“We've had a few interesting interviews with a number of agents about how they are using technology. You see varying degrees of success. A lot of them do feel like they are on their own. There is a great desire among agents to help support their customers—by getting access to policy administration systems, or being able to see the notes from claims adjusters to let [policyholders] know the status of their claim.
[Agents] feel like they have to handle some of this [technology] themselves, but you do see [carriers] that are very proactive. For instance, American Family has done a lot with their agents with social media. They've built Facebook pages for them and offer a social media toolkit for the agents to engage with their customers.
You see varying degrees of support, but to be honest, though, you see varying degrees to adoption on the agents' side as well.
There is a real distinction among the agents themselves. You have some who historically say, 'This is how we've always done it.' There's no succession plan on who is going to take over the agency and a fax machine is a technology innovation for them. Then you see others that are interested in using technology to better engage with their customers and deliver a better experience. They are looking at ways they can use technology to build the best agency.”
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
