By Earl Kelly
A recent IVANS carrier survey showed that, faced with a continued soft market in 2010, 93% of insurance carriers are increasing investment in automation technologies to improve operational efficiency. “Adoption of technologies that streamline transactions between insurance carriers and agents will continue to grow in 2010,” IVANS noted, “as carriers look for ways to maintain profitability in a sluggish economy.”
As many of my fellow newsgroupies know, I recently met a company that was doing this very thing—or at least they thought they were. It was at a meeting of the Florida Users Group in Lakeland that representatives of a regional carrier’s IT department came to get agent and broker feedback on their recently enhanced website.
The reps did a good job of explaining the site, highlighting specific features and showcasing what they believed were important new improvements. The key words in that sentence were “what they believed were important.”
After considerable discussion, attendees were in agreement: All of the bells and whistles on the carrier’s fancy website were, while attractive, relatively unimpressive, at least in terms of functionality. Overwhelmingly, what users said they want is more integration with Real Time and Download. The message was loud and clear.
The reps learned—amid surprise—that the enhancements they came to tout were far less important to users than they were to themselves. But they left the meeting with something that was much more valuable than rave reviews of their new site. They got practical, actionable feedback.
That got me thinking. Why do these situations replay themselves day in and day out? Why are company personnel surprised every time they occur? Is it because we as agents—and by agents, I mean everyone in the agency—don’t speak up? Is it because carriers ask the wrong people or not enough of them? Is there fear?
As an IT manager and Web developer, when I set out to design a new feature, I rarely get feedback on what users really want or need. Too often, I make educated guesses in my quest for useable end products. I sense carrier IT professionals (and yes, they are generally quite good at what they do) are in the same boat.
Don't get me wrong. Many carrier websites perform quite well at providing information—information we’d otherwise have to call to get. But what we really need is a way to get this information through one interface; with Real Time and Download, this is possible.
Change won’t happen on its own. As agency professionals, we must do a better job of letting carriers know what we want. Don’t assume they know, and don’t let them drive functionality changes or strategies based on what a few hand-selected attendees, who may or may not understand workflows, might say at their agent advisory council meetings.
ASCnet, through its Industry Solutions Committee and its diligent work on industry initiatives like ACT and AUGIE, is doing great work, but organizations can only do so much.
Agents, CSRs and other front-line users, those of us who deal with companies day in and day out, are the ones who can effect change. We need to stand up and say, "We're not going to take it anymore" if we expect to see meaningful improvements.
Feedback void is extremely frustrating. Don’t allow it to occur. The next time a carrier rep comes into your office or chapter meeting with their dog-and-pony show, butch up. Put on your big-boy or big-girl pants. Take a stand. Ask where the real-time integration and download are or when to expect it. Help them understand that individual websites aren’t the answer.
Responses I’ve gotten from newsgroup posts on this topic have been encouraging. Some understand the challenge and are ready to step forward. But what about the rest of you? Will you stand up and say what you want? Will you tell carriers “we’re not going to take it anymore”?
Be diligent. Don’t give up. Don’t let interim failures—Brian Bartosh calls them “speed bumps”—deter your enthusiasm.
As the IVANS survey pointed out, carriers are working with finite resources. They want to invest in projects that will have the greatest impact on their business. Make sure they understand that Real Time and Download are investments that will help us all—agents and carriers, alike—boost business and, as a result, profits.
Does this make sense? Are you with me? How can we do a better job of getting this message out?
Earl Kelly is IT systems manager at Greene-Hazel & Associates, Inc., a Jacksonville, Fla., agency, vice president of the North Florida Users Group and a member of the ASCnet Member Relations Committee. AUGIE—the collaboration of ASCnet,and other user groups, ACORD and our business partners that Earl mentioned in the article—has developed a resource, titled Product Agency Visits for Insurance Carriers, designed to help agencies share their needs, particularly as they relate to technology.