AUGIE Survey Complete

To The Editor:

The ACORD-User Groups Information Exchange, known as AUGIE,recently completed surveying agents across the country as to theirattitudes toward technology and interfacing with their carrierpartners. The response to the online survey was unparalleled inthat nearly 9,000 surveys were taken.

The survey was created by a broad coalition of industryparticipants, from user group leaderships, to agency managementsystem vendors, to numerous carriers and associations. The successof this project was due to the dedication and commitment of themore than 150 people who share the vision of AUGIE–by collaboratingtoday we can plan together for tomorrow.

The agents, principals and CSRs who took the time to completethe survey must also be recognized. Without their willingness toshare information, opinions and insights with their carrierpartners, the relationships upon which the independent agencysystem is based won't thrive.

The results of the AUGIE survey are being compiled and analyzed.The full report and AUGIE summary should be completed fordistribution this month. In the meantime, a preliminarypresentation of some of the basic findings can be found atwww.acord.org/augie.

As an independent agent for more than 30 years, I want toparticularly thank the nine national user groups (AMSUG, ARIAS,ASCnet, DORIS Users Group, Ebix Users Association, IRS-AIMS UsersGroup, InStar Users Group, NASPA, and VRC Insurance Partners) thathave been the driving force behind AUGIE since its inception 18months ago. Their leadership is a model of cooperation from whichthe entire industry can learn.

On behalf of the ACORD board of directors, I want to thank allof the AUGIE participants during this very important industryproject.

Carl L. Gaspar, CPCU
Chairman
ACORD
Pearl River, N.Y.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property &Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, April 1, 2002.Copyright 2002 by The National Underwriter Company in the serialpublication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as anindependent work may be held by the author.