What agents want: the right portal technology strengthens loyalty and drives sales.

Insurance carriers and agents alike are feeling the pinch of the economic downturn. Every organization is looking for ways to do more with less, but we cannot lose sight of customer retention and the search for new business. Many agencies spend thousands of dollars on automation, but the agency system is just one piece of the puzzle.

What do agents want? They want to work with a carrier that is committed to making the entire process of quoting, binding, and servicing policies as fast and easy as possible. Agents want to work with carriers that help them gain efficiencies and provide excellent service to customers. When carriers invest in technology to streamline interactions with agents, they provide a value-added component that will help drive sales and strengthen customer loyalty.

Giving agents what they want, however, can be challenging for insurance companies. If carriers are using outdated systems, it may take too long to respond to the changing needs of their agents and the marketplace. As most agents know, it is one thing for a company to build a slick-looking web portal, but it is another thing entirely to provide a convenient workflow for agents. With most agency personnel now spending a good part of their day on the web, they know a good carrier portal when they see one.

Agency automation was a hot topic recently at the CSC Connect conference in Orlando. In one on-site survey, 41 percent of the executives ranked "ease of doing business" as the top driver toward automation. Other key motivating factors cited were "improved agency efficiency" and "better customer service," both cited by 27 percent of the audience.

According to CSC's Janice Sheffield, who works with carriers to roll out new technologies and business processes, "Ease of use is crucial to agents. At a minimum, they expect carriers to offer quick quotes, automated underwriting, and intuitive screens that are easy to navigate."

Faster Service, Better Retention

Florida Peninsula is a relatively young company, and so does not have all the baggage of legacy systems and paper-based processes of older firms. We have experienced a tremendous amount of growth in the Florida homeowners' market over the past five years, and we have done it using a virtual company model. We outsource functions such as technology and back-office processing so we can focus on underwriting, claims, and our sales force. We underwrite risks right down to individual addresses, in real time, enabling us to provide new business capacity throughout the state.

About 18 months ago, we decided it was time to overhaul our agents' Internet services. We had a fully functioning web portal with online quotes and applications, but agents were telling us that the online process was taking too long. In response to their feedback, we evaluated the technology on the market and found a new system that met our requirements. A year ago, we launched a new, more robust web portal with faster quoting, streamlined online applications, automated underwriting, and a full range of other services. Since then, we have experienced more than a tenfold increase in quoting--from 2,000 to 35,000 quotes a month. With this increased quote activity, we have seen a big surge in new business, and our customer retention has improved by five percentage points.

In rolling out our new portal, we streamlined the quotation process so agents could get a quote in under a minute. If a quote is accepted, the information automatically rolls into the online application. The entire process has been reduced to five minutes or less by introducing more intuitive screens that help agents fill in missing information and correct errors as they go.

Automated Underwriting, Streamlined Endorsements

Behind the scenes, our automated underwriting tool in most cases lets agents bind a policy right on the spot, and we mail out the new policy declaration to the insured the next day. Through automated underwriting, agents can have much greater confidence in our ability to accurately quote new business.

Endorsements have similarly become an efficient electronic process. In most cases, endorsements can go through with no underwriting review. It is possible to change addresses, mortgage companies and payment plans, or add and subtract coverages, all in real time. Plus, our agents can go online and attach supporting documents, make down payments, and check on the status of policies.

Brent O'Quinn, owner of the Ormond Beach-based O'Quinn Insurance Agency, is a leading writer of homeowners' business at Florida Peninsula. He has made the transition to the new web portal and appreciates the savings in time--from 15 minutes down to 5 minutes.

"The old system wasn't built with the user in mind," O'Quinn said. "You had to go through multiple screens, and when you finally got to the end, you would get error codes and then you would have to go back and try to find what you missed. The new portal is much more intuitive."

Since moving from being an exclusive direct writer agent to working with multiple carriers, O'Quinn has become more sensitive to the impact of technology on his servicing costs. He is now pushing Florida Peninsula to speed up the process even more, noting that every extra minute spent getting a quote impacts his staff.

Saving Time, Money

O'Quinn, who sat on a panel at the CSC Connect conference, cited the difference that a carrier's automation can make in his agency. "We have 12 people who present about 650 quotes a month, and if you are spending an extra 10 minutes on every quote, that comes out to 6,500 minutes--more than 100 hours," he said. "That's wasting a pretty good amount of my money every month. Investing in technology can pay off in the form of new business. All agents tend to take the path of least resistance, like water flowing downhill.

"We're all becoming Internet-based businesses, but I am surprised to see how far we're behind the curve as an industry," O'Quinn said. "Say you're adding $50,000 in Dwelling A-coverage to a policy. If we can give the policyholder an immediate response, we will come across as more knowledgeable, and the customer will have a lot more confidence in us. The client does not want to wait days for an answer. These days, no one wants to wait. Insurance carriers can not only help improve efficiencies, they also can give policyholders more confidence in their carriers and agents," he added.

Florida Peninsula recently introduced online endorsements, allowing agents to receive real-time responses to endorsement requests, rather than waiting days for an answer.

Looking to the Future

Looking ahead, CSC's Sheffield sees carriers focusing more resources and effort on giving agents what they want. "With the advent of Web 2.0 technologies, ACORD XML real-time between agency and carrier systems, and mobile applications for smart phones, carriers have the potential to simplify the process even more while making it as easy as possible for agents to access information and save time," Sheffield said. "Carrier-agent councils and groups such as the Florida Association of Insurance Agents will continue to drive these efficiencies."

What do agents want?

In the realm of technology, they want companies that make it easy to do business--or are at least willing to listen and make improvements. With the right technology in place, carriers can prove the adage, "Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your doorstep." Or to your web portal.

Chris Chandler is the director of operations of Florida Peninsula Insurance Co., based in Boca Raton. He may be reached at chris. [e-mail].