Agency Management For MGAs?
This months question comes from Greg Crouse, executive vice president at Crouse & Associates, an independent wholesaler based in San Francisco.
Q: We are a wholesale brokerage agency looking for an agency management system that is geared toward what we do. There are products on the market for the retail insurance agent or a managing general agent, but nothing that falls into what we do as wholesale brokers. Id be curious to see what kinds of systems are out there for wholesale brokers that dont fall into those two categories.
A: (from Kevin Tromer, co-chairman of the American Association of Managing General Agents automation and technology committee and vice president with MacNeill Group in Sunrise, Fla.)
This is a question that has been out there for a long time. For wholesale, and even managing general agents, there does not seem to be any technology out there that specifically suits their needs. The primary reason is that most MGA systems are derivatives of either retail or carrier systems and were not designed specifically for the MGA or wholesale market.
As independent business people, we all have independent needs and individual ideas as to our systems requirements. The lack of standardization creates some of that void in the technology marketplace for us.
There are different perspectives out there on where we are in the evolution toward getting a technology system to fulfill the technology needs of wholesalers and MGAs. Some will say we are there; some will say we are not even close. By and large, everyone will say we are making progress. And, by and large, systems can be adapted to the individual needs of these brokers.
One of the toughest things about implementing technology is that we are always looking for the silver bullet. When implementing technology, we tend to want to take 10 steps forward, but what we find is that the technology out there only allows us to take two steps. What we, brokers and agents, tend to do is to say, "It only allows me to take two steps forward and its not really worth it, so lets not do it," as opposed to working toward the 10 steps.
The key is to refine your plan and work in small increments toward your ultimate goal. The plan needs to be developed like any business strategy. One starts by saying, "Where am I starting today? Where do I want to be in what time frame, and how am I going to get there?"
One then goes out and looks for the tools to get there. Those tools may come from a single system provider or they may come in the form of marrying three systems that are out there.
About 10 years ago, the American Association of Managing General Agents, based in King of Prussia, Penn., recognized the technological challenges for our business and put together an automation and technology committee whose primary goal is to host a conference that provides two to three days worth of information geared strictly to and around technology. Next years conference will be held in New Orleans, March 14 to 16. It provides for an opportunity to meet with fellow MGAs and wholesalers as well as systems providers targeting the MGA/wholesale market, to evaluate and discuss emerging trends in our marketplace.
The program has an exhibit hall set up for attendees to see and evaluate the systems currently available and in development. In addition, informational sessions cover topics such as the process of system implementation and the standardization of data transfer.
More information for the conference can be found at www.aamga.org.
Got an agency tech question? E-mail Ara Trembly (atrembly@nuco.com) or Mark Ruquet (mruquet@nuco.com).
Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, January 2, 2004. Copyright 2004 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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