In the early 1990s, I got involved with our agency managementsystem user group. The concept made a lot of sense to me. I didn'thave all of the answers--and I suspected nobody else did--but byworking together, we could each learn and achieve more than if wetried to muddle through the system on our own.

I threw myself into user group activities, serving first on ourinternational user group's product development committee.

I also became involved with our local chapter in BritishColumbia, where I lived at the time.

Then the unthinkable happened. Our leading competitor in townbought the same agency management system we had, and I found myselfwondering about the implications of "sleeping with the enemy."

Guess what? The sun rose the next day, just as it had since thebeginning of time. My paycheck appeared the following week, just asit had for years. And I continued to learn more about how thesystem could help my operation. I suspect those who worked for mycompetitor did, as well.

The collaboration between agencies--competitors, even--did notcompromise our independence. More than a dozen years later, ouragency continues to profit from technology and workflowimprovements, in large part because of what we learn from, and giveback to our user group.

For the past year, I've been honored to serve as president ofour international user group. I continue to be impressed by agents'and brokers' willingness to share experiences, successes andchallenges with fellow users--and to work together for a commonoutcome.

This happens in meetings, conference calls, Web seminars andeven online, in news-group style exchanges.

Through my involvement, I've also had opportunities toparticipate in industrywide efforts that placed me side-by-sidewith principals who use (dare I say it?) other agency managementsystems.

These collaborative efforts are part of a growing movement tofind broader solutions to problems we all face.

Participants faithfully leave their user group hats at the doorand work on common problems. Whether representing tens of thousandsof users or, perhaps, just hundreds, each participant bringsinsights and perspectives that benefit the entire group.

Our shared work is delivering results, making technology andworkflows work better and more profitably.

Through AUGIE (the ACORD User Groups Information Exchange), forinstance, diverse user groups worked together to develop a resourcethat agents and brokers can use to get more from their dealingswith carrier marketing reps.

We've created a guide to help agencies understand commerciallines download issues, and how best to implement it.

We've crafted tools to help document cost savings available fromtechnology.

And we're working to drive real-time technology throughout theentire distribution system.

More than that, we've increased dialogue with vendors andcarriers, building on the work ACORD has done in standardsdevelopment and what ACT (the Agents Council for Technology,launched by the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers ofAmerica) has done with agency automation.

In these collaborative efforts, several benefits have becomeapparent.

First is the exposure to other viewpoints and methodologies.It's impossible to bring a diverse group of professionals togetherwithout gaining a wealth of new ideas and perspectives. If thecollaboration ended with no product, this would, in itself, bepositive.

But it doesn't end there. Having a diverse group work togetheron a project or initiative broadens ownership of the process andthe end product. This makes communication and implementationeasier.

For instance, the various user groups that took part indeveloping industrywide solutions each can go back to their membersand explain the result and encourage all members to get onboard.

Finally, collaboration generates critical mass that can help inadoption and implementation. Having several user groups develop andpresent ideas to carriers or vendors carries more validity andweight than a request from a lone user group.

Observing these benefits has created in me a desire to find newopportunities for collaboration, including within the user group aswell as in agent and broker associations.

There are many objectives we can achieve by presenting a unifiedfront, one that comes by joint development work. This can involvelocal and not-so-local initiatives.

For instance, as regional issues come up, it's easy to foreseelocal brokers coming together to drive positive change.

The same holds true within the office, especially as it relatesto technology. By bringing more staff members--including some ofthe younger ones--into our strategic and tactical planning work,we'll see a broad range of new and innovative ideas.

Who knows better how to handle instant messaging or a blog thanour next generation of leaders? At the same time, we'll boostacceptance of our direction and make communicating that mucheasier.

In the end, that will help our operations profit even more fromtechnology and workflow improvements.