Agent advisory committees are nothing new to the insurance industry, but it was nonetheless interesting to read about Progressive's plan to start a technology advisory board.
The board will help Progressive's independent agency force achieve better understanding and control over areas such as mobile platforms, social media, and IT.
Agencies are following technology trends closely, but smaller agencies aren't likely to have the insight into what technology can do for them that carriers with extensive IT budgets—such as Progressive—can offer.
Progressive is generally recognized as one of the leaders in developing technology and while some insurers are using their development teams to learn more about the direct channel, Progressive's stated goal is to continue to support both the agency and direct channels equally.
Ease of use is one of the key issues agencies look at in dealing with a carrier and Progressive is doing what it can to demonstrate that concern to its agency force with this new advisory board.
In April, Tech Decisions is covering how insurers balance investments in the various distribution channels. What is your company doing to ensure the agency channel remains viable for the near future? What are you seeing some carriers do that others haven't gotten around to doing yet?
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I guess you could file this under risk management, but the unrest in Egypt has brought new meaning to the old-school term, "stop the presses." Egyptian president (for now anyway) Hosni Mubarak shut down the Internet in his country to try and gain some control over the civil unrest.
Not surprisingly, social media Web sites proved to be a great way for dissidents to communicate with each other until Mubarak stepped in. Web sites for Egypt's international banks and stock exchange stayed online.
The issue of giving President Obama the power to shut down the Internet here in the U.S.A. in the event of a "national cyberemergency" is back up for discussion in the U.S. Senate.
A bill sponsored by Sens. Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins didn't make much headway last year, so Lieberman somehow came to the conclusion that the bill would gain more support if he added a phrase to the bill that states such a presidential act "shall not be subject to judicial review."
That should make all of us sleep better.
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