Let's say you are about to play “Insurance Jeopardy.” You scanthe list of available categories, take a deep breath and go rightfor the toughest challenge. You say, “I'll take 'Technology forIndependent Agencies' for $2,500.”

The host smiles as he says: “The answer is: 'They are at theheart of the next generation of processing tools for theindependent agency system.'”

You nod and nail it. “What are real-time rating and servicingworkflows?”

How many of you would have provided the correct question to thatanswer? I would guess, not too many. That's because, unfortunately,real time has been one of the best-kept secrets in theindustry.

But that anonymity is fading fast, thanks in large part to aconcerted industrywide initiative to raise awareness–the RealTime/Download Campaign. Its primary mission is to convince agentsand carriers to implement real-time rating and servicing workflows.(For more on how the campaign is playing out, see page 23.)

For the better part of the last two decades, agents and carriershave sought more efficient, streamlined models for processingtransactions. Single-entry, multiple company interface–better knownas SEMCI–was the Holy Grail that was pursued the longest, but thechallenge proved more difficult than imagined.

Through the years, the industry searched for solutions toalleviate the time it takes agencies to obtain quotes, respond toservice requests, as well as process new and renewaltransactions–thus better position agencies to compete with otherinsurance providers.

The search has continued because agents and customer servicerepresentatives are frustrated with the model currently in useacross most of the agency system. Many see company Web sites as astep backward in the drive to a more efficient business model.

The 2006 Agency Technology Survey by AUGIE–the ACORD-User GroupInformation Exchange–sheds light on this sentiment. The surveyfound 78 percent of agents say difficulty in obtaining multiplequotes has limited the number of carriers from which they seekquotes. More than three-fourths say they'd be more likely to choosea carrier if their agency management system could prefill somefields on a carrier's proprietary Web site.

Most recently, real time stepped to the forefront as the leadingautomation-based solution for agencies and carriers. Real-timerating and servicing workflows enable agencies to process all typesof transactions–from rate quotes and billing inquiries, to requestsfor information and claims inquiries–directly from their managementsystems.

The advantage of real-time systems over company Web sites isthat they provide a single workflow for servicing or quoting.Therefore agencies can train employees on a single workflow ratherthan for the Web sites of all their companies.

Real-time workflows also minimize double-entry of customer databy pulling that information from the management system, althoughthe most attractive attribute is the savings in time andexpense.

Research by ASCnet–the Applied Systems Client Network–shows thaton average it takes a CSR four minutes to process transactionsusing a carrier Web site, while it takes one minute to usereal-time workflows to process the same transactions via themanagement system.

Using those baseline numbers as a measuring stick, if a CSRmaking $20-an-hour processed 10 transactions a day–or 200monthly–at the end of a year the CSR would save a total of 15 daysand the agency would save $2,400.

Of course, your agency's results would vary. To determine youragency's time-savings, keep a log of the time it takes your CSRs toprocess transactions on your carriers' Web sites. Then do the mathusing the ASCnet example above.

No matter how you slice it, real-time workflows will free uptime in your agency that can be put to better use. In agencieswhere real-time workflows are the norm–like our own–agents and CSRsare using this “found” time to close new sales, round-out existingaccounts, and proactively reach out to customers and prospects.

Looking at it from the customer's perspective, real-timeworkflows mean immediate answers to requests for policyinformation, additional coverage and claims-handling. This improvedservice helps significantly solidify the agency-client relationshipand positions independent agencies as stronger competitors withdirect writers and captive agents.

Implementing real-time rating and servicing workflows is easierthan you think, because agency management systems already includethe functionality, and more carriers are implementing theworkflows.

But carriers want more agencies to adopt real-time workflowsbefore they will expand it to all product lines. To be mosteffective, it is critical real time is used by all your employeesfor every transaction possible.

You can influence carriers to implement real-time workflows byadvocating adoption during agency council meetings, marketingmeetings and one-on-one discussions. Tell company decision-makersthat real-time rating and servicing will be your mainstreamworkflow, and ask carriers to adopt them.

Explain the benefits–time and cost savings, consistent workflow,single-entry, immediate customer service response and more newsales.

Once you implement the workflows, you and your staff will agreereal-time rating and servicing is the answer for the agency system,and you won't want to transact business any other way.