I will admit that I am pleasantly surprised that the recent AUGIE survey generated nearly 9,000 responses, just short of the hoped-for 10,000 mark. While ACORD's press release announcing the online January survey was carried (in some cases nearly verbatim) by other industry media outlets, Sounding Line's December 2001 article was perhaps the lone industry voice to offer any critical evaluation of the survey's intent and potential efficacy. Now that the preliminary results are in, it's appropriate that we should offer our initial observations and commentary.
Preliminary findings
The survey's preliminary findings are reported in a PowerPoint presentation viewable at www.acordceo.org. The first 14 or so slides include general demographic information regarding the respondents themselves. The remaining 35 slides summarize what I would regard as "the meat" of the survey's intent — to find out what agents think about their present automation concerns and what they'd like their companies to do about it. That is, after all, the essence of what the survey purported to find out in the first place.
In my opinion, the heart of the agents' response is found in slides 15 through 20 or so. If slide 19 is indeed an accurate reflection of agent sentiment, companies will no longer be able to question what agents want. The text in slide 19, though not attributed to any one person, is set off in quotation marks and reads, "Companies should be directing their investment dollars toward single entry and away from company-specific duplicate entry."
That statement is supported by data on several other slides that essentially report that proprietary company access schemes are agents' most annoying problem and pressing issue. For example, 41% of respondents say that "learning and using carrier proprietary systems" is their "greatest automation challenge." Another slide reports that 48% of responding agents think that their "greatest interface challenge" is "different proprietary company interface," while another 29% say it's "duplicate entry." And slide 18 says that the "greatest automation time-waster," according to 50% of the respondents is "duplicate entry," while another 28% say it's "proprietary solutions."
Observations
Based on these few findings, it would be easy for the cynic to say, "Oh sure, what else do you expect ACORD and SEMCI-oriented agents to say?" But even if such an explanation were true, it would be only partially accurate.
It would, however, be more useful to know whether or not the preliminary findings uncovered anything new. To me, the survey results (at least what has been made available at this point) are fairly predictable. What agents are saying in this survey is not much different from what they've been saying for years. Furthermore, I'd be amazed to find anyone who honestly believes that this survey sheds any new light on agents' technology concerns regarding their carriers. And further still, because these preliminary findings were so predictable, one wonders why such a survey was necessary in the first place.
Commentary
Though highly unlikely and improbable, let's assume that the AUGIE survey results really is "news" to the company segment of the industry. Let's also assume that despite perennial agent clamoring, the AUGIE survey, because of the ACORD imprimatur, has finally caught the attention of companies. Okay, what's next? Isn't that the burning question that's been on everybody's mind all along? What will companies do "now that they know?" Remember, according to ACORD's Rick Gilman in our December 2001 article, companies initiated the survey, saying they wanted to hear from agents and learn their concerns.
What probably won't happen
While I'd be delighted to be proven wrong, here are some things that probably won't happen as a result of the AUGIE survey. If companies want to regard the following as a challenge, that would be a step in the right direction.
Nevertheless…
Despite the input of 9,000 agents, despite the ACORD-AUGIE backing, and despite the years of wishful thinking that have preceded this latest survey, agents are powerless to resolve the company technology issues they feel frustrated by. Agents will remain at the mercy of the companies that are free to choose whether or not to adjust their technology development to accommodate agent wishes.
The success of the AUGIE survey is not to be found in the number of respondents, the nature of their input, or in a new agent database; rather, it's in the willingness of those who can actually do something about the problem. In applying the "golden rule," the companies have most of the gold and they rule. Thus, if history is any indication, I believe agents are in for yet another long wait.
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