"We're able actually to take a look and see that agencies are more profitable today, in record numbers... despite commissions being way down from 20 years ago," says Doug Johnston, Vice President of Insurance Solutions for Applied IVANS. He recently joined us in the ACORD studios to share the results of recent studies on agencies and their systems, and some exciting conclusions based on the data.
"It was really kind of fun to be able to triangulate the different measurements that Applied has at its disposal into some of the work that the Big I has done, to be able to say: yes, ACORD has made a big difference," Johnston said. He explained that the efficiency generated by using ACORD messages and download has allowed agencies to become more profitable in a difficult environment.
"If you go back 20 years ago, what did employees in agencies do? They shuffled paper all day long, and they maybe handled five or six hundred policies or accounts per person. In today's world, they're not handling paper, they're not re-keying data all day long, they're not repurposing data. And now an employee can handle a thousand or two thousand customers very easily... because of the efficiency of ACORD standards flowing through their system."