A survey of independent property and casualty insurance agents reports that they find the technology carriers offer them has problems with ease of use and real-time integration.

Deep Customer Connections conducted a survey of 405 agents and found that when asked what should carriers do to improve their technology, close to 25 percent said carriers need to make technology reliable and easy to use and access.

Twenty-four percent said that real-time integration with the agency management systems is an important improvement carriers need to make.

On the agents' wish list of what they would like to see to improve working with carrier systems, agents said they would like to eliminate password problems and have easier navigation capabilities that match their workflow, making it fast and reliable.

Agents also said they would like to have real-time access to claim reporting and information, endorsement lookup, policy lookup and rating.

A repeated request among agents was improvements in working with their agency management, according to the survey, along with more upload and download capability.

Some other items on their wish list were:

o Develop more standard solutions to technology to eliminate the edge direct writers have.

o Easier and more accurate quoting tools.

o Easier access to information.

o Elimination of double entry.

o Better communication with their carriers.

o Improve technology training and support.

When asked what carriers can do to help agents, 25 percent said they want more technology support and training, while more than 20 percent wanted carriers to make their technology easier to use and more reliable. This was closely followed by real-time integration by 18 percent of those surveyed.

Ease of use was noted as the primary irritant among close to 23 percent of those surveyed. The difference in systems among carriers came in as the second most frustrating element that agents deal with when it comes to technology.

"Technology tools are important to agents because their customers expect quick turnaround," the Deep Customer Connections survey noted. "Yet they are frustrated by many technology issues that cost them significant time in tasks--often clerical and repetitive in nature--and diminish their capacity to sell and service business."

"If there is one overarching message coming from this survey, it is that carriers do too little in the way of listening to and understanding agents' needs," Nort Salz, president of Deep Customer Connections, said in an e-mail comment.

"Stated in positive terms, if carriers did a better job of connecting technology designers and developers with their agents (customers), the technology that they delivered would be more effective for all parties involved," he remarked.

Furthermore, Mr. Salz said, "I suspect overall spending on technology might even be slightly less because of lowered support costs and having solutions that were better fits--more focused (like rifle shots) and less scattered (like shotgun blasts)."

"A related message is that carrier technology needs to more closely align with agency technology and workflows," he continued. "It's easy to see the great challenge that agents face in dealing with numerous and varied systems."

John Uzzi, senior associate of Deep Customer Connections, noted that this survey helps carriers to better understand what technology investments they should be making to make it easier for agents to place business.

"This is particularly important given the enormous investment carriers have made and continue to make in technology," said Mr. Uzzi in a statement. "Carrier technology deployment has an enormous impact on agents' ability to serve their customers effectively; better understanding their agents' perspectives will help carriers get a greater return for that investment."

The full 27-page report is available for purchase online from the Acton, Mass., consulting firm at www.deepcustomerconnections.com for $299.