How Old Is The SEMCI Debate? Would You Believe 35+ Years?

In the letter, Mr. Perot makes the offer contingent on "adequate participation by a representative number of companies and agents to insure comprehensive product definition." The committee was unable to take up Mr. Perot on his offer, however, because, according to Mr. TeBrockhorst, "there was not enough insurance company interest to go forward."

Mr. TeBrockhorst, who is now 90, told National Underwriter that during his tenure as IIAA president in the late 1960s, he and his colleagues were wrestling with the problem of "poor development of electronic processing by the insurance companies. Each one," he noted, "was different."

He said that at that time IIAA felt that, "if all the companies would scrap their independent hardware and develop a universal system, everyone would be better off." In 1974, the EPICommittees research found that it was feasible to "set up a system that lets agents type into computer systems of various companies," he noted. The question was how that could be done and where the money would come from.

Mr. Perots offer seemed to answer at least part of that question, but the project never got any farther. "The reason it failed was that insurance companies would not step up to the plate and discuss it objectively," stated R.C. Riley, president of Peel & Holland Financial Group in Benton, Ky., and former president of IIAA (1991-92).

"Thats the reason we dont have SEMCI (single-entry, multiple-company interface) today," he continued. "It was the proprietary, provincial interests of the insurance companies."

Mr. Riley claims that in the early 1990s, he had asked the CEO of a major insurance company when that company would move away from proprietary systems to the kind of automation that would help independent agents be efficient with all of their companies. "He said, We will never do so unless drug to the altar, and Ill be kicking and screaming," Mr. Riley stated.

He reported asking another insurance company president about when that company would structure its information systems to download information back into an agency management system. "He said he wouldnt do it, because information is power," Mr. Riley noted. "My response was: Where do you think you got that information?"

According to Mr. Riley, "This has been the attitude weve had to fight." He added, however, that "a lot of enlightened companies today are leading in creating more efficiency. But were still not where we need to be."

Mr. Riley noted that insurance agents over the years have "overcome and survived," adding that those survivors "have built a bright future because of increased efficiencies."

In light of this new information, Agency Technology on the Cutting Edge has re-set its monthly SEMCI clock to reflect a January 1968 starting date. Actually, Mr. TeBrockhorst told us that he had been thinking about electronic processing as early as 1954, but the broader debate seems to have begun in the late 1960s.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, November 7, 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.