Do you even remember what AUGIE is? Do you care?
Several years ago, I wrote that ever since ACORD announced the birth of AUGIE (the ACORD-Users Groups Information Exchange) and sent me a warm and fuzzy stuffed dog to remind me of it, I've been trying to get a handle on just what the heck this group is about and why it exists.
AUGIE is comprised of agency user groups whose members own or use software provided by ACORD member organizations. According to ACORD, the group includes user groups, vendors and carriers. One of its purposes is to establish standards that enable insurance systems to speak the same language. Has that happened over the last several years? Apparently not. Agents continue to express frustration with carriers' proprietary data systems and their inability, or unwillingness, to offer single-entry, multiple-company interface (the legendary SEMCI).
I know that AUGIE has meetings, because I see the notices. Of course, I'm not invited to any of those meetings (I can't imagine why), so I can't tell you exactly what goes on there. I also know that AUGIE has done two (that's right--TWO) wide-ranging surveys of agents that have revealed--are you ready for this?--that agents are sick and tired of insurers' proprieatry systems and want SEMCI. Wow! Who would have thought?
I know the first survey cost $10,000 of someone's money. I have no monetary figure on the second. But I continue to wonder why time and money are spent to find out what we already know, instead of simply fixing the problem. We know the technology exists to fix the problem, so what's the problem with fixing the problem?
The problem is that instead of working on real answers, we set up committees to examine the problem and to tell us what the problem is so we know that we have to fix the problem. Then--just in case we missed it the first time--we set up another committee to do the same thing. Oh, there are some apparent efforts (again, I couldn't tell you first hand) to make progress, but when insurance companies start intimating that agents are being lazy about technology adoption (see "Are Agents Getting Lazy" elsewhere in this blog), you know that something doesn't add up.
So what about it? Should I tell the stuffed dog on my desk to give up the ghost? Maybe I should just "put it down" and be merciful. What's your take on AUGIE?
Comments (3)
I have wondered for years why the lack of cooperation on SEMCI should really surprise anybody. Just follow the money. Companies are not going to make it easier to shop around every year. To me that's the beginning and the end of the discussion, no matter what 'politically correct' stuff the company people have said over the years.
Posted by Aaron Stein | February 20, 2007 11:51 AM
Posted on February 20, 2007 11:51
Ara, Welcome to the blogging world.
I launched my blog earlier this year and find it to be a good way to reach out. I saw your comments on AUGIE and wanted to encourage your readers to follow the link you referenced to see the various tools and other resources AUGIE volunteers have created.
I posted a comment about AUGIE on my blog and it includes links to another column, the AUGIE website and a video I did last year. You can find it on my blog at http://www.acordceo.org
The survey is, of course, a part of what AUGIE does. The most recent one reinforces the need for companies to continue their move toward real-time, something they are clearly doing.
Wish you the best on your blog. Stop by and visit mine when you have time, Ara.
Greg
P.S. Our AUGIE doggie ran away a couple of years ago, right around the time agency management system user group leaders stepped forward to take a leadership role – something that has actually spawned greater involvement in AUGIE and more success. If you need more desk space, please don’t put the dog on eBay. Give me a call. I’m sure we can work out a reasonable price.
Posted by Gregory Maciag | February 20, 2007 1:10 PM
Posted on February 20, 2007 13:10
I am on the carrier side and attended the February AUGIE meeting in Tampa. Frankly I was a bit surprised that the discussion did seem to focus on "carrier proprietary systems."
The discussion seemed to imply that if all carrier systems were not proprietary, agency systems would just magically connect. This concerns me as a carrier because I will connect to just about any system with a Web service accepting ACORD xml.
While I am not in IS, I am a part of other user groups. In those groups we push our vendor to open up their systems and those vendors respond. This group is different, and I suspect it is because the agents are independent with out the knowledge base most user communities have.
If the agency management systems would open up, we would communicate. As long as the agency systems have profits based in incompatability and specific connection models we will never get to straight through processing from agency systems on a broad scale. The cost is too high for carriers, and the agency systems don't move to accommodate thier clients. That is unless the real client (profit center) isn't the agent, but instead the process.
Posted by scott mackey cpcu | March 13, 2007 5:16 PM
Posted on March 13, 2007 17:16