Bulletin: ID Federation Momentum Growing, Says Progressive's DeVito

Progressive agency experience manager Jim DeVito has been part of an ID Federation organization that for nearly two years has been working on solving one problem: the multitude of portal passwords that clutter an independent agent's workflow.

At last year's ACORD LOMA conference, DeVito and other members of the organization said they had developed a beta. This year, further progress has been made.

"From a tech perspective, we are pretty close to having our 1.0 version of all the standards laid out," DeVito says. "The one thing we have to nail down is the certification process and tying that to the membership."

The past year hasn't been without speedbumps — DeVito says the organization is seeking a leader for the technical committee after the departure of The Hartford's Paul LaBella — but awareness of the problem is growing and more companies are looking for ways to be involved.

"We're getting a little more granular on the membership — because of growth we're able to drive down costs of membership" opening up more options for insurers or vendors of various sizes to join in, he explains.

The organization also held a meeting in December where it hammered out the business plan and communications plan. It is working on developing a new website that DeVito says will give champions of the idea something robust to point to.

"In surveys of independent agent groups we still hear that [password management] is a big problem," he says. Once federation is implemente, he says, "the breakthrough is that they will be able to gain efficiencies while still offering choice."

Read DeVito's exclusive I&T op-ed on password management

Nathan Golia is senior editor of Insurance & Technology. He joined the publication in 2010 as associate editor and covers all aspects of the nexus between insurance and information technology, including mobility, distribution, core systems, customer interaction, and risk ... View Full Bio