For decades, technologically sophisticated agents have beenbegging insurers to provide real-time capability for handlingtransactions between agent and carrier. Now that some insurers havebeen offering such technology, however, the tables have turned. Theburden has shifted to independent agents to use the tools provided.Insurers complain agents have been slow in adopting the technology,and some carriers are saying they won't continue to offer theservice if they don't get a better response.

"To those carriers, I would say hang in there and work with us,"stated Kim Favreau, newly elected chair of the Applied SystemsClient Network (ASCnet), in an interview during the 2007 ASCnetannual conference in Orlando toward the end of last year. "Keep thedialogue [with agents] open. You have to sell real time to someagents and get them to use it."

Asked why some agents have been reluctant to embrace real time,Favreau, who officially took office on Jan. 1, noted agents are"traditionally resistant to change." In a smaller agencyespecially, she added, "change can be daunting."

She suggested some agencies may be waiting for real-timetransaction technology to be "perfected" before making any change.She also speculated busy agents may tend to put the idea ofreal-time adoption on the back burner while they attend to morepressing matters.

"If we don't embrace real time now, what will happen with thenext generation of customers who will expect 24-hour/7-days-a-weekservice?" asked Favreau, who is the commercial lines manager forConnell & Curley Insurance Agency in Natick, Mass. "This willhurt the industry as a whole. It's hard on carriers, too," shenoted, adding some insurers are becoming frustrated with agents whodon't use the technology that is being offered.

Someday, agents will be able to do even more with real-timetransactions, she explained. "We'll be able to tell customers, 'Ican do everything for you,' including a lot of things that arecarrier functions now. Having to send customers away from ouragencies to carrier Web sites cuts down on the relationships we'retrying to build with those customers," Favreau pointed out.

"To agents who haven't adopted real time where it is available,I would say, 'Take a step back and think about it. If we all worktogether, it will happen faster. We need to work with the carrierson using it and on solving the problems–together,'" she stated.

The biggest hurdle when it comes to agent adoption of real-timetechnology is educating those agents who are uninformed, explainedFavreau. "The message carries more weight when another agent tellsyou," she said, noting industry events–both national andlocal–offer prime opportunities for agent-to-agent education.

Meanwhile, at the same conference, Linn Wheeling, CEO of ASCnet,told a general session audience "hundreds of agencies and more than80 carriers are using real-time interface to reduce transactiontimes for customers and to enhance the productivity of theiremployees." She added the agencies "are experiencing incredibleresults."

Higher customer expectations are driving the implementation ofreal time, according to Wheeling. "Our customers don't havedifferent expectations for their insurance provider than they dofor many of their everyday services," she explained. "The leap hasbeen made. They want instant access–and ease of doing business.They want it, and they want it now."

Real-time adoption also could help the industry attract talentedyoung people to the insurance industry, she added, by demonstratinginsurance is a "technologically advanced" business. "The industryhas the technology," said Wheeling, "but we know we can do more. Weneed more agencies and brokerages to use real time, more companiesto support it, more industry leaders to lead the charge."