Commentary

New footage from the 2011 Tohoku tsunami reminds us that these disasters can happen anywhere, any time.

The agent vs. direct argument is a red herring. Its a more fundamental question than that. Modern consumers want what they want, when they want it, and their small business insurance purchases are no different.

Insurers intrigued by the potential of selling small-business coverage direct to consumers, but hesitant to proceed due to concerns over channel conflict with their existing agency force, might yet be able to leverage the best of both worlds.

This is Insurance IT All-Star week here at the technology channel of PropertyCasualty360.com and for the seventh consecutive year weve selected a group of insurance IT leaders that have stood out among their peers.

Agencies are working hard to improve the agent-customer relationship. But what about the agent-carrier relationship? A Real Time survey shows that agents need more carriers to provide real-time capabilities.

When I spoke with an insurance IT executive last week, she brought up a point that is too often overlooked in the development of an IT team.