Tear Down Tower Of Babel
Sometimes it seems like insurance carriers and producers are working in different industries, if not different universes. When it comes to technology, they all too often can barely communicate with one another. As a result, the frustration level (and the cost) is sky-high for both sides.
The Agents Council for Technology Download Work Group, affiliated with the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, is trying to clear up this failure to communicate by issuing a report to encourage all parties–insurers, agents and brokers, and tech vendors–to refine downloading procedures and processes.
The report makes clear that everyone needs to accept ownership of this problem. It's time to stop pointing fingers and trying to place blame, and for everyone to make changes for the common good.
ACT's major recommendations include urging carriers and vendors to document and share details on data they can process, and how they process it, and to take advantage of standards to update transaction and activity logs on agency management systems. ACT also called on insurers to follow standard procedures to protect agents data.
However, the report does not let producers off the hook. It urges agents and their management system user groups to take responsibility for educating themselves on downloading, saying "agents share the blame when they do not fully understand or implement the complete procedures for download provided by their vendors and particular companies."
Still, a report is doomed to become a dust-collector if the industry's players don't give it life by taking its recommendations to heart. Let's stop complaining about downloading hurdles and start eliminating them via dialogue and cooperative action.
The full ACT download report is available under the "Agents Council for Technology" link on the IIABA home page at www.independentagent.com. Don't let it gather dust there.
(Editor's Note: Due to space limitations, a letter arguing against Sam Friedman's recent tort reform column is being held for next week's edition.)
Thanks To ACORD's Maciag
It's appropriate to hail Greg Maciag right below an editorial on industry communication woes. As president and CEO of ACORD, the industry's standards-setting group, Mr. Maciag has fought for years to get a stubborn industry on the same page technologically. He's preached his message each month on the op-ed page of NU for 10 years now, in his "Technology Today" column.
However, since ACORD has expanded beyond property-casualty and even U.S. markets, Mr. Maciag plans to be addressing a wider audience in a variety of forums. Thus, while he'll still write for NU from time to time, this week's column is his final regular monthly op-ed installment.
We thank Greg for sharing his keen insights with NU's readers for the past decade, and wish him well in his quest for global industry standards. The insurance industry has come a long way when it comes to standards, but as evidenced by the lead editorial this week, the industry still has a long way to go to realize its efficiency potential.
Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, April 28, 2003. Copyright 2003 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.
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