By: Gray Nester, NetVU Chairman of the Board

I had the privilege of leading your Executive Committee and your board of directors (BOD) in their June meetings last month.  I wanted to take a few minutes to make you aware of the happenings of these meetings and what we are working on as we go forward. 

We did take an opportunity and go through the financials of the organization, as we do every June, and you will be pleased to know that NetVU is healthy from a financial perspective.  While the economy has impacted all organizations, and we are not exempt from that, we are maintaining a healthy balance sheet and are confident we will be providing excellent service for many years to come. 

Also, as at all of our BOD meetings since Jim Armitage was chairman, we continued the development of our strategic plan.  We are making progress on our plan, but need your help.  Based on targets, we are not going to hit our goals for Chapters and Community posts.  In light of that, what can we do to help you get more involved in NetVU?  Please respond to this post, and I will be happy to answer your questions or respond to comments.   

In addition, we had a wonderful Leadership Workshop with our Chapter leaders in attendance.  The Chapter leaders are excited, engaged and want to get you involved.  For more information about our Leadership Workshop, please see my post included in the lounge and the Chapter Community.  Help others convince their management to get involved by responding to this post with what value you get out of participating in your local Chapter.

Is your management team one that doesn’t understand the value of Chapters?  Our website provides information about the benefits of getting involved, and also provides a list of virtual Chapters that don’t require you to be away from your office.  All our Chapters are listed on the website. If you don’t see one that meets your needs, ask me how to start one that does!  Our Chapters are the key to getting the education out to the grassroots.  

Well, that’s about all I have to share with you about our board of directors meeting, but we also have many exciting things happening around conference.  To learn about those, take a look at our newly established NetVU Conference 2012 thread in The Lounge and read my post there.  This new thread is a place for all things conference related. 

I am honored to serve this great organization as your chairman, and hope if you need anything you will just ask.  Remember, there is a place for U at NetVU. 

The Hartford Financial Services Group’s commitment to the development of a standards-based federation service based upon the Vertafore Identity Management solution – VIM, was a major reason for it achieving a finalist’s position in the competition for NetVU’s Quantum Award this year.

This commitment began back in 2009, when Hartford began working with BB&T Insurance Services and Vertafore to explore using these tools to allow the secure sharing of identity information between trusted business partners across an extranet. An initial proof of concept federating a BB&T employee with Hartford was accomplished in March 2010. A BB&T employee was able to federate into the EBC where she successfully spent the day performing normal EBC tasks such as inquiry functions and accessing Hartford quoting applications.

Convinced that federation was both achievable and in the best interest of its agents, Hartford made a significant commitment to move forward with the development of this federation.  Their federation strategy involved trust relationships between Vertafore and BB&T, where the parties agreed to trust Vertafore to authenticate the users accessing Hartford systems. Hartford is the first carrier to build a federation leveraging VIM.

Hartford has provided the leadership to push the industry towards a true single sign-on model. Built upon an open standards model, NetVU members are now positioned to benefit from federation with their other carriers, too.

In addition to this initiative, Hartford also introduced a daily commission transaction that provides agents with an efficient download of commission information for both commercial and personal lines premiums. This process eliminates the need for agencies to manually invoice the policies and having to reconcile all the accounts to the monthly commission statement. As a result of its accuracy, the download information satisfies the regulatory agency’s demands.

As you can see, there is great work being done by our carrier partners. Each year the selection process for award winners becomes more and more difficult. Look for articles on the other finalists in the coming weeks and see how they are working to help you become more efficient and profitable.

Do you know a company that has made quantum advances in 2011 – submit your nomination today.  Applications are due Wednesday, November 30. 

Did you know NetVU has a Playbook which illustrates our position on industry priorities such as Identity Management.  Check out the Playbook. NCOM (NetVU Community) is a great place to provide feedback to the Industry Relations Committee. 

Courtesy Computers Celebrates 25 Years of Service to the Industry 

 Courtesy Computers, a longtime NetVU supporter, is celebrating its 25th anniversary of serving independent agents’ and the industry’s IT needs.

Led by its founder, President and CEO Tim Woodcock, Courtesy Computers has a rich history of not only bringing expertise and quality “managed IT services” to its many clients, Tim has also made sure Courtesy Computers plays an active role in many industry initiatives. Through its activity with numerous industry organizations such asIIABA’s Agents Council for Technology (ACT), the ACORD User Groups Information Exchange (AUGIE), and the Florida Association of Insurance Agents Technology Committee, Courtesy Computers demonstrates its commitment to helping the industry achieve greater efficiencies and profitability through better use and management of technology.

Tim’s history with NetVU goes all the way back to the early 80s when he joined ARC around the same time it joined AMS. It was in the late 90s that, the more than 10 year-old Courtesy Computers elected to show its support of the user group by becoming a sponsor and exhibitor. In recent years, that relationship has become even stronger as Courtesy Computers is now a Silver Corporate Partner and serving NetVU’s information technology needs. So, not only is Courtesy Computers a valued partner for NetVU, it’s an important vendor for us, as well.

Please join us in congratulating both Tim and Courtesy Computers for its 25 years of service to the industry and NetVU.

Contact Courtesy Computers for more information at (954) 321-8605. 

Allstate’s New Distribution Strategy No Concern to Independent Agents

Allstate’s recent purchase of Esurance and Answer Financial as part of its overall goal of revamping its distribution model only indicates that they are finally recognizing the realities of today’s current consumers. Insurance buyers want to do their own research online, work with an agent on the details and benefit by their expertise, and then make the purchase where, when and how they want to.

Smart independent agents have been providing this multi-level service for some time now. Informative and interactive websites that allow prospects to compare rates, access valuable information, and have the expertise of an independent agent a click away have provided the consumers the user experience they have come to expect in today’s social media and highly technology-based environment.

The Personal Lines Growth Alliance is working to help its members build that better partnership with their carrier markets and solution providers in order to meet the changing consumer expectations. To best compete in the marketplace of the future, agents need to improve their online awareness to include stronger, updated websites, quick quotes, chat, educational content, community service, employee engagement, social media, and a strong focus on search engine optimization.

With such a strong, comprehensive plan, independent agents will have nothing to fear from the other distribution channels; they just need to take those first steps.

Many NetVU members have already taken those steps. Find out what your colleagues are doing. Visit the NetVU Community and start a discussion; post a question and gain from your peers’ knowledge and experience. Networking with other NetVU users is a great way to help position your agency for today’s future.

J.D. Powers Survey Show Most Auto Insurance Buyers Get Quotes Online 

According to the 2011 U.S. Insurance Shopping Study released this month by J.D. Powers & Associates, 54% of auto insurance shoppers prefer to research quotes online, spending upwards of 2 to 3 days gathering information from individual carrier websites.  Websites now account for more than ¼ of the importance weight, second only to the local agent.

This is great news for independent agents who are prepared for it. The obvious value proposition for the independent agent in today’s insurance buying environment is their ability to quote multiple rates in Real Time while providing expertise, trusted counsel and a reliable relationship of a professional who cares about the consumer’s financial future.

Another finding from the study was an increase in the rate of policy churn. This is driven both by an increase in the rate of shopping among insurance customers, which averages 33% in 2011 (compared with 27% in 2009 and 30% in 2010), as well as a significant increase in the rate of switching companies among shoppers. Among those insurance customers that shopped insurance in 2011, 40% switched to a new insurer – up from 33% in 2010.

This too is good for independent agents who understand that the more policies written per account, the less likely the client is going to leave. Unfortunately, on average, independent agents only write between one and two policies per personal lines account (typically auto and home or umbrella) when in fact, there are potentially seven to 10 policies that could be written. That’s a lot of commission dollars left on the table.

Account rounding is the simplest method for growing an agency’s personal lines business and securing ongoing repeat business. Just look at what McDonald’s did to its business when all of a sudden the kid behind the counter started asking, “Would you like fries with that?” If you don’t ask, you’ll never get the answer you want.

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