American Agent & Brokers'

According to the second annual survey of more than 500independent agency owners or principals, more respondents haveagency management systems than last year--88 percent compared to 76percent in 2009--and of that number, more users ranked as"excellent" their systems' available tools and ease of use.

The use of real-time transactions was steadily on the rise aswell, with 59.2 percent of respondents stating they were conductingreal-time transactions for inquiries and/or comparative rating,compared to 55.1 percent last year.

Survey respondents also indicated an increase in their use ofsocial media. Fifty-six percent said they currently useInternet-based methods in their marketing plans, including agencywebsites (87.6 percent), Facebook (33.7 percent), LinkedIn (28percent) and Twitter (11.3 percent).

However, only 47.2 percent reported having a formal writtenpolicy for employee use of social media at work.

Other findings indicate that users in 2010 were both more loyalto their agency management brands and more involved in industrytech groups. When asked if they would consider switching agencymanagement systems, only 15.9 percent said yes this year, comparedto 23 percent last year.

And more agents said they were involved in agency managementuser groups or industry support groups such as AUGIE and ACT--26.1percent, compared to 20.3 percent in 2009.

A majority of respondents, 40.3 percent, reported using anApplied Systems agency management system. Another 24.2 percent usedVertafore (formerly AMS), and 28.8 percent reported using "other,"with brands including Nexsure, Hawksoft, Agency Pro and proprietarysystems developed by individual agencies. Last year, 32.6 percentof respondents used AMS systems and 34.7 percent used AppliedSystems.

Respondents also reported staying current on agency managementsystem updates. Almost 60 percent said they had installed thelatest version of their primary agency management system within thelast six months, followed by 18.3 percent within the last year and7 percent more than a year ago. Last year, 53.5 percent said theyhad upgraded within the past year.

Policy view tops the list of uses for agency management systemsat 84.3 percent, followed by billing (74.5 percent), claims status(57.8 percent) and single-company quote (28.1 percent). Other useswritten in by agents include customer service, correspondence,imaging and "all phases of agency operations."

Levels for real-time usage split between commercial and personallines were level with last year, with 23.3 percent reporting theyused it for commercial lines (compared to 23.4 percent in 2009) and52.8 percent for personal lines (43.5 percent last year). Only 41.2percent reported using real time for "neither," compared with 48.2percent last year.

The survey of AA&B readers was conducted online in May.

Laura Mazzuca Toops is Editor of AmericanAgent & Broker, part of Summit Business Media's P&CGroup, which includes Tech Decisions for Insurance.