Independent agents and brokers certainly understand the challenge of working with many trading partners, but also the value in doing so. It was the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of California that seeded the idea of standards with the Agency-Company Operations Task Force during the 1960s that became known as The ACORD Project, with all the history that followed. I still have that sign "The ACORD Project" hanging on my office wall.

Over the years, I've heard every conceivable concern about the agency system (do you recall when the Internet was going to put intermediaries out of business?). But the agency distribution system has done quite well over the years, including its use of technology despite the ongoing standards compliance challenge. Think service bureaus like ARC and Safecom.

Agency success is about the "we" factor as much as anything else–like-minded people (and sometimes not) working together. But don't think that cooperation and collaboration are important virtues intended only for industry purposes. On the contrary, industry initiatives are sometimes the only way to achieve organizational objectives. Some things cannot be done alone.

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