Novarica hasn't finalized all the numbers from a recent surveyconducted of insurance agency personnel—everyone from principals toagents to CSRs—but the research and advisory firm's Karlyn Carnahangave a sneak peak last week in a Webinar hosted byPropertyCasualty360.com and Tech Decisions.

Since the majority of those surveyed by Novarica are between theages of 40 and 70 (so much for early retirement), it was nosurprise the three areas agency personnel want most from theircarriers are responsiveness of underwriting, speed of underwritingdecisions, and competitive product offerings. 

These certainly aren't new points of contention between carriersand agencies. These issues go back to the dawn of the industry.Carriers need to be sure underwriting decisions are done right andfor that to happen today, the right technology tools need to be inplace.

The responsiveness of the underwriting staff and the speed atwhich their decisions are made used to be measured in days. Todaythey are measured in minutes.

The most senior of agency personnel might laugh off some of thetechnology advances being discussed today for their businessneeds—things like mobile technology and social media—but they wouldbe the first to wonder about the quality of their business partnerif a carrier fails to deliver timely rates so policies can beclosed at a single meeting.

It also was interesting to note that the fourth-ranked area ofimportance among those surveyed was claims service. This shows howagency personnel want to own the entire insurance value chain fortheir policyholders.

Agents can easily blame the carrier for problems with claimsprocessing, but rather than point a finger at someone else and cry,"It wasn't my fault," agency personnel instead choose carrierpartners because they want to establish a relationship of trustthat will enable them to go to their customers with confidence thata claim will be treated fairly by the carrier.

There's not much traditional about the way carriers and agentsdo business together. Technology changes aren't just affecting thedirect writers of the world. The agency channel has survived andprospered because both sides have accepted the challenges beforethem and found a way to make their common friend—thepolicyholder—happy with the choices they've made.

Making a carrier easy to do business with means more thanoffering the latest portal technology. It means learning more aboutthe agencies they deal with—and the people behind theprincipals—and finding a way to serve them all, from early adoptersto those who prefer to lag behind the rest of the pack..