St. Pauls Debuts Agent Access Tech When JayFishman, chairman and chief executive officer of the St. Paul,Minn.-based insurer The St. Paul Companies, decided to introducethe companys new small market commercial business offerings toagents, he took the show on the road.

Mr. Fishman and a cadre of executives landed in New York City onthe companys 150^th birthday during the first week ofMarch, already in the middle of a multi-city swing to introduce thenew offering, named St. Paul MainStreet. He and the executives metwith more than 200 independent agents from the New York City areato introduce MainStreet and the technology backbone for agentsaccess to it, SPCXpress.

The new offering is designed for commercial small businessclients with revenues of less than $15 million and fewer than 100employees, the company said.

Marc Schmittlein, president, small commercial, said the companyasked agents what they need from carriers for a successful smallcommercial line practice.

Part of what came out of this process was the technology, Mr.Schmittlein said, which is designed to “provide quick answers” toagents about their small market accounts and to “take away theexpense and phone work” agencies spend on these accounts.

The new system is designed to be integrated with Applied and AMSagency management systems. It is one of a few insurance carriersystems, he said, that is designed to embrace SEMCI, [single-entry,multiple-company interface].

The SPCXpress application process allows agents to fill out anapplication online in a matter of minutes, said St. Paul. Withstandard risks, a policy can be quoted and purchased in a matter ofminutes. More complicated applications, needing an underwritersreview, would receive an answer within 24 hours.

MainStreet, the executives explained, is designed to respond tothe agents needs. The application process is made simple so anagent can quickly get an answer about whether there is coverageavailable through the St. Paul for a customers needs.

“After you spent a whole day getting a lead, wed better be ableto respond quickly to you,” observed Mr. Fishman. “There is nothingworse than a slow no.”

In a demonstration to journalists attending the New Yorkmeeting, Charlie Coon, assistant vice president, business processand systems for the St. Paul, explained how SPCXpress works.

The agent inputs information about the accounts risk profilethrough a series of screens, he noted. The process can be completedin minutes.

To speed up the process, data on the commercial account isobtained through Dun & Bradstreet. The information isautomatically generated into the system, avoiding the tedium offilling out a series of application screens, said Mr. Coon.

A traditional insurance risk, he asserted, will see a quotegenerated in a matter of minutes. The agent can then review thequote and add or delete specific coverage items on the policy,altering the quote.

The quote is good for 90 days. If the customer decides topurchase, the agent need only return to the account online and hitthe issue button, said Mr. Coon. As long as there is no need for anunderwriters review, the policy is in the mail the next day.

If an underwriter does need to review the policy, St. Paul saysthe agent will have an answer within 24 hours.

SPCXpress also supports IVANS Transformation Station and isbased on XML technology, enabling it to work with Internetwholesalers. Agents who do not want to use the companys proprietaryWeb page will be able to access the St. Pauls programs throughthese channels, Mr. Coon said.

St. Paul executives said the systems software is ready for moreSEMCI partnerships, but the rest of the industry is lagging behind.The executives were critical of other insurers who have not adoptedthe standards that would allow agents to easily communicate betweencarriers.

Marita Zuraitis, president and chief executive officer,commercial lines, for the St. Paul, said carriers who are notadopting the new technology are taking a “narrow minded” approachto business to protect their proprietary information. Thesecompanies do not want their quotes to be placed on a “spread sheet”for comparison with other carriers, but that is what agents do, sheobserved.

“These companies have a lack of understanding about what happensin every agency office each day,” she noted.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, May 12, 2003.Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serialpublication. All rights reserved. Copyright in this article as anindependent work may be held by the author.