It could be argued that no profession in insurance is under themicroscope more than that of an independent insurance agent. New startups seemto be breaking into the industry at a more rapid pace than ever andsome of them make it abundantly clear that they are coming afteragents.

However, studies continue to show that while consumers believeagents provide a sense of needed expertise in the complex insuranceenvironment, it is imperative for agents to utilize pervasive toolssuch as the internet and technology to bettercommunicate with their clients. This hope could be one of thereasons online insurance buying outside of personal lines has yetto flourish despite the high hopes.

Carriers are already becoming more reliant on insights derivedfrom data and continue to invest in technology for their customercommunication management systems. By extension, they should view itas their responsibility to provide the tools necessary to makeindependent agents both experts and efficient communicators in thisdigital age. Instead of making moves to direct distribution,carriers should be facilitating scenarios where they can empoweragents to bring in new business in a more engaging and efficientmanner.

Fragmented agent/carrier relationship

The disjointed customer experience that continues to face theindustry is a reflection of many components in the insurancebusiness workflow — with a major one being the fragmentedcommunication between agents and carriers during onboarding. Duringthis process, one significant question comes to mind: Does thecarrier have the infrastructure in place to turn around an agent'slead quickly?

In most cases, there are simply too many steps (and disparatesystems) between a consumer/agent/carrier. The consumer speaks tothe agent, a form (in many cases still paper format) must be filledout by the agent with customer information, which is then formattedand input into the agency management system (AMS). It then must beconverted to match each carrier's unique system format forsubmission, approval and quoting. This information is then in turnprovided back to the agent for presentation, then back to theconsumer again.

Let's not forget the nuanced editing that occurs during each ofthese steps or the printing/scanning or data re-entry/reformattingat each touch point — and for the independent agent, theytypically have to go through this with multiple carriers at once.In many cases, this process starts all over again when the customerdecides to go forward with binding the business with one of thecarriers. Unsurprisingly, this build-up of tiny setbacks creates anunacceptable wait time for any product — but especiallyfor something that is viewed as an unfortunate necessity to mostconsumers.

Independent agents are customers of carriers

A second component is the understanding that independent agentsshould be considered the customers of a carrier as well. Bylearning what independent agents need to make their job easier, andremoving some of the time consuming administrative tasks, they willbe more incentivized to bring that carrier the high-profile andhigh-profit business.

Agents often work with many carriers at a time and this is whentasks — such as filling out passwords or manually updatingforms — becomes a serious bottleneck issue. Each carrierand state has their own parameters for these items, but the lesstime wasted on these tasks, the more agents are able to focus onclosing business.

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24/7 consumer

As mentioned previously, while consumers enjoy the expertise ofagents, they find efficiency much more important. In fact, a studyfrom Celent found an eye-opening revelationthat consumers prioritize ease and convenience over a betterproduct when it comes to financial services.

One way to improve this issue is to implement modern customercommunication systems that make it easier for an agent to quote andclose business more quickly. Unlike most internal workflow revamps,this does not require a legacy system overhaul, which can take timeand can be risky.

By leveraging these solutions, carriers can not only generatecompelling documents at a much faster rate but also streamline andautomate the arduous process in the sales chain. This includesmigrating existing documents in some cases, Omni-channel delivery,archiving, real-time editing, traceability, and even adding ane-signature component. Eliminating as many unnecessary processtouch points should be the overarching goal of the insurancecarrier.

Smart forms and efficiency

Another key area of focus is allowing a more dynamic display ofinformation/instruction that customers need to understand theprocess and products they are buying and to easily submit therequired information through the use of advanced electronic entryforms called smart forms. This more advanced functionality can helpadd to customer confidence in addition to the efficiency benefits,which is currently the strongest attribute to the independentagent. These documents make sure that all questions and anticipatedquestions happen within one visually conducive web deployed formthat can be generated and pre-filled with customer informationdirectly pulled from the carrier's CRM system.

Some of these forms allow for well-placed multimedia assets likevideo explanations of complicated policy information in order tosquash confusion usually reserved for the call center. Thesedynamic forms can actually improve the up-selling of additionalproducts simply by allowing a more appealing and engagingdistribution method to explain add-ons. They also allow for aperfectly integrated multi-screen experience.

As an example, many insurance documents don't work well on asmartphone, but a recent Pew research found that 64% ofAmericans are now smartphone owners and use them as key entrypoints into the online world. Documents with clean mobile deviceintegration can mean a significant difference in securing newbusiness from a younger generation of customers.

Independent agent's destiny

Right now the independent agent's destiny is in their own hands.They can adapt to the heightened expectation of the 24/7 consumeror potentially be replaced by direct sales, but it is in acarrier's best interest to help them succeed. For a complexpurchase business like insurance, there is an often-underratedtrust factor involved when everyone discusses innovation.

If something goes wrong, a customer wants a person invested intheir process to some capacity, even if they don't know it at thetime of purchase. If carriers can help agents become the perfectbalance between efficient communicators and trustworthy advisors,there will be considerable business gains.

David Squibb is the chief sales and marketing officer ofPeabody, Mass.-based Xpertdoc Technologies Inc. Opinionsexpressed in this article are his own.

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