Agents To Carriers: No Excuses Left On SEMCI

"Were seeing something we have not seen for a long time," she continued. "User groups, vendors and agents are coming together on the SEMCI, once-and-done issue. Were at the dawn of seeing the technology being there and ready to go."

In a development that Ms. Parry termed "unprecedented," representatives of ASCnet, the users group for Applied Systems, a rival agency management system, were present at an AMSUG board meeting held here during the conference. "Were working together on issues that are common to our customers," she noted.

Ms. Parry also pointed to the fact that AMS Services recently licensed the Transformation Station platform from IVANS for transactions done through AMS applications, despite the fact that Transformation Station is an Applied Systems technology and that the licensing benefits AMSs biggest competitor.

"This is huge. Its a revolution," said Ms. Parry, who is executive vice president at Golseth & Gregson Insurance Services in Tucson, Ariz.

However, while the two agency management software rivals have entered a new era of cooperation, the prospect of a merger between these two key players appears to be unlikely at the moment. (See related story on this page.)

Ms. Parry asserted that the agent groups "need to go to the insurance companies en masse." She added that customer relationship management is " the key. We are the customers and we represent their customers. The key is for all of us to speak with one voice and [deliver] one message."

She conceded that "there are obviously hurdles" that stand in the way of completing the agents mission. "I dont think the companies have been talking to the right people about wants and needs," Ms. Parry stated, noting that discussions often take place with agency management personnel who are "not in touch with day-to-day issues in a lot of cases."

Ms. Parry also conceded that agents have been telling companies about the need for single-entry transactions for more than 20 years. She believes, however, that the cooperation of a few insurers will lead to the cooperation of many more.

"If I have six companies, and three of them buy into [single-entry], my business is likely to be shifted to the companies that buy in," said Ms. Parry. "Money talks."

Why have insurers been less than speedy in jumping on the single-entry bandwagon? According to Ms. Parry, the fault lies partly with agents.

"Ive felt in the past that companies have come to the agent as their distribution point and maybe told us what we need and not asked what we need," Ms. Parry explained. "We have accepted that and its been a nightmare for us. We need to make changes in order to survive."

Ms. Parry also noted that customers are a driving force behind the need for the more efficient transactions that single-entry can bring. In the Internet age, she said, "customers want what they want, now. We cant deliver that to our customer base. Our customers arent going to wait three or four months to get a piece of paper."

And while Ms. Parry admitted that some agents do get some benefits from insurers proprietary systems, she insists that such systems cannot meet todays customer demands. "I dont care how pretty it is," said Ms. Parry of proprietary systems, "thats not what I want. We are at the start of the no excuses era."

Ms. Parry believes that the battle to achieve single-entry will be difficult, however, because in the insurance industry, "the culture does not promote change.

"If an insurance company wants to make its mark, there is a real opportunity to gain market share by doing things differently," she asserted. "They need to listen to their customers–agents and insureds. Once the momentum starts, the business will be driven to those companies [that do listen]. Technology will enable this."

In a related development, the AMS Users Group, as part of its effort to challenge carriers "to produce and deploy better interface products" for agents, announced the establishment of a "Quantum Award," designed to recognize a carrier that delivers "meaningful technology whose impact represents a quantum leap" in productivity and profitability for agents. (For details, see page 29.)

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, April 1, 2002. Copyright 2002 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.