to centralize all insurance information in one single source of truth. However, in light of their recent bankruptcy filing we have more questions than answers about the long term health of their COI tracking solution. 

—Docutrax offers their services at a reasonable price point, and can help construction companies and CRE brands gain visibility into the reason third-party insurance documents are noncompliant. Their lower price point does come at a cost, with a dated interface, no COI collection, and slow implementation times being concerns for Docusign customers.

In this guide:

—myCOI

—Jones

—Ebix CertsOnline

—Docutrax

Overview of myCOI

myCOI is a legacy player in the COI tracking space, managing COIs and endorsements for organizations in various industries for over 15 years. 

Strengths of myCOI

Wide Range of Industries Served

myCOI serves a broad and disparate range of industries, including manufacturing, aviation, and cannabis sales. Regardless of your sector, if you’re an organization looking to collect and review third-party COIs and endorsements there’s a good chance myCOI will be willing to work with you.   

Expiration Date Tracking Capabilities

Having all of your vendor, tenant, or subcontractor insurance documentation stored in a central repository is great, but what about giving you visibility into when the documents are due to expire? myCOI provides alerts to keep users up to date on expiring documents, and can help ensure renewals are managed in a timely manner. 

High Quality of Support Staff

Multiple online reviews highlight the supportive and informed nature of the myCOI team. Even when issues around long document review times or a lack of standardized document naming system bubble to the surface, the myCOI team has been noted for their helpful attitude and problem solving skills.

Weaknesses of myCOI

Users Report Slow Document Review Times

Many myCOI users looking for myCOI alternatives will be all too familiar with myCOI’s difficulty turning around insurance document reviews in a timely manner, particularly during busy periods of the year. Multiple former myCOI customers who have since switched to Jones have cited lengthy document review times as their primary reason for exploring different software.

Poor Experience for Vendors and Subcontractors

Online reviews from vendors and subcontractors who have to upload insurance documents to the myCOI portal cite network instability, unclear instructions, and complicated login credentials as major pain points. Alienating your vendor or subcontractor base by implementing a software that makes submitting their insurance documents more difficult is not an ideal result when trying to improve your insurance compliance program.

Limited Capabilities of Procore Integration

Former myCOI customers have reported that their Procore integration is “there, but not wonderful” and doesn’t always function as intended. They’ve cited inconsistencies in information syncing between myCOI and Procore, limited COI management options within Procore, and the need for repeated data entry as pain points of myCOI’s Procore integration. While myCOI’s Procore integration is functional, construction companies that use Procore would be better off finding a software solution that allows them to handle subcontractor compliance tasks like requesting a COI directly from within Procore.

Quick Recap of myCOI

myCOI’s breadth of experience and helpful support team make them an attractive option for organizations in niche industries, but customers in the commercial real estate and construction sectors should consider alternatives due to lengthy review times, poor experiences for vendors and subs, and underwhelming integration capabilities.

myCOI Alternatives #1: Jones

Jones manages the collection and review of COIs and endorsements for property management and construction companies. With several CRE portfolios over 20 million square feet and multiple ENR top 100 GCs as customers, Jones has a track record of supporting insurance compliance strategies for leaders in these two risk-heavy industries.

Strengths of Jones

Powerful Procore Integration Allows GCs to Manage Subcontractor COIs within Procore

Jones is the only insurance compliance software with an embedded Procore integration (learn more about embedded integrations here). Put simply, that means Procore customers who use Jones can do things like request a subcontractor COI from directly within Procore. As one contract manager who currently uses Jones and Procore said, “Jones isn’t the only compliance company out there, but the strength of their direct integration with Procore clinched the deal for us. We decided we weren’t even going to waste our time talking to anybody else because of how much we liked the Jones-Procore integration!”

Document Review Times Under 24 Hours

Every delayed COI and endorsement review adds up to cost overruns and pushed back project completion dates. For GCs looking to get jobs on time and under budget, Jones is an excellent choice for managing subcontractor insurance compliance as Jones reviews COIs and endorsements in under 24 hours. With Jones, enforcing subcontractor compliance no longer runs in opposition to getting projects done on time. 

Familiarity with Construction-Specific Insurance Documents and Endorsements

Worried about using a software to manage the collection of your subcontractor COIs and endorsements because it might not be specific or specialized enough to implement your insurance risk strategy? Jones is familiar with construction-specific endorsement language, including tenants-only and contractual privity verbiage, and GCs can customize the way Jones reviews their subcontractor insurance documents. For example, Jones would flag a CG 72 46 11 15 as noncompliant for Additional Insured for Completed Operations because of contractual privity language that precludes coverage to a project owner. Read on here for more on how Jones reviews complicated insurance documents for compliance. 

Weaknesses of Jones

Only Serves Two Industries

Unfortunately for companies that aren’t in either construction or commercial real estate, Jones is not an option for them. Jones is built with the needs of GC and CRE organizations in mind, and has been optimized for the unique needs of these two sectors. Companies that aren’t in one of these industries will have to look elsewhere when trying to select an insurance compliance management solution. 

No Self Service Model

Some companies would prefer a self-service model that puts them in charge of the collection and review of third-party COIs and endorsements rather than having it be managed by an external organization. There are companies in the insurance compliance management industry who do offer self-serve models that are essentially just well organized spreadsheets with conditional formatting. If you’re confident in the ability of your team to quickly and accurately collect and review subcontractor insurance documents and just want a better spreadsheet to enable them, Jones probably isn’t the right choice for your organization. However, if you want granular, expert quality insurance document review, you shouldn’t be looking for a self-service model.

Quick Recap of Jones

Jones is a great choice for construction companies or commercial real estate organizations looking to reduce their insurance risk through better management of vendor, tenant, and subcontractor COIs and endorsements. With specialized insurance document review expertise, powerful embedded integrations with popular ConTech and PropTech software, and the fastest review times amongst its competitors, Jones should be the first stop for any risk-focused GC or CRE organization looking for myCOI alternatives.

myCOI Alternatives #2: Ebix CertsOnline

Ebix is a multinational, publicly traded enterprise software company that offers a COI tracking solution called CertsOnline. While the fact they are one of the largest software companies that offers a COI tracking module might inspire some confidence for companies shopping for myCOI alternatives, their recent bankruptcy filing should cause any organization looking into their services to reconsider. 

Strengths of Ebix CertsOnline

Publicly Traded Company

Ebix is a publicly traded company, listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. For organizations that are apprehensive about working with a startup (like several of the companies on this list), a publicly traded presence might be reassuring. However, in wake of the bankruptcy, their status as publicly listed is probably less reassuring. 

Handles Communications with Subcontractors and Vendors

One positive point that we saw cited in a variety of reviews of CertsOnline was that the Ebix team handles requests for new COIs and endorsements as well as renewals, which takes work off the plate of teams at customer organizations. By managing one of the more cumbersome parts of the COI collection and review process, CertsOnline gives PMs, contract managers, and risk teams time back to prioritize other responsibilities rather than playing phone tag with subcontractors and vendors.

Weaknesses of Ebix

Uncertain Future Following Bankruptcy Filing

Ebix filed for bankruptcy in December 2023 after defaulting on a 617 million dollar loan. While there has been discussion of sales of parts of Ebix’s book of business, the overall lack of clarity around the future of the company is a large red flag for companies looking for a software to manage their COIs and endorsements. Former Ebix customers who have since switched to Jones reported disruptions to their day to day workflows that necessitated a rapid change. Fortunately, Jones specializes in transitioning companies off the Ebix platform.

Users Complain About Slow Software Speed

Multiple online reviews cited the slow speed of CertsOnline being a major and consistent inconvenience. This extends to both the user experience for GCs/CRE portfolios, as well as for the vendor or subcontractor experience. The slow operating speed of the application means neither your internal teams nor your vendor or subcontractor base will be particularly fond of having to use CertsOnline to manage their insurance compliance documents.

Document Reviews Can Take Several Days

Several former Ebix customers have noted that document reviews can take days, if not weeks, to be completed. While the bankruptcy could be a factor in disrupting day to day operations, we had heard complaints about Ebix’s slow document review times prior to the bankruptcy. For several former Ebix customers now on Jones, the slow speed of Ebix’s document reviews were one of the primary reasons they began exploring other COI management solutions. 

Quick Recap of Ebix CertsOnline

While Ebix appeared to be a solid option for COI management before late 2023 due to their size and publicly traded presence, their recent bankruptcy declaration and the lack of clarity over the future of CertsOnline means organizations should look at other myCOI alternatives for help managing the collection and review of their vendor and subcontractor COIs.

myCOI Alternatives #3: Docutrax

Docutrax is another legacy software vendor in the insurance document compliance space, operating since 2009. Their low cost, no-frills offering is lacking premium features but often comes in cheaper than other myCOI alternatives.

Strengths of Docutrax

Provides Visibility Into Subcontractor Insurance Gaps

Reviews highlighted the fact that it’s easy to check compliance status in Docutrax as a strength of the program. By hovering over a vendor, tenant, or sub, you can immediately get insight into the third-party’s compliance status, as well as highlighting areas of noncompliance. 

Inexpensive Compared to Competitors

The price of Docutrax compared to some of the more robust solutions in the industry can be a selling point for a company not looking to spend a large amount on an insurance compliance platform. However there are serious tradeoffs to the low price point of Docutrax, as we’ll get into when examining the weaknesses of the platform.

Weaknesses of Docutrax

Dated Interface

Both online reviews and feedback from former customers cited the dated and unintuitive user interface of Docutrax as a major drawback of the software. Trying to navigate around the product is difficult and time consuming, and it doesn’t always function as you’d expect. 

Former Customers Report Slow Implementation Time

Several current Jones customers who switched from Docutrax were initially apprehensive about switching to Jones because of how lengthy and frustrating their implementation with Docutrax was. However, after transitioning to the Jones platform these customers quickly realized that a long and painful onboarding experience was not a commonality of all insurance compliance tools and was in fact just a major issue with Docutrax.

Does Not Handle Collection of Third-Party COIs

Former Docutrax customers have mentioned that they still had to do quite a bit of manual outreach to vendors, tenants, and subcontractors to collect insurance documents. Instead of Docutrax going out and collecting COIs and endorsements from third-parties, property management or contract teams using Docutrax have to manually request and upload all the COIs and endorsements they need reviewed. For a COI management platform, collection of vendor, tenant and subcontractor documents is a bare minimum requirement—here’s how Jones makes sure no third-party insurance documents go uncollected.

Quick Recap

Construction companies and CRE portfolios that are looking for a cheap, no-frills insurance compliance management software can do worse than Docusign, but should realize that they’re still going to be in charge of much of the heavy lifting required to enforce their insurance risk strategy.

Key Takeaways About myCOI Alternatives

If you’re looking to leave myCOI for a better COI management solution, you’re not alone. Fortunately, there are strong myCOI alternatives out there that make the collection and review of third-party insurance documents easy. If you’re looking for the top solution on the market, look no further than Jones. Get in touch with us via the form below to learn more about how you can successfully transition from myCOI to Jones.

What is an Embedded Integration?

An embedded integration both sends data to and receives data from Procore, and appears directly within the Procore app. Put simply, that means the two softwares communicate back and forth, and users don’t need to switch between Procore and Jones in order to perform COI management tasks. For example, the Jones Procore integration allows you to request a COI from a subcontractor directly in Procore rather than from the Jones app.