By Alvito Vaz
In the insurance industry there is reference to the “three-legged” stool. This stands for the three primary parties to an insurance transaction in the independent agent environment: agency, carrier and technology provider. Working together we can make a stronger industry.
This is especially true with the rise of cybercrime impacting insurance. Stricter regulation is forcing carriers to improve their cyber defense. Carriers are adding terms to their agency agreements making agencies responsible for safeguarding data and implementing “reasonable security standards.” And technology providers are implementing siloed security procedures to defend against attack.
Each leg of the stool is acting with good intention but independently. This makes it more difficult for the entire industry to embrace security. The average independent agency has does business with 11 carrier partners. Having 11 different security processes is both operationally inefficient and more difficult to implement.
Government consumer protection agencies are taking action to force adherence to regulations. Two leading national carriers will pay a combined $11.3 million in penalties “for having poor data security,” which allowed more than 120,000 New Yorkers’ information to be compromised.
The good news: We have a solution that is both more secure and operationally efficient for the independent agent channel. ID Federation enables the use of your agency management system ID, password, and multi factor authentication (MFA) to be used when connecting to carrier partners. This meets the increasing demand to use MFA for connectivity — inclusive of real-time transactions.
Both Vertafore and Applied Systems are members of ID Federation. Join them and other leading carriers and technology partners in supporting ID Federation for a more secure independent agent channel.
SignOn Once is ID Federation’s primary initiative. For more information visit www.idfederation.org or contact me at alvito@idfederation.com.
Alvito Vaz is the executive director of ID Federation. He is a long-time participant in AUGIE and has held business and technology leadership roles at Progressive and Travelers. He can be reached at alvito@idfederation.com.
