Several years ago, I got a call from an officerof a Fortune 1000 company asking me to supply him with the phonenumber of an executive of a large commercial lines insurancecarrier.

"He never offered to meet with me before," thecaller protested, referring to an article I had written. "I want totake him up on the invitation."

My article had quoted remarksthat a prominent carrier chief executive made at a seminar ondirectors and officers liability insurance. "It is mind-bogglingthat [commercial] insurers never meet with the folks they providecoverage for," the CEO said.

"Get personally involved in the purchase," hesuggested to senior managers, risk managers and directors ofcompanies, extending an invitation to potential insureds to meetwith members of the carrier management team—and with the company'sunderwriters and claims professionals.

The timing of the article was during a hardmarket, and such meetings, which would include brokerrepresentatives as well, would allow insureds to showcase uniquecharacteristics that made them better risks, to present concerns orquestions about contract provisions, and to scrutinize carriercapabilities, the carrier CEO said.

The idea of breaking down silos betweendifferent types of professionals involved in insurance transactionsand risk mitigation activities is not new—and it continues toanchor strategies of insurers and producers in the current softmarket.

"We have reorganized the underwriting andmarketing organizational structure to be morecustomer-focused—simpler to understand and simpler to access if youare a prospective agent or current agent," one insurance companyexecutive said in a recent NU article, also going on tohighlight new technology his company introduced to make it easierfor agents to do business with the carrier.

Since I began reporting for NU morethan 15 years ago, carrier officials have spoken to me abouttearing down internal walls as well. For one of my earliestarticles, I interviewed a claims executive who was psyched aboutthe fact that his company had underwriters and claims professionalsworking side-by-side to facilitate discussions of policyholderissues that might arise before and after policies were written.

Short of reorganizing companies, or organizingmeetings that involve everyone in the insurance product deliverychain, industry professionals have been able to turn toNU's P&C magazine and website for news and informationthat bridge gaps.

Uniquely positioned as the only insurance newssource targeting three interconnected audiences—agents and brokers,carrier professionals, and risk managers—our own customer-focusedpublication has just introduced a new package for this content—thePropertyCasualty360.com website.

Users of NU P&C's formerproperty-casualty.com site are now redirected to this enhancedsite, which aims to deliver a 360-degree view of the industry byblending the NU P&C's expertise with four otherleading brands in the Summit Business Media P&C InsuranceNetwork: American Agent & Broker, TechDecisions, Claims Magazine, and FloridaUnderwriter.

PropertyCasualty360.com Editor Eric Gilkeyexplained the intent of the new destination, saying: "Much like thecompanies and readers for whom we write, we set out to create amore efficient and useful product that delivered services for ourcustomers. That meant tearing down the walls to the silicon studsto bring five established and well-respected magazines under oneroof."

There's more to the site that is probably bestexperienced by navigating its main channels—Markets, Risk, Claims,Agent & Broker, and Technology—and there's more innovation tocome from a group of editors that continues to provide a foundationof 200-plus years of combined experience.