The demand FirstBest Systems, Inc., help property/casualty insurance

At the 2010 MarketScout E-Symposium held last month, FirstBest surveyed a group of 40 carriers and agents/brokers to hear about their business objectives, productivity priorities and wish list for the ideal agent-carrier communication platform.

FirstBest surveyed 20 carriers, spanning responsibilities, about their business objectives and ideal agent communication system. A third of the carriers surveyed focus on underwriting, another third on marketing, and 20 percent work primarily in management roles. Ninety percent of the group indicated that they work with commercial-lines of business, with 70 percent working primarily or solely with commercial lines.

Carriers were asked to select the improvement that would most help them to grow and differentiate their company. More than 40 percent responded that ease of doing business was the top objective, followed by the ability to change (adapt) their business without being constrained by legacy technology.

When asked the question, "If you could wave a magic wand and design your own agent business and communication system, what capabilities would it have?"carriers answered with a wish list that fell into several common themes:

? Unified and Integrated - House data and reports in one system that can be used by all divisions (underwriting, marketing, management, etc.); bridge policy data from agency management systems (AMS) and retiring legacy systems

? Efficient -Enable data upload and download between AMSs, producing ACORD and other documents

? Real-Time - Facilitate rating, underwriting decisions and access to claims and billing system info

? Disciplined - Give underwriters qualitative data to make informed decisions

? Interactive - Offer chat, meeting requests, broker profiles, prompts for calls, and even blog functions

? Multi-Platform - Work on PCs, Macs, and tablets, and make accessible from anywhere at any time

? Market Savvy - Incorporate relationship-marketing tools, provide CRM dashboards and make it easy to add lines of business.

Balancing the share of voice, FirstBest asked the group of agents and brokers a similar set of questions. The resulting objectives and wish list responses were similar in many ways. Much like the carrier side, more than 60 percent of the agents surveyed work largely with commercial lines of business. Another 15 percent indicated that their mix of business was split between personal and commercial lines.

The agent and broker group was asked to select the business improvement that would most help them to be more productive. Forty-five percent of the agents felt that "spending less time submitting applications and chasing down answers" was most important. The runner-up response, selected by 38 percent of agents and brokers, was "spending less time on manual and redundant tasks." A combined 20 percent felt "visibility" most needed to be addressed - whether into their business with carriers or real-time visibility into their carriers' risk appetite.

FirstBest asked agents and brokers: "If you could wave a magic wand and design your own carrier business submission and communication system, what would it do?" Carrier system integration and ACORD form completion quickly surfaced as top functions. Common requests for an ideal system were:

? Single Integrated System - Provide one system for collaboration with every carrier, house forms and data in a single location, and integrate with carrier rating systems

? Online and Real-Time - Deliver an easy online platform for quotes, submissions, issue, and endorsements , offer real-time carrier chat/response, frequently update carrier risk appetite, and let brokers check account status (rating, underwriting, review, and more)

? ACORD-Form Upload and Download - Use standard ACORD applications for underwriting, provide AMS upload for any size account, provide download for ACORD applications and other forms, and accept ACORD and supplemental data directly into carriers' rating and underwriting engines

? Automation and Simplified Workflow - Make it easy to learn and use, eliminate re-keying and paper submissions, include checklists, provide alerts for new or updated submissions, make files searchable, and return quotes formatted to populate the AMS.

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