What are the key technology, business and consumer trends thatare likely to change how we do business? What are the implicationsof these trends for independent agencies, carriers and technologyproviders? What can the industry agree upon as “must do” issues sothat we are fully prepared for the new competitive landscape?

Throughout 2006, the Strategic Issues Work Group of the AgentsCouncil For Technology has worked to identify key trends aboutwhich we had a high degree of certainty.

Among them:

o Consumers will look first on the Internet for information andservice providers.

o Search engines will increasingly drive consumers' choices.

o Next-generation Web sites will marry video, voice and graphicsfor real-time access to service representatives.

o Baby Boomers will remain active and “re-engage.”

o Generations X and Y will be raising kids, owning homes, andrunning businesses.

o Time will be in very short supply.

o The Internet will provide access to more insuranceinformation, creating more choices and greater complexity.

o Trust in businesses and institutions will be a real issue forthe public.

For our businesses, these trends mean that consumers willincreasingly expect an immediate response, and that means oureffective implementation of real-time is critical to meeting thesecustomer expectations.

Among some of ACT's other conclusions:

o Portable devices will enhance agents' and carriers' ability tobe immediately available and to be more efficient.

o Communicating through the Internet, as well as theproliferation of portable devices, will increase our security risksand put customer information at greater risk.

o Being a networked agency or carrier that uses technologyeffectively will increasingly be a hallmark of professionalism andease of doing business.

o It will be important for agencies to have a meaningfulpresence on the Web and to have their Web sites found by consumersusing search engines

o Generations X and Y, and many Baby Boomers, will want agenciesthat use technology effectively.

o Agencies will need to be available when customers want toaccess them, often after normal business hours.

o Independent agencies have a great opportunity to appeal toconsumers by becoming trusted advisors, helping customers cutthrough all the choices and complexity and saving them time.

ACT's next step was to determine the initiatives the industry“must do” in order to be prepared to meet these trends andimplications. At ACT's September 2006 meeting, the industry agreedto tackle these issues:

o Move the industry's predominant workflow to real-time anddownload.

o Achieve a consistent industry strategy on security.

o Create an ongoing agent-carrier Workflow ImprovementForum.

o Increase the presence and visibility of agency Web sites andmaximize the customer experience they provide.

oContinue an ongoing dialogue on future trends and theirimplications.

These “must do” issues are fueling ACT's current agenda, and weseek to get as broad an industry participation and buy-in to themas possible.

A great example is the recently launched Real-Time/DownloadCampaign. Its goal is to double the number of real-time inquiriesand transactions over the next year.

ACT and the ACORD User Groups Information Exchange–better knownas AUGIE–advocated for the Real-Time/Download Campaign's creationand have provided much of the staff support.

However, it has since become an all-industry undertaking thatwill depend on the active promotion and support of agencies,carriers, technology providers, user groups and agent and industryassociations for its success.

Campaign supporters will use a special logo on their Web sites(seen with this article) and ads and in their real-timecommunications. The campaign's dedicated site, www.getrealtime.org,is designed to give agents practical implementation information onboth real-time and download, as well as to provide direct links tovendor pages for vendor-specific implementation and troubleshootinginformation.

The site also will contain links to carrier-specific, real-timeand download information. The campaign has developed an agencyreal-time implementation guide that includes the benefits of usingreal-time, the types of functionality available, the workflows, andimplementation tips.

Also featured on the Web site is the Stakeholders Commitmentsdocument, which delineates the actions the campaign requests eachgroup of stakeholders to take to foster the growth of real-time andto promote the campaign.

SECURITY

In addition, ACT's Emerging Security Issues Work Group hassought to raise agencies' awareness of the security risks theyface. Its guide, “Protecting Agency Customer Information fromIdentity Theft,” provides a great overview of the issues agentsneed to be thinking about, especially as they begin to takeportable devices outside of the agency's perimeter.

The guide is available on the ACT Web site at “AgencyImprovement Tools.”

The work group is now exploring the possibility the industrywill form a Security and Privacy Alliance to serve as an ongoingentity focused on creating more consistent security strategies,especially as they impact independent agencies that must deal withthe policies of multiple carriers.

Such an alliance would consider setting up a system of digitalidentities (such as digital certificates) to authenticate agencyemployees on carrier Web sites and systems to replace the currentuse of passwords, which are a nightmare for agencies to administerand less secure than digital identities. This digital identitywould be issued by a trusted third party to each agency employeeand would be accepted by all participating carriers.

ACT also has established a Workflow Improvement Forum to providean ongoing focus on the improvement of agency-carrier workflows.One of the key workflow segments being addressed–marketing accountsfor competitive rates–has already become an all-industry initiativethat ACT and AUGIE are administering together.

A major issue this group is wrestling with is how we movesecuring the MVR and loss reports to the beginning of the real-timerating process, rather than at the end, to get accurate rates. Theforum is also addressing data-related issues and endorsements andchecking downloads and issued policy-related documents forcorrectness.

WEB RULES

ACT has also established a working group to assist agencies inbecoming better-positioned on the Web. This work group hosted apanel of search experts at the February ACT meeting, and out ofthis discussion, the work group will prepare a primer to assistagencies in getting positioned for both organic and paidsearch.

We also are preparing a best practices guide for agency Websites and have a subgroup discussing how we can extend real-timefunctionality provided by carriers to customers through agency Websites. Customer billing inquiries and payment transactions arebeing looked at as a logical first step because of their frequencyand the likelihood of fewer security risks.

Finally, ACT is participating with AUGIE in the development ofthe new Power of Change seminar, which is designed to help agencieslead their staffs through a process to eliminate workflowinefficiencies and incorporate improved technologies, such asreal-time and commercial lines download.

We expect agent associations, user groups and carriers to hostthis seminar to help their agencies undertake the change processmost effectively, achieve employee buy-in for the workflow and makethe functional changes necessary to remain well-positionedcompetitors.