New AMS User President Says 'Dream, Dare %amp; Do'

In his address, Mr. Armitage laid out a challenge to the organization to "Dream, Dare, Do." He noted that AMS User Groups has done much over the years to push for improvements in technology, dreaming about new approaches for technology applications and daring to think differently and listen to others to develop new answers to problems agents face.

He said the challenge today "is to enhance the overall image of our group, to show the industry what we already know–that the AMS Users Group is not your father's users group."

He said the group wants to reach out to other "like-minded industry [technology user] groups, such as ACT and AUGIE and the Real Time Campaign, and even with the ASCnet leadership" in order to make improvements for the industry.

"We can achieve far more together than we can on our own," he said, adding the members need to "set aside egos and history, to trade squabbling for success."

During his address, Mr. Gray stressed the accomplishments agents have made in the past year, increasing their use of real time technology and simultaneously increasing their market share of the industry.

He said real time (technology that allows for transactions with carriers in seconds rather than minutes or days) has "proven how effective we can be when we work in conjunction with our industry partners, not in competition with them.

Mr. Gray, like Mr. Armitage, called for better working ties with ASCnet (the Applied agency management system group), noting they all have the goals.

"I'm not announcing any grand scheme or asking for any formal partnership," said Mr. Gray. "I just think the results show that we can all benefit from more cooperation. We have enough real competitors out there without creating artificial ones."

In an interview with National Underwriter prior to his speech, Mr. Armitage said the main objective in the coming year will be to work on making member's business more profitable and efficient and to do business better.

One strategy will be to take the results of a member survey that identifies the key carriers the producers work with that have not yet developed real time technology.

The hope is the cumulative power of the membership will make these carriers realize the necessity to improve their technology offerings.

Mr. Armitage went on to note that carriers who fail to modernize their technology and make it easier to do business with them will lose business and may eventually go out of business. He said the younger generation of agents will simply not tolerate doing business with antiquated systems and will move away from them. Advances in technology will also be important as independent agents compete with the future advances of direct writers.

AMS Users Group Chief Executive Officer Brady Polansky noted that while the economic effects are not being felt this year, members and carriers are evaluating every dollar they spend and are more conscious about receiving return on that expense than they have ever in the past.

He added the association needs to do a better job of explaining that "we help your organization to be more efficient," which improves revenue through savings.

When asked about the re-branding initiative by Vertafore of its AMS and other products under one umbrella, both Mr. Brady and Mr. Armitage said the association will be examining how that initiative will affect the association and actions it may need to take in the future.