Web-Based Solutions Deliver on Agents' Tech Expectations

At Harleysville Insurance, our agents are our primary customers. As such, we are leveraging Web-based technologies to deliver high-value solutions with a primary focus of making them easy to do business with. The expectations of independent agents are constantly evolving due to the "consumerization" of technology and need for faster cycle time and reduced transaction costs. Agents need to be able to execute business transactions and deliver efficient service to their customers at any time and from any place, so we have rolled out an agent portal that fulfills this need and is continuously evolving new capabilities. This agent portal has been seamlessly integrated with our new, state-of-the-art commercial and personal lines policy systems. In turn, these systems connect with an underwriting rules engine and predictive modeling, which allow our agents to get the right price quickly. Cycle time has been reduced from days to minutes for all new submissions, thereby improving productivity and conversion rates for our agents.

We recognize that in order to maximize their profits, agents are streamlining their workflows to eliminate redundancies and reduce costs. That, in turn, exerts pressures on carriers to better integrate their systems and workflows with agency management systems. We understand the value of this integration and therefore continue to build out real-time integration with major agency management systems.