It is said that Missouri is the “show me” state. If that’s true then most independent agents must be from Missouri because when it comes to technology solutions, agency owners and their producers and CSRs need to “see it to believe it.” At least that was one conclusion drawn from the recently concluded survey of nearly 9,000 agency personal across the country conducted by the ACORD – User Groups Information Exchange (AUGIE).
The AUGIE Agency Survey was launched on Jan. 2, 2002 and continued online for seven weeks. It consisted of 40 questions that covered basic agency demographics, technology profile descriptions, and workflow and interface issues with companies.
The AUGIE survey was the first to explore – on such a broad scale – agency workflow and technology issues with carrier partners. The survey questions, methodology and execution were managed by a broad coalition of carriers, vendors, agency technology system user groups, and associations. The survey sought information from both agency management and support staff. The survey confirms the findings of older, specific, proprietary studies – and such confirmation is always useful as any organization looks to turn research into insight and then into strategy and tactics.
Moreover, these survey results potentially could set the agenda for agency/company initiatives for years to come. For example, one of the key findings suggests that ACORD should fast-track a standard for billing inquiry – a step that has already taken place.
Early in the development process for the survey, AUGIE realized that within an agency there often is a disconnect between the principals who set policy and procedures, and the CSRs who handle day-to-day processing and manage workflows. Because of these differing perspectives, it obviously was important to know which group was responding to the survey.
Respondents to the survey were nearly evenly split between agency principles and senior management at 57 percent and the balance from customer service representatives or other support staff. When you examine the survey findings from these two perspectives, on many occasions you can see the differences. One example of this is with the question of new business processing.
When AUGIE reviewed those responses that indicated new business processing was their number one choice for how companies should spend their development dollars for web services for agents, we saw that senior management people in both personal and commercial lines ranked new business processing number one more often than CSRs with the same line of business responsibility. In fact, senior management responsible for commercial lines only selected new business processing number one in importance 41 percent more often than CSRs. The difference was somewhat less for personal lines only (26 percent) and for both at 27 percent.
Topics Trends
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
Supreme Court Overturns Chevron Rule in Blow to Regulators 
Let Good Adjusters, Not Expensive Lawyers, Make the Difference on Claims, CEO Says 
Dollar Tree Sold Lead-Tainted Applesauce After Recall 
As Rates Rise, Majority of Homeowners Say Insurance Industry Is in Crisis: Survey From This Issue
