It never ceases to amaze me how for 25 years now, all I have heard is agents whining about how carriers, myopically protecting their turf, won't allow them to grasp the Holy Grail of insurance–Single-Entry, Multi-Company Interface. Yet our own tech guru, Senior Editor Ara Trembly, suggested in his column last week that perhaps apathetic agents are the ones holding back SEMCI. A week earlier, a senior CNA official in his own Final Say column argued that SEMCI and duplicate data entry (the bane of every agent's existence) are two totally different issues, and that focusing on the former might make the SEMCI debate moot.
I, for one, am tired of an industry that remains a veritable Tower of Babel on many fronts. A lack of standards for the most basic communication parameters adds tons of time and expense to the insurance transaction–and buyers get stuck with the extra frictional costs.
Take a moment to read over the two columns I've hyperlinked for you. I'm curious to hear your take on the SEMCI controversy, as well as any ideas you might have on who is really at fault. But beyond playing the blame game, what do you think can and should be done to "solve" this problem once and for all?
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.