A healthy and accessible on-line presence has become tantamount to success these days regardless of the industry, and insurance is certainly no exception. Yet much more work needs to be done to get insurers onto the fast lane of the proverbial information superhighway, one leading carrier official contends.

Randy Patton, a director at Allstate, will go into depth about how to make a bigger mark on the Web here this morning, at 10:15 a.m., in his presentation on "Interactive On-line Presence: Table Stakes For Growth."

"Whether companies have a strong on-line presence, are building a business case or are looking to define direction and maximize planned investment in an on-line channel, there is much they can learn from customers, the competition in financial markets, and successful on-line players across industries," the conference program notes.

Among the questions to be addressed in this session are the following:

Will the on-line imperative change the insurance agency model?
What do on-line customers really want?
How can insurers assure that their investment in the Web channel drives value?

Mr. Patton will provide some solid answers based on his current Web initiatives and his 19 years of experience leading large-scale, complex programs for the insurance, financial services, public sector and telecommunications industries.

Currently, he is managing a strategic consumer initiative focused on building out an integrated, multi-channel, on-line customer platform for personal lines giant Allstate.

In his presentation, Mr. Patton will focus on the changes that are taking place with regards to the traditional insurance distribution models, as consumers shift to interacting with their agents and carriers via the Web--if not for the actual purchase of coverage, at the very least in terms of getting more convenient service.

He will address what he perceives as a need to look holistically at the people, the process and the technology involved in insurance transactions in order to flourish in an increasingly electronic-focused marketplace. Using a tangible example, he will explain components of Allstate's initiative to ensure its Web channel drives value, sharing key metrics that the carrier monitors on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, before being analyzed to see where additional enhancements and improvements can be made.

"The biggest change is around how we view and interact with the customer," he said. "This in many cases puts a spotlight on issues or process gaps in our back-end systems brought about by the fact that this is the first time there is not a trained person--either an employee or agent--sitting between the customer and the system."

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More Interactive On-line Presence Required

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