Redesigned ‘ACTtech’ Web Site Streamlines Real-Time Interface Resource For Agents, Brokers, Industry

ALEXANDRIA, Va., (May 23, 2005) – The Agents Council for Technology (ACT) today unveiled new design and functionality for ACTtech, a Web site resource to help independent agents and brokers leverage the latest real-time interface, download, and other time-saving technology capabilities that their particular vendors and carriers are offering.

ACTtech is designed to give agents and brokers carrier and vendor system-specific information, so that they know what solutions will work for them. The information drills down to line of business, transaction type and state and can generate comparison reports for the particular carriers, vendors, and transactions selected by the agent. (ACTtech is located at http://www.acttech.org or can be accessed from the ACT Web site at www.independentagent.com/act.)

“Our objective with the site from the start has been to give agents, brokers, and the industry a single place to go to ascertain what new technologies are available to them, given their particular systems and carriers, or the systems and carriers they are considering,� said Linda Dodson, e-business consultant, strategic marketing for Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, and chair of ACT�s Agency Communications Working Group. �We want to do everything we can to accelerate agent, carrier, and vendor implementation of these money-saving technologies.”

“Carriers and vendors should register on the redesigned site to enter or update their real-time interface and download data,� added Jeff Yates, ACT executive director. �We have begun a major campaign to drive agents and brokers to use the site, and it is important for them to see the innovative technologies their carriers and vendors are offering to make them more efficient.”

There is no charge for parties to use the site or to add their information to it. It has been developed as an industry resource to accelerate the adoption of real-time interface, download and improved workflows within the independent agency distribution system. ACT, ACORD, and AUGIE are all cooperating closely on ACTtech as well as on other Web site information tools in order to use industry resources most efficiently and to avoid duplicate data entry for carriers and vendors.

“We have been getting good usage from the site over the past year�an average of 800-900 hits a month,� Dodson added. �On the new redesigned site, everything works faster and more efficiently both for agents and brokers and for the carriers and vendors managing their information on the site.”

The new ACTtech site allows users to search under four major categories: �Carrier Possibilities,� �Vendor Possibilities,� �My Possibilities� and �Process Possibilities.� One of the major improvements on the site is contained in �My Possibilities,� which permits agents and brokers to create and print comparison reports for any combination of transactions, carriers, systems, and states they select. The site includes greatly improved tools that carriers and vendors can use to manage their data on the site more efficiently. The site also features a rotating display of the latest carrier/vendor additions to the database so that visitors to the site can always see what�s new.

Afni Insurance Services developed the new ACTtech Web site and database for ACT and will provide ongoing management of these resources.

Established in January 1999, ACT is a part of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (IIABA) and provides a candid, action-oriented forum to address the critical technology issues facing the Independent Agency System. ACT helps participants understand the perspectives of the other stakeholders in the process and provides excellent networking opportunities with the participants who are shaping the future for the industry on these issues.

Founded in 1896, IIABA is the nation�s oldest and largest national association of independent insurance agents and brokers, representing a network of more than 300,000 agents, brokers and their employees nationally. Its members are businesses that offer customers a choice of policies from a variety of insurance companies. Independent agents and brokers offer all lines of insurance�property, casualty, life and health�as well as employee benefit plans and retirement products. Web address: www.independentagent.com.