Independent agents and brokers certainly understand the challenge of working with many trading partners, but also the value in doing so. It was the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of California that seeded the idea of standards with the Agency-Company Operations Task Force during the 1960s that became known as The ACORD Project, with all the history that followed. I still have that sign "The ACORD Project" hanging on my office wall.
Over the years, I've heard every conceivable concern about the agency system (do you recall when the Internet was going to put intermediaries out of business?). But the agency distribution system has done quite well over the years, including its use of technology despite the ongoing standards compliance challenge. Think service bureaus like ARC and Safecom.
Agency success is about the "we" factor as much as anything else--like-minded people (and sometimes not) working together. But don't think that cooperation and collaboration are important virtues intended only for industry purposes. On the contrary, industry initiatives are sometimes the only way to achieve organizational objectives. Some things cannot be done alone.
The ACORD forms,created by agents and insurers, were revolutionary in 1970, considered dinosaurs by some during the 1990s, and have now become contemporary, with eForms tied to XML data streams. Don't worry about what all that means: it's current technology, and extremely valuable to the agency distribution system. eForms bridge the analog and digital worlds.
The ACORD-LOMA conference continues to attract about 2,000 people each year. Why? ACORD is all about bringing trading partners and their suppliers together. It's what we represent, and characterizes the "we" factor. At the last conference in Orlando, Fla., I interviewed Robert Kelly, president of Steadfast, the independent brokerage consortium in Sydney, Australia, and members of ACORD Down Under. Robert mentioned that their slogan was, "None of us is as good as all of us." What a powerful statement--and again, the "we" factor.
Let's not forget that all ACORD standards are developed and maintained by the community with support from the ACORD staff. When I hear agents grumbling about their agency management system vendors, I ask if they are members of a user group. When I hear insurers criticizing their suppliers, I ask if they understand that other insurers may have the similar issues. When I see vendors with user challenges, I ask if they work with their clients to set development direction. Vendors want to do what's best for their clients, but they need to hear more "we" than "me."
Sometimes I hear people say that agents really "don't care if it's an ACORD standard or anything else" as long as they don't need to re-key information multiple times. I understand the point--I make similar points about the end game rather than the means--but industry standards are indispensable in doing so. Individual "fixes" can patch a problem but cannot transform an industry. The nature of our value chain (a nicer term than food chain!) needs players to play together.
It was only 80 years ago that Charles Lindberg flew across the Atlantic and landed in Paris. That decade brought us the jet engine, televisions, helicopters, magnetic recording, photocopiers and the ballpoint pen for clients to sign those insurance forms. Many achievements and inventions are inspired by individuals, but real success is often the product of hard work by teams of people working together. Thomas Edison brought large teamwork to the process of invention and is credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory.
A 2004 book called "The Wisdom of Crowds" by James Surowiecki examined how the aggregation of information that results in decisions better than any single member of the group. Last year's ACORD-LOMA convention featured Barry Liebert, co-author of "We Are Smarter Than Me," with basically the same theme. While there's plenty of talk about the "we" factor today, it's something that "we've" been doing in our business for a long time.
The independent agent and broker created ACORD, which has become a world-class standards development organization. And they worked together to create other organizations because they understood the importance of the "we" factor.
As a community they have done well, including the 80 years that American Agent & Broker has been covering their success. As you turn the pages of this magazine (or scroll down your display), you will find people working with or looking to work with others for mutual benefit. AA&B not only reports on our community they celebrate it. Congratulations!
