THE dizzying pace of technological development can leave many agencies wondering what system they must purchase next, just to keep up. But that's the wrong question to ask, according to a panel discussion held at the CPCU meeting in San Diego last fall. Hugh Anderson, of AMS Services, and Mike Byam, vice president of property-casualty eBusiness & technology at The Hartford, agreed that insurance-industry participants must commit to improving workflow and then determine what technology will help them do that, rather than develop and acquire new technology and then decide how to use it. They also concurred that future technology will help the industry only if agencies, carriers and system vendors work together to determine industry data standards. An edited transcript of the discussion, including questions from the audience, follows.

Hugh Anderson, AMS:Any discussion about connectivity between agencies and carriers is a discussion about technology–about moving bits of data back and forth between computer systems. But it primarily is–or should be–a discussion about doing business more efficiently. It's more important than ever for agencies to stress, both to their staffs and to their carriers, that implementing new technology is no longer optional. This must be a top-down business decision that includes training and support, not just an IT-driven choice to acquire a new computer system.

Historically, insurance technology has been developed by different players in the industry with the seeming belief that if you just create a system and plug it in, you've done your job. This pattern has led to a series of developments that served the needs of their creators quite well, but not those of others in the industry: client-based systems for agencies, policy-based systems for carriers, and numerous workflow problems for both. Regardless of how "slick" any new technology is, it's either something that improves communication and workflow between agencies and carriers or it's a failed investment.