But that anonymity is fading fast, thanks in large part to a concerted industrywide initiative to raise awareness–the Real Time/Download Campaign. Its primary mission is to convince agents and carriers to implement real-time rating and servicing workflows. (For more on how the campaign is playing out, see page 23.)

For the better part of the last two decades, agents and carriers have sought more efficient, streamlined models for processing transactions. Single-entry, multiple company interface–better known as SEMCI–was the Holy Grail that was pursued the longest, but the challenge proved more difficult than imagined.

Through the years, the industry searched for solutions to alleviate the time it takes agencies to obtain quotes, respond to service requests, as well as process new and renewal transactions–thus better position agencies to compete with other insurance providers.

The search has continued because agents and customer service representatives are frustrated with the model currently in use across most of the agency system. Many see company Web sites as a step backward in the drive to a more efficient business model.

The 2006 Agency Technology Survey by AUGIE–the ACORD-User Group Information Exchange–sheds light on this sentiment. The survey found 78 percent of agents say difficulty in obtaining multiple quotes has limited the number of carriers from which they seek quotes. More than three-fourths say they'd be more likely to choose a carrier if their agency management system could prefill some fields on a carrier's proprietary Web site.

Most recently, real time stepped to the forefront as the leading automation-based solution for agencies and carriers. Real-time rating and servicing workflows enable agencies to process all types of transactions–from rate quotes and billing inquiries, to requests for information and claims inquiries–directly from their management systems.

The advantage of real-time systems over company Web sites is that they provide a single workflow for servicing or quoting. Therefore agencies can train employees on a single workflow rather than for the Web sites of all their companies.

Real-time workflows also minimize double-entry of customer data by pulling that information from the management system, although the most attractive attribute is the savings in time and expense.

Research by ASCnet–the Applied Systems Client Network–shows that on average it takes a CSR four minutes to process transactions using a carrier Web site, while it takes one minute to use real-time workflows to process the same transactions via the management system.

Using those baseline numbers as a measuring stick, if a CSR making $20-an-hour processed 10 transactions a day–or 200 monthly–at the end of a year the CSR would save a total of 15 days and the agency would save $2,400.

Of course, your agency's results would vary. To determine your agency's time-savings, keep a log of the time it takes your CSRs to process transactions on your carriers' Web sites. Then do the math using the ASCnet example above.

No matter how you slice it, real-time workflows will free up time in your agency that can be put to better use. In agencies where real-time workflows are the norm–like our own–agents and CSRs are using this “found” time to close new sales, round-out existing accounts, and proactively reach out to customers and prospects.

Looking at it from the customer's perspective, real-time workflows mean immediate answers to requests for policy information, additional coverage and claims-handling. This improved service helps significantly solidify the agency-client relationship and positions independent agencies as stronger competitors with direct writers and captive agents.

Implementing real-time rating and servicing workflows is easier than you think, because agency management systems already include the functionality, and more carriers are implementing the workflows.

But carriers want more agencies to adopt real-time workflows before they will expand it to all product lines. To be most effective, it is critical real time is used by all your employees for every transaction possible.

You can influence carriers to implement real-time workflows by advocating adoption during agency council meetings, marketing meetings and one-on-one discussions. Tell company decision-makers that real-time rating and servicing will be your mainstream workflow, and ask carriers to adopt them.

Explain the benefits–time and cost savings, consistent workflow, single-entry, immediate customer service response and more new sales.

Once you implement the workflows, you and your staff will agree real-time rating and servicing is the answer for the agency system, and you won't want to transact business any other way.