Agents Future Depends On SEMCI

If youve been in the insurance industry for any length of time, youve heard about the drive toward SEMCI (single-entry, multiple company interface)the adaptation of real-time inquiry and transaction processing incorporating XML standards.

You may have heard mixed messagesand misinformation. And you may have thrown up your hands and continued to do business the way youve always done it, waiting for a changeor not.

Let me clarify some things that could change your mind.

Two of the largest users groups (AMS and Applied), representing 80 percent of all independent agents, have united in the strongest push toward SEMCI and the use of Transformation Station that the industry has ever seenwith the goal of making real-time transactions without duplicate entry the industry standard. Quite simply, the future of independent agents depends on it.

Look at your bottom line. Chances are your largest expenditures are for people. A lot of carriers have created their own Web sites, which is a good first step toward improving efficiency. But its only the first step.

We need real-time inquiry and transaction processing. We need data pre-fills to these sites, and quick links from our management systems to our carriers Web sites. And we need more complete and accurate downloads.

If youre an agency principal, you may not be involved in the nitty-gritty of your day-to-day operations. So, let me throw a few statistics your way. A recent ASCnet study compared the time spent on various tasks using different workflow choices. For new BOP business rating and issuance, it took CSRs 64 minutes to get three comparative quotes using three carrier Web sites, and only seven minutes from start to finish using Transformation Station.

For billing inquiries, a carriers Web site took nine minutes, a phone call took eight minutes and Transformation Station completed the task in two minutes. Based on these statistics, how much time are you wasting at your agency? Even more important, what are you going to do about it?

Every major industry group has come together to lobby our insurance carriers to get on board with SEMCI and Transformation Station. But, like everything in our business, it takes relationshipsface-to-face meetings between agency principals and carrier CEOs. Were asking for you to look at how real-time transaction processing can impact your bottom lineand were asking for your help.

If you have a close relationship with an executive of one of your carriers, we need to hear from you. We need every agency owner to band together to lobby carriers to drive the industrys future. If we want real change, every agency owner must make SEMCI a number one priority. Your businessyour futuredepends on it.

Pam Parry is president of the AMS Users Group, based in Irving, Texas.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, August 19, 2002. Copyright 2002 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.