New AMS Users Group President Seeks

Today, as president of a users' group that represents more than 9,000 independent agencies who use systems from AMS Services Inc., Mr. Fox faces what may be his biggest sales challenge ever–to get people in the insurance industry "thinking differently" about how to use technology to grow business.

Mr. Fox wants to promote strategic thinking–the kind of thinking that "gets people to where the puck is going to be, instead of just chasing the puck."

He explained that "we need to know what tools are going to be needed to compete at a level where technology will be five years from now."

As an example, he cited the need for agencies to be able to accept credit card payments on their Web sites from customers who want to pay for insurance online.

Data Access

In addition, Mr. Fox noted that the industry needs technology systems that will allow customers "to get all of the correct data that belongs to them–not just parts given to you by carriers or other vendors. Carriers have to allow open database connections built on .NET technologies so we can get all the data we are entitled to."

In essence, he said, "carriers must throw their networks open to agents. I want to be able to see the correct data–and all of it–and however that morphs itself from a management system is what I'm looking for. The agency management system is just a conduit to the information and a toolset to work with information."

Such a radical change will not be achieved easily, Mr. Fox conceded. What gets in the way is old-time thinking among both agents and carriers.

"The carrier has proprietary systems better than the next guy," he noted. "They're afraid if they give out too much information, we'll be able to transfer books of business. We're going to do that anyway–the question is how. The key is security, authentication and true partnership between the carrier and the agents."

He added that agents "understand [carriers] have put money into systems and for their own companies, but if they start thinking today about where they're going in their development cycles, in the future they can provide this."

He offered the following advice to carriers: "Don't think, 'How am I going to get agents to write more business?' Think, 'How will I design systems to make my agents more productive?' Then the sales will come."

Mr. Fox noted that "80 percent of what I do is processing, change processing, change quoting and servicing customers. The remaining time is left for sales. So if a customer can be served quicker, I have more time for sales. That time can be used to get more business."

Waiting For SEMCI

The ever-elusive SEMCI (single-entry, multiple-company interface) also remains a hot topic for the users' group under Mr. Fox.

"We haven't accomplished it yet, because there are too many sets of data out there among carriers and elsewhere," he explained. "The sets of data out there don't necessarily match. Every time you transfer it, it changes. It makes it impossible for the agent to see it all, because there is no standard."

According to Mr. Fox, having a customer's data reside on his agency's system is not necessarily a good thing.

"Why do I want the data on my systems? If I can see all of it at the carrier's system, then I can do what I need to do with it, in real time."

While he concedes he can get that data from carriers now, he notes that there are "hoops to jump through for both carrier and agent. Carriers need to make it easier for us to get the data."

He added that if carriers would "trust" his agency for the accuracy of the data, "then I would want it on my systems," he continued. "[Agents] are the first collecting point for information. We get the most accurate data because we are sitting with the customer. It gets lost later as it goes to the carrier–they don't need all of it, so some of it gets taken out. The lack of interface between proprietary systems and agency management systems actually affects the data."

At the end of his year in office, Mr. Fox hopes to have carriers and agency management system vendors–as well as third-party vendors–"strategically thinking for long-term competitive edge. Development processes must be changed to reflect what we see coming down the pike."

How will the AMS Users' Group get the message out? According to Mr. Fox, that must happen through its industry affairs efforts.

"For so long, we've been tactical in nature and responsive instead of proactive," he concluded. "If I can get even 10 companies to start thinking tactically for the future, I have succeeded as far as I'm concerned, because it's not going to happen overnight."

Quotebox, with Fox mug:

"For so long, we've been tactical in nature and responsive instead of proactive. If I can get even 10 companies to start thinking tactically for the future, I have succeeded as far as I'm concerned, because it's not going to happen overnight."

Jerry Fox, President

AMS Users' Group

Callout:

One key technological advance would be if agencies accepted credit card payments on their Web sites from clients who want to pay for insurance online.