By Don Canning, Microsoft
Software that connects agents with P&C carriers while providing excellent customer service and transparency via straight-through processing will be the new standard deployment over the next five years. Most carriers are struggling with just a couple of service areas, and now must attune to six emerging trends or “ground swells” in commercial lines IT, shaping P&C business models. Whether you work in a P&C company, a commercial lines agency, or if you are developing software, odds are that these six ground swells probably already impact you.
SeaPass, a savvy innovative software company has a strategic lead on these six principles deploying a platform called SmartBridge – enabling carriers to connect with agents in real-time for both submitting and receiving information. SeaPass is dedicated to enabling insurance agents, brokers, wholesalers and carriers to interact seamlessly with each other for real-time quoting, issuance, endorsements and other client service and acquisition activities without cumbersome and costly systems’ integration.
With SmartBridge technology, agents can capture intellectual capital through a single entry on their existing management systems and immediately, seamlessly insert that data into multiple incompatible systems at the carrier level. Agents then secure multiple carrier quotes in real-time without re-keying. Early adopter carriers are already using SeaPass (i.e. OneBeacon, Selective Insurance, Ohio Casualty, Preserver Group, Liberty, Safeco, Atlantic Mutual, etc.) as are agencies (i.e. Wells Fargo, AON, ABD, USI, Bollinger, M&T, Hub International, NIA, etc.).
According to an A.M. Best & Company press release from a 2006 E-FUSION Award case study: “Selective Insurance's xSELerate system using SeaPass has quoted more than $107 million in new business premiums in commercial auto, general liability, commercial property, business owners, workers' compensation and umbrella lines of business.”
Ground Swell 1: End-to-end, real-time (ETERT)
Clients demand essential information about pricing, comparative policy provisions, policy issue and client service in ETERT. Real-time is real money. In an AUGIE Agency Technology Survey, 9 of 10 participants said that real-time quoting will improve their operations and customer service. ETERT technology enables an agent to request multiple quotes from multiple carriers for multiple lines of business – without re-keying. In about the same time to request one quote, an agent can gain multiple, bindable quotes with full proposals, customize selected quotes and issue them within the same process without leaving the SeaPass Hub: this is true ETERT.
Ground Swell 2: Multi-carrier solutions
If 80 percent of a company’s business comes from 20 percent of appointed agents, consider all the business that carriers stand to gain from top-tier agents by adding value as an ETERT technology partner. This includes all the business at which carriers get no shot if they don’t optimize real-time quoting, submissions, assisted-underwriting and issuance. A multi-carrier, quoting solution simply positions carriers and agents to partner in more new business opportunities. Agents value the ability to log onto their agency management systems, enter data and rate through it, rather than visit fifteen different company Web sites per day. ETERT technology is a valued, competitive edge and necessary commodity for agents serving clients as trusted advisors.
Ground Swell 3: Ease of Doing Business (EODB)
Agents consistently respond in ACORD User Groups Information Exchange (AUGIE) surveys that they place business with companies delivering EODB: it resonates among agents, CSRs and account reps for processing and workflow. Smaller clients demand three to four quotes and larger clients want twice as many. Servicing via SmartBridge allows policy, billing and claims inquiries to be handled right from the desktop, and that enables agents to rate, quote and submit directly from their management systems.
Ground Swell 4: Agents value ETERT technology in selecting carriers.
Agents choose certain carriers because their ETERT technology delivers superior EODB. Agents Council for Technology (ACT) advised that time will continue to be in short supply for most consumers and businesses as the demand increases for the delivery of carrier real-time information to consumers through agents’ Web sites. “Thousands of agencies are already saving significant time with real-time – cutting in about half (or better) the time it would take to make the inquiry or get the comparative quotes using carrier Web sites,” says Jeff Yates, ACT executive director.
Ground Swell 5: New partnerships in ETERT technology engage carriers with agents, MGAs and sub-producers.
We’ve seen powerful, mutual interest among carriers and agents to build ETERT plus a robust, emerging interest to partner with MGAs and sub-producers as noted by discussions at the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers (CIAB). Using ETERT, MGAs can provide affiliated producers with end-to-end functionality from the quote request until issuing the policy with the chosen carrier – no more back and forth communication among sub-producer, MGA and carriers, as workflows are managed within the same real-time process. Companies are listening entrepreneurially to sales partners driving new business to cross-pollinate their visions for ETERT technology.
Ground Swell 6: Providing an ETERT solution in a SaaS model
We see adaptation of the software as a service (SaaS) ETERT model by national and regional carriers, and the full scale of agents from the top brokers, through bank-owned agencies, to small mom-and-pop agencies. The beauty of the SaaS model is that the same hub platform provides a solution to all types and sizes of insurance parties. As Catherine Stagg-Macey, a senior analyst in Celent’s insurance practice put it: “The type of buyer of the SaaS model varies, but one thing they have in common is the view that IT is a commodity."