By Alvito Vaz and Brian Bartosh
Insurance carriers and independent agents work together but often don’t understand each other’s viewpoint. However, without their partnership neither would be able to be successful. This is especially true in the complex world of cybersecurity and identity management where both have a mutual goal of keeping their systems secure and their customers’ information private.
Three things carriers wish agents knew
- It is difficult for carriers to prioritize agency requests as they are often different and sometimes even completely opposite. Consolidating input and building consistency across agencies makes it easier for a carrier to understand and build plans. And hopefully this process of building cohesive input also elevates the highest pain points or those with the most impact. Showing value helps with prioritization in an environment of scarce resources — both funding and human capital. Planning cycles to obtain resources often start six to 12 months before any action is taken.
- Investing in a solution presupposes an expectation of adoption and benefit. When a carrier builds a component or implements a new process, the outcome is evaluated against expected results. Technology is not a once-and-done investment. Everything created has an ongoing cost for the carrier. And many solutions also have an integration cost that is greater the more places it touches (for example, multiple policy administration systems). High agent adoption will maintain and may even add functionality to the investment.
- ‘Free for agents’ may mean …
