NU Online News Service, May 25, 9:00 a.m.EDT

LAS VEGAS--Agents and brokers cited price as the main driver in2010 when placing personal lines business, eclipsing both "ease ofdoing business" and insurance product offerings, according to thelatest ACORD-User Groups Information Exchange (AUGIE) survey.

Discussing the results, Lisa Goth, vice president of Charles P.Leach Agency and head of the AUGIE Survey Committee, said theimportance placed on price is a "validation of how today's economyis impacting the placement of business."

The survey was released here during the ACORD LOMA InsuranceSystems Forum.

For the survey respondents--the vast majority of whom wereagents and brokers--35.2 percent identified price as the maindriver when selecting a personal lines company, while 28 percentsaid "ease of doing business," and 12.8 percent said products.

In the previous AUGIE survey in 2006, ease of doing business wasthe top driver for personal lines placement.

Products rated last in both the 2006 and 2010 surveys forpersonal lines, but both surveys showed products to be ofincreasing importance for commercial lines risks.

For large commercial lines risks--defined as accounts with over$100,000 in premium--the majority of respondents cited products asthe top driver in both the 2006 and 2010 surveys.

When sharing the results of the 2010 AUGIE survey, Ms. Gothemphasized the progress of the "Real Time Campaign."

According to the website www.getrealtime.org, "real timeis the ability to click on a button from a client file in youragency management system or comparative rater for immediate accessto carrier information on that client."

Ms. Goth said a major reason for the campaign was a 2006 AUGIEsurvey response citing "duplicate data entry" as producers' toptimewaster (46.6 percent of respondents).

(In NU's May 29, 2006, article on the last AUGIEsurvey, it was reported that "the Holy Grail of property-casualtyinsurance--single-entry, multiple-company interface--remains moreof a dream than a reality for a significant portion of disgruntledindependent agents, a survey of intermediaries has revealed." Seehttp://www.property-casualty.com/Issues/2006/21/Pages/SEMCI-Remains-Elusive-For-Many-Agents.aspx?k=AUGIE+and+2006for the full story.)

The 2010 AUGIE survey did not use the wording "duplicate dataentry" as a response to its top timewaster question, but it offereda similar response of "learning and using various companyproprietary systems." While this remained the top timewaster forproducers in 2010, the number of respondents saying so dropped to27 percent.

Ms. Goth credited this drop to wider adoption of real-timeprocessing.

She said 75 percent of agent and broker respondents now use sometype of real-time system, with 89 percent of those who do use itstating that it saves them time.

Also in the 2010 survey, respondents were asked to rank theirtop-three carriers that have implemented technology resulting inease of doing business.

Travelers Insurance Company received the most top-three votes,followed by Progressive Group, Hartford Insurance Group, SafecoInsurance Company, Allied Group, Peerless Insurance, CNA Insurance,and Cincinnati Insurance Company.

All top-eight companies received over 30 top-three votes, withTravelers receiving over 1,000.

Of the 4,794 respondents who started the survey and 3,826 whocompleted it, 87.3 percent identified themselves as agents orbrokers. An additional 10 percent were carriers, with the remainingrespondents consisting of solution providers and associationofficials.

For the agents and brokers, 90.6 percent said they wereindependent agents, while 7.3 percent said brokers.

The next AUGIE survey will be in 2014.