Instant Rates.

Agents, who for years have been clamoring for a real-time rating process, are trying to convince insurers to abandon proprietary systems in favor of universal standards.

A growing number of insurers are signing on with agency-automation vendors to allow independent agents to submit a single application to multiple insurers and receive firm rates in seconds. Nevertheless, agents are concerned that insurers investing heavily in proprietary Internet sites' new-business submissions may lose interest in open systems.

Four insurers currently are implementing Applied Systems Inc.'s Warp Central, a translation engine that allows for real-time processing of insurance transactions, and by late October, about eight others will announce plans to use it, said Peter T.Anderson, president of Anderson Insurance Services Inc., Marshfield, Mass. Anderson is the secretary and treasurer of the Applied Systems Client Network, known as ASCNet.

Multiple-company, real-time rating will be a hot topic at the ASCNet annual education conference Oct. 4-7 in Toronto and at the Independent Insurance Agents of America conference Oct. 29-Nov. 1 in Orlando, Fla.

Universal Language

Warp Central essentially translates information from agency-management systems into a universal language that can be translated into the language used by an insurance company's mainframe, Anderson said. It delivers firm rates--as opposed to changeable rate quotes--in real time for business owners policies and commercial auto. The system uses XML standards developed by Acord, the insurance industry standards organization.

In the next few weeks, TowerStreet, a new subsidiary of AMS Services Inc., will release its "multicompany, once and done" system for personal lines in Minnesota, followed rapidly by four or five states per month, said Mike Peterson, director of corporate communications. In Minnesota, TowerStreet is offering homeowners and personal automobile coverage initially from 26 carriers, he said. This fall, the company will release its commercial-lines point-of-sale software. While the system will work immediately from an AMS Services agency-management system, the next step will be to introduce the ability to integrate with any competitor's agency-management system, Peterson said. That will come later this year or early next year, he said.

"Ours is specifically intended to be wide open," Peterson said.

The four companies that currently are "Warp-enabled" are Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., Hartford, Conn.; Heritage Mutual Group, Sheboygan, Wis.; Travelers Property Casualty, Hartford Conn.; and Safeco Insurance Cos., Seattle.

Travelers said this capability would be available to its agents that use Applied System's Warp-enabled Win-TAM software beginning in the third quarter of this year, starting with its MasterPac business owners policy. Hartford made it available in June.

Ratings in 10 Seconds

"Once Warp is a reality for most of my commercial lines, I'll fill out one electronic application and send it over the Internet to the companies that I'm contracted with that are Warp-enabled," Anderson said. In about 10 seconds he'll have a rating. "Rather than being a quote, which can oftentimes change, this is a rate that is rock solid," he said.

Then he could download the information into his agency-management system, and eventually the system would allow him to issue and print a policy.

Agents have been clamoring for single-entry, multiple-company interface, or SEMCI, for more than two decades, and agents are excited to see it finally coming to fruition, Anderson said. But its widespread acceptance is not assured.

"There's a major effort by insurance companies to build proprietary interfaces on the Internet, and as companies push that further, they may start closing off their reception to a SEMCI solution," Anderson said. "The next year or so is going to dictate a major shift one way or the other--it's going to go the right way or the wrong way"

Promotion Tour

Anderson and other directors and officers of ASCNet are visiting companies and agencies to promote SEMCI. They are encouraging agents to tell the companies they represent that they don't like proprietary systems. The Independent Insurance Agents of America is contacting 800 insurance chief executive officers through company-agent councils and is conducting a research project to quantify the savings associated with SEMCI.

"SEMCI is a work-flow matter, simply stated, and I'm looking for a more efficient work flow so I can maximize revenue per employee, which keeps me in business," Anderson said. "Once SEMCI becomes a daily phenomenon, I think the other carriers will have to join the party."