Jeff Yates, executive director, Agents Council on Technology

Ease of doing business has proven to be a great strategy forcarriers, so I find carriers more tuned into the concerns of theiragents than ever before. For example, carriers implementingefficient real-time quoting through comparative raters and agencymanagement systems have seen a big uptick in the number of quotesthey receive and are being considered on risks where they hadn'tbeen before. Increasing numbers of carriers participate in industryorganizations like ACT, AUGIE, and ACORD, so they can fullyunderstand the current inefficiencies agencies face as well asagency business requirements for improved workflows. In theseorganizations, they work alongside agencies and vendors to improvehow the business will be done in the future, and as a result, theirfuture technology investments take this industry direction fullyinto account. Carriers also have found agency technology councils,field trainers, and real-time transaction monitoring and follow-upwith agencies when there are errors to be very beneficialstrategies in helping them continue to refine their real-time anddownload implementations to create the very best agentexperience.

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