Where even a few years ago the use of technology in distribution, underwriting, and policy processing was seen as a differentiator, it is now a competitive necessity. Great agent and policyholder self-service is simultaneously driving top-line growth and reducing operational costs for those who’ve invested smartly in it. Insurers who’ve mastered Big Data and predictive analytics are making decisions that would impress even Bill James.  Insurers who’ve made good core-system decisions are going live with policy administration systems that enable rather than encumber.

Companies who are successful at this stuff share a view of technology as an essential part of their business, not as a sidecar to it. Look no further than the transformation of personal lines over the last 10 years—driven by direct writers’ use of technology-centric strategies— to see this in action.  Adverse selection enabled by Big Data is pushing bad risks on competitors.  Consumer-grade quoting and self-service that rivals the online experience of some of Silicon Valley’s slickest are keeping potential policyholders out of agents’ offices. The good news (or the bad news depending on your perspective) is that, in time, it’s all coming to Commercial Lines, too.

Among others, we regularly meet with the folks from Novarica for their perspective on the industry. Their recent Insurance Technology Research Council meeting cited insurers’ desire for systems that are usable and clear “like Apple or Amazon or Google.”  Apple? Amazon? Google? Those guys are good at this stuff. Great usable technology is their business. For these three, technology strategy and business strategy are so intertwined that they’re almost indistinguishable.

Sadly, most insurance companies will never come close to this objective. Not because they don’t want to, but because they consider technology a necessary evil. It’s a thing “the IT team” is responsible for… and those guys are a pain in the butt.  And they can’t estimate. They never build what they were supposed to. And they’re always late. Them, them, them… If this sounds like your organization, you might be one of those would-be stegosauruses I was taking about a moment ago.

A comment from Chris McMahon of Insurance Networking News during a conversation at the ACORD conference really nailed it. When it comes to technology “…there is an enormous gap between the haves and have nots. The further you fall behind, the faster you fall behind on an ongoing basis.”  He’s right on. And it’s happening now. Probably to some of you who are reading this.

All around you, technology has changed the way people live and conduct business. Your policyholders need more from you. Your agents need more from you. Get with the times, or be left behind by them. End the charade that technology and business are not one in the same.

Mr. Insurance Company President, please tear down this wall!

Okay, I’ll admit it, we’ve been known to mock insurance around here on occasion. We know we shouldn’t.  After all, it’s our livelihood, our daily passion. But its well-established reputation for being less than exhilarating leaves it ripe for ribbing.

Deep down, though, we have nothing but love for insurance. It’s a truly amazing industry to be a part of—a huge, thriving market with a noble purpose and an important role to play in an increasingly complex, connected and dynamic world. The recent explosion of technology capability and reach is perhaps the single most powerful driver of these global changes.

Not since the Internet boom of the late 90′s have we seen this volume of game-changing technology.  Cloud computing, social media and dozens of other platforms are connecting billions of users; tablets and smart phones are cannibalizing laptops and PCs; payments are going mobile; data is getting BIG; pay-as-you-go is burgeoning; and crazy concepts like Google glass are more reality than fiction.

So, what does all of this mean for the insurance industry?  Everything.  The revolution is here.

To begin with, the world is a different place for insurance buyers.  Everything is shifting—what they insure, how they insure it, how they buy, who they buy from, how they communicate and what they expect in terms of service and responsiveness throughout the whole experience.  It is all evolving.  Fast.

The agent’s world is changing, too, on a couple of fronts.  On one side, agents have to accept and adapt to the evolving needs of their customer base and the resources available to those policyholders.  Immediate 24/7 access, online quotes and other convenient services that customers can access from the likes of GEICO or Progressive are difficult for agents to deliver—potentially existence-threatening.  On the other side, agents are consumers too.  Their needs and expectations around doing business with carriers are evolving faster than ever.

Ultimately, these shifts in policyholder and agent behaviors, technology use and expectations translate to a big, fat impact on insurers.  While they may not be feeling it acutely yet as they continue to focus on the traditional aspects of making the business of insurance run as smoothly as it can, it’s inevitable.

As the rotation of carriers’ internal universes is increasingly slower than those of the outside worlds on which they depend for survival, the gulf between carriers and their lifeblood widens.  Insurers have to connect to this external universe and build the capability to stay in lockstep with it.  And they have to do it now.

Our focus has always been on helping carriers meet their channel partners where they are. With us by their side, many of the top insurers are well on their way to bridging the gap between their internal core systems and those of their channel partners.  To succeed requires bringing a different breed of solution into the equation.

To respond quickly to the changing needs of channel partners; communicate and collaborate with customers; handle emerging platforms; and engage directly with the outside world, carriers cannot rely a core system, a System of Record.  They need a system designed for change and outreach—a System of Engagement.

Version 1.1 of our integration platform adds the ability to convert General Liability, Commercial Property or Commercial Package to a BOP transaction.  However the business is submitted, with this new configuration, it’s simple to introduce the BOP transformation to an existing ACORD transaction.  The result is a BOP-normalized ACORD XML (APNAX) transaction.

Connect5 has also been streamlined with the wiring in of transformations from its foundation product, AgencyConnect 4.x, for Upload, Bridging and Real Time Rating for:

- Personal Auto
- Homeowners
- Dwelling Fire
- Personal Umbrella
- Personal Package
- Workers Compensation
- Commercial Auto
- General Liability
- Commercial Property
- Commercial Umbrella
- Commercial Package

More information on Connect5 and the full set of enhancements can be found on our Dev Zone at: https://dev.agencyport.com/Connect5

For nearly a decade, leading New England P&C carrier, Arbella Group Insurance, has leveraged an independent web-based point-of-sale portal to:

- Stay competitive in a fluid market

- Grow business

- Improve workflow efficiency

- Ensure uninterrupted agency business during a major PAS consolidation

Learn more about how Arbella harnesses the power of an independent front end to meet different business objectives through the years, by downloading the full case study.

One of the most notable takeaways was that these agents are willing to work with less than dreamy technology if they know that the carrier will get back to them quickly with an underwriting decision.  In every single case, these agents were making carrier decisions based on 1) their understanding of that carrier’s risk appetite and 2) which carrier would be able to send the most timely reply.  The favored carriers could turn around business “in by 2, out by 5.” A quick response trumped any technological hoop agents had to jump through to get to underwriting decision.

So, as we ponder the next big thing for our clients, I can’t help but wonder about the factors that go into underwriting response time.  Our customers want to grow their commercial business without loosing their underwriting expertise.  How do you grow skilled underwriting teams while simultaneously managing various submission channels—fax, email, upload, agent portals, etc.?  As carriers look across these channels, how can you streamline clearance, the routing of work to the right people and, ultimately, a faster reply to your agents?

Imagine a state where your technology compliments agents’ workflow (read: don’t make them re-key data into your portal) and provides data to your staff in a way that they can review in real-time (read: xml, into their system of choice).

Implementing technology that allows for internal efficiencies within your operations will win you over with your agents.

The recovery of the energy sector among states within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is resulting in a growing and increasingly wealthy population as well as a significantly more diverse economy. Not surprisingly, the region’s insurance industry is growing accordingly. An area economy that is currently worth well over USD 1 trillion dollars is expected to reach USD 2 trillion by 2020.

Lusail City campaign (the newest planned city in Qatar).

A swelling population across the GCC requires housing and transport. A USD 25 billion high-speed railway linking the association’s six member states is scheduled for completion in 2019. 2022 World Cup finals host, Qatar, plans to spend USD 140 billion on infrastructure projects by 2019. Each of these developments, and many more, require insurance.

Historically, insurance within the GCC region has been swept up by the London market and other foreign entities.  This time, however, local insurance start-ups have a shot at a piece of the pie. To help keep money within the region, the GCC is stipulating that these projects and related businesses have a proportion of local shareholders.

For local insurers to succeed and operate alongside established, international players, the GCC insurance world has to get its house in order.

To be considered viable by energy industry giants such as Shell and BP, insurers must, among other things, make and maintain A ratings or higher from acknowledged rating companies such as Standard & Poor’s who review the monitoring of exposure accumulation.

Carriers’ need for clear insight into risk exposure aggregation is now.

Mass construction, expensive and potentially volatile energy plants, and natural catastrophes in this region all provide coverage opportunities for insurers. (GCC countries are among the most vulnerable to the affects recent sea level rises associated with climate change; Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait in particular.)

Energy City Model, Qatar. First stage scheduled for completion in 2014.

A complete and clear understanding of the exposure represented by these elements is critical.  Insurers cannot rely on catastrophe models alone to provide the level of information needed to control risk accumulation. They must maintain their own aggregate exposures using dedicated exposure aggregation software to validate and refine address data (geocode) and map the complexity of their policy structures so that all perils and lines of business can be successfully aggregated and managed together.

View the full article, here.

I met recently with a carrier that was losing significant new business quoting opportunities with its agent channel between 2:00 – 4:00 pm — a time of day when CSRs typically gravitate to carriers that are easiest to quote with, allowing agents to wrap up before leaving for the afternoon. If your portal is hard to use, you are losing critical new business opportunities during high volume agency hours.

If you’re thinking about developing a new portal in house or assuming a portal from your PAS provider, consider a few important questions around adoption risk:

- Will the solution offer enough specialized functionality to differentiate you from your competitors in the eyes of agents?
- Will your design, architecture and data model optimize agent workflow?
- Will custom code be flexible enough to support your growing and changing product needs? Will it allow you to keep pace with quickly evolving technologies?

Vendor-supplied point-of-sale portals inherently reduce risks associated with agent adoption.  They are thoroughly battle tested from deep within the agent world and their functional breadth and depth maximizes usability—increasing adoption and, ultimately, success.

Learn more about some of the advantages of vendor-built portals: http://www.agencyport.com/Buy-Vs-Build.

Four years later? Not much has changed.

While real-time upload has gained some traction with small commercial, carriers and agents writing larger commercial risks need better ways to systematically capture policy data, especially during the new business process.  If we wait for real-time upload in this sector, we’ll all be ushering it in from the comfort of our respective retirement facilities.  The good news is, there are new solutions that bridge the static form-to-ACORD XML gap.  They’re simple to use, they’re hosted, and they start paying for themselves from the very first submission.  For customers using our Turnstile product, adoption of their agent portals is up, the cost to process new commercial business is down, and workflow consistency and efficiency are the new norm.  No more waiting.  The solution is here.

In addition to the social security number masking that BookSmart^® has always provided, 2.5’s new Data Encryption At Rest functionality ensures that data residing within carriers’ databases is encrypted, even before being transmitted anywhere. This and BookSmart^®’s other capabilities will now also be available to more carriers as we Standalone Personal Umbrella business and Multi-Location Personal Homeowners policies are added to the solution. These lines of business join the other 9 personal and commercial lines of business that BookSmart^® currently supports.

Interested in migrating bulk data between internal policy administration systems or between you and another carrier? Want to evaluate your internal rating and underwriting efficacy? Analyze your agents’ books of business? Drop us an email. Let us show you how BookSmart^® can unlock untapped value in your books of business.

The Center is open to disadvantaged and disabled children and adults in the London area. It uses watersports to break down social barriers and provide the opportunity for people to develop essential life skills and self-confidence through sailing, leadership, boat building and first aid.

Agencyport staff are more involved in raising funds this year than ever. 18 employees have enthusiastically volunteered to step out of the office and pick up an oar in a bid to win the Meridian Pull boat race. Starting at the Houses of Parliament on the 17^th May, the course twists its way 8.5 miles down the Thames and ends in Greenwich.  Each team must raise £1,000 to enter and with enough Agencyport crew to enter three boats, we’ve got our first target of £3,000 to hit!

So, let the training and fundraising commence! Don’t forget to check out our Just Giving site to keep track of our progress, or even better, donate and help us on the way!

More information on The AHOY Centre.