When you set up an account on a secure website, you've seen instructions on password creation, similar to these:

  • Your password must be alphanumeric.

  • It must be more than X number of characters.

  • It must include/must not include special characters.

  • It must include at least one number and one capital letter.

  • It cannot be any of your last five passwords.

The rules by which passwords are created have grown so much more complex that many companies have emerged whose main product is password management, generating supposedly unbreakable ones of varying lengths with differing combinations of letters, numbers and special characters. Of course, they are locked away in a master vault behind yet another password.

ID Federation to the Rescue

For the insurance industry, an evolution in data security is taking place thanks to SignOn Once, a solution from the ID Federation, a nonprofit industry coalition formed in 2011.

The coalition, composed of carriers, vendors, industry associations and agencies, created a Trust Framework of rules that govern business, legal and technology use to provide secure access to multiple carrier platforms via the agency management system.

With SignOn Once, coalition members trust the other members with identity authentication because the framework is based on agreed standards backed by a certifying authority.

When carriers and solution providers (and the agents that use their systems) become members of the ID Federation and sign the Participation Agreement, they fall into one of two member roles: an Identity Provider (IDP) or a Relying Party (RP).

An IDP would be the management system vendor that creates and maintains the identity of the agent according to the Trust Framework. On the other side of the electronic handshake is the carrier that "trusts" the identity information, which is passed through the system via the IDP. Because everyone is party to the same SignOn Once solution and Trust Framework, it is reliable and secure.

Widespread Implementation Needed

As with any type of standard, its success comes with its use. You can find the current roster of members on the ID Federation website, and it represents some of the largest carriers—but not enough in my opinion. When you consider that the average independent agency represents 10 or more carriers, it becomes clear that if SignOn Once is going to truly succeed, it's going to be up to agencies to demand it.

From the beginning, the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America Inc. have been at the forefront of password management, working with ACORD, AUGIE (ACORD User Groups Information Change), the agency management system vendors and many others.

It has always been agents who suffered with the issue and they will be the ones who will benefit from the solution. The ease with which a representative flows from one system to another with SignOn Once makes it well worth the conversation with all of your carriers.

It couldn't be easier to promote this and use it. The ID Federation drafted an e-mail or letter template that you can send to your carriers encouraging them to participate in SignOn Once.

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