"Just do it"

Rough Notes, Oct 1999 by Doucette, Nancy

Consumers complete a simple form consisting of check-boxes and drop-down lists. Relevant information is then mapped to an ACORD form that an agent can access by clicking a button. But as agents know, there's more to evaluating a risk than the information contained on an ACORD form. This "qualitative" data is available to agents as well by clicking another button. Whereas the ACORD form compiles the "need to know" data, the qualitative data falls into the equally important "nice to know" category. For instance: how long the consumer was with his/her previous insurer, why the consumer is "shopping" this policy, what the consumer expects from an independent agent, whether evening or weekend hours are important, and any special concerns.

Whereas consumers pay nothing to use ebix.mall, producers pay a $100 annual registration fee. The registration process includes collection of credit card information for the agency and its producers, the states in which the agency is licensed to do business, and any niches or areas of specialization that the agency may have.

Once the agent reviews the ACORD form and the qualitative data, he/she has the option of providing a quote. The quote can be for the coverages and/or limits the consumer specified or the agent may deviate from those specifications based on details contained in the qualitative data. By looking at the range of quotes already provided by other agents, the agent may conclude that he/she can't be competitive on this risk. This helps agents be more productive, Raina believes. "Too often agencies spend too much of their marketing time on an account, only to find out later they weren't competitive. So with this process, they can see the range of quotes-- what's the lowest, what's the highest-and determine if they can be competitive."

Raina points out that this process acknowledges that insurance is a qualitative cycle. "It isn't like buying a car. The lowest price may not mean the best coverage for the consumer. With ebix.mall, Delphi has built the entire qualitative cycle of insurance into this buying process while keeping the process easy for the consumer."

But, he continues, "the big deal here is that this is not a rating engine concept. It's actual intelligence being used by the agency on the other side. What's more, the consumer can transact the entire process online. The consumer can accept the policy without picking up the phone."

If the agent chooses to provide a quote, the agency account is charged 50 cents for that activity. Delphi is keeping the quote cost nominal to encourage activity at ebix.mall. "And besides, marketing costs today are already high," Raina observes. In addition to providing a quote, the agency can include attachments that are forwarded to the consumer-- reinforcing the idea that the buyer's decision should be based on more information than simply price. The attachments could include a Word file, an Excel file or a PowerPoint file containing electronic agency brochures, information about the carrier being quoted, or special features of the particular policy being offered.