Dedicated to Agents—and Technology

By: williamjones
April 1, 2013

By: Bobby Bramlett

This Chairman’s Voice column is being finalized on my couch, in Ardmore, Okla. Nanette and I have just returned from a brief get-away on the heels of meetings in Pennsylvania, with their great board and staff, as well as a planning meeting in Dallas.

This month, I would like to reinform you about one of the best resources the Big “I” has to offer: the Agents Council for Technology, a group dedicated to advancing the “most effective business processes, practices and technologies, in order to enhance productivity, service, marketing, sales and security.” An industry institution since 1999, ACT offers resources and networking opportunities to independent agents, while at the same time establishing a platform to analyze technology and workflow concerns in the IA channel today.

ACT is led by Executive Director Jeff Yates, former CEO of the Big “I,” who has not only led, but is truly dedicated to this cause—more on Jeff later. ACT members help the group stay on top of the strategic technology trends that will ultimately shape the future of both how consumers act and businesses respond. Independent agents need to be in the loop on current workflow and technology issues, and ACT can help with that.

If ACT is new to you, start by checking it out online at independentagent.com/act. You’ll see the group focuses on agent and agent-carrier productivity, Internet marketing, agency security and understanding strategic trends. ACT subgroups are currently pursuing the following key initiatives:

Agencies of the Future Work Group: Exploring what agencies are likely to look like five years from now in terms of structure and how they do business.

Agency Business Intelligence Think Tank: Exploring how agencies can take advantage of new technologies and techniques to garner better business intelligence to enhance their marketing and sales activities, working in their systems and with their carriers and third parties.

Agency Security Best Practices and HIPAA Work Groups: Developing new tools to assist agencies with HIPAA compliance.

Carrier Communications Work Group: Encouraging carriers to make RSS feeds available to agents for general carrier bulletins so that agencies can more effectively direct this information to the appropriate employees.

E&S Joint Working Group and Retail Agent—GA Subgroup: Identifying key opportunity areas where retail agents, general agents and other wholesalers can improve how they work together.

Mid-Commercial Work Group: Encouraging the use of Real Time transactions for midcommercial submissions and appetite determination.

Mobile Strategies Work Group: Looking at how various insurance processes such as servicing, claims, and sales and marketing might change and be enhanced with the availability of mobile tools.

Real Time/Download Campaign Steering Committee, Agency Real Time Experience and Real-Time Endorsements Work Groups: Promoting adoption of Real Time by more agencies and carriers and encouraging carriers to offer the full range of real-time transactions across their major lines.

Social Web Work Group: Assisting agencies in using social media effectively by communicating success stories through articles and webinars.

Strategic Future Issues Work Group: Recently completed the “2012 Key Technology & Consumer Trends & Industry Must-Do Issues Report” and will continue to keep ACT members aware of the key trends likely to shape the IA channel’s future.

If any of these initiatives appeal to you, I urge you to get involved. And with Executive Director Jeff Yates at the helm, ACT is truly in good hands. Jeff brings a dedication and service to ACT that is admirable. He believes in the importance of agents being on top of technology and trends, and he helps bring that out in all ACT members and work groups.

As I mentioned earlier, Jeff is one dedicated man to the Agent’s Council for Technology! Jeff has been such a coach and mentor to many of us over the years, and continues to do so today as he creates great programs for ACT and its partners.

As I close this edition of Chairman’s Voice, I am honored to say thank you, Jeff Yates, for all you have done for independent agents for all these years.

—Bobby Bramlett, Big “I” chairman