About 15 years ago, the AAMGAautomation committee first started meeting with the goals ofencouraging members to share knowledge with other members withinthe MGA/wholesaler community and improve their use of automationand technology internally with greater efficiency to serve theircustomers and markets. This committee is responsible for thecontent, functionality and maintenance of the AAMGA's Web site(www.aamga.org) and organizesand hosts the AAMGA Automation & Technology Conference eachMarch. Over the past two years, the committee has taken on a newfocus and has begun to also look at real time and its impact on theMGA/wholesaler community.

Through key partnerships with ACORD,NAPSLO (National Association of ProfessionalSurplus Lines Offices) and ACT (Agents Council for Technology),AAMGA has developed the Joint Working Group. The group's firstdeliverable, "Roadmapto Effective General Agent Web sites," was released in June.This document explains in detail what MGA/wholesalers should haveon their Web site, then breaks the Web sites down into"generations."

A "Generation 1" Web site is one with little information orability to interact with agents online via e-mail. "Generation 2"Web sites take the next step and are slightly more interactive,allowing for online quoting capabilities and moving MGA/wholesalerscloser to actual real time technology. It is the "Generation 3 and4" Web sites that add straight-through processing, with aGeneration 4 Web site being a true real time processing system.

While many agencies and carriers have provided their definitionsof real time, let's look at it from an MGA/wholesalerperspective.

Real time actually enables two business partners to transportdata immediately with the click of a button. This transaction canbe agent-to-company or agent-to-wholesaler. For the transaction tobe considered real time, it must be immediate, and there cannot bea situation where one party must visit another party's Web site.Real time provides clients with immediate access to quotes, andgenerates more time for relationship building. This use oftechnology helps reduce E&O claims because fewer hands toucheach submission.

Whether or not a MGA/wholesaler can support real time depends onseveral factors, including internal budgeting demands, underwritingcapabilities and mostly, their commitment to technology. They mustask themselves difficult questions, such as, "Have we upgraded ourtechnology since the last hard market?" If the answer is yes, thetransition to real time will be somewhat easier. For those agenciesthat have not upgraded, the move, although not impossible, will bemore difficult. Several companies are more than willing to helpwith this transition, no matter where you are at in the process,but it will be at a cost.

This brings us to the next issue which becomes an obstacle forMGA/wholesalers looking at real time technology--and that's cost.Most vendors do not understand the basic underlying differencebetween MGA/wholesalers and insurance companies. While it's just ascomplicated to set up, the same funds are not available to pay forthe system as it is for the larger carriers. The structure of howMGA/wholesalers make money is different, and rather than take timeto understand, many vendors believe "the price is the price," nomatter who you are. This has become an obstacle that theMGA/wholesaler community looks forward to working with them on andovercoming so we can continue to move forward, bringing independentagents what they want--real time technology.

Many of us are more than ready for it. Our company already hascarriers that are ready, willing and able to take the next step.Those that are not necessarily ready to jump into real time arebudgeting, planning and researching--knowing they eventually mustmake this commitment.

A recent AAMGA automation meeting featured a carrier panel of 6or 7 insurers. Two were currently using real time technology. Therealization that competitors, carriers and insurance businesses ingeneral were actually able to institute real time technology caughtmany people off guard. They left the meeting rethinking theirbudgets for the coming year.

This is why ACT, ACORD, NAPSLO and AAMGA have joined forces tosend their people to these meetings--to exchange ideas. Sometimeswe are the ones with the good ideas, and sometimes we walk awaywondering how our competitors do what they do. But we're alwaysable to share the information and develop the technology so thatindependent agents can write more business, which is what reallymatters.

Insurance is a relationship business. Although real time is atechnology-based solution, it should be viewed as a sales andmarketing tool because it provides agents, carriers and MGA/wholesalers more time to build relationships because they'respending less time processing. Accurate information must still beentered, and people will never be eliminated from insurance. Realtime actually makes people more important, and real time is herefor all of us.

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