Agencies Still Want the Same Things From Carriers—Just Quicker

Novarica hasn't finalized all the numbers from a recent survey conducted of insurance agency personnel—everyone from principals to agents to CSRs—but the research and advisory firm's Karlyn Carnahan gave a sneak peak last week in a Webinar hosted by PropertyCasualty360.com and Tech Decisions.

Since the majority of those surveyed by Novarica are between the ages of 40 and 70 (so much for early retirement), it was no surprise the three areas agency personnel want most from their carriers are responsiveness of underwriting, speed of underwriting decisions, and competitive product offerings. 

These certainly aren't new points of contention between carriers and agencies. These issues go back to the dawn of the industry. Carriers need to be sure underwriting decisions are done right and for that to happen today, the right technology tools need to be in place.

The responsiveness of the underwriting staff and the speed at which their decisions are made used to be measured in days. Today they are measured in minutes.

The most senior of agency personnel might laugh off some of the technology advances being discussed today for their business needs—things like mobile technology and social media—but they would be the first to wonder about the quality of their business partner if a carrier fails to deliver timely rates so policies can be closed at a single meeting.

It also was interesting to note that the fourth-ranked area of importance among those surveyed was claims service. This shows how agency personnel want to own the entire insurance value chain for their policyholders.

Agents can easily blame the carrier for problems with claims processing, but rather than point a finger at someone else and cry, "It wasn't my fault," agency personnel instead choose carrier partners because they want to establish a relationship of trust that will enable them to go to their customers with confidence that a claim will be treated fairly by the carrier.

There's not much traditional about the way carriers and agents do business together. Technology changes aren't just affecting the direct writers of the world. The agency channel has survived and prospered because both sides have accepted the challenges before them and found a way to make their common friend—the policyholder—happy with the choices they've made.

Making a carrier easy to do business with means more than offering the latest portal technology. It means learning more about the agencies they deal with—and the people behind the principals—and finding a way to serve them all, from early adopters to those who prefer to lag behind the rest of the pack..