Agencies Favor Electronic Commerce with Carriers, ACORD Study Shows

N/Aan 90 percent of agencies will be exchanging data electronically with their companies by 1999, according to <%=company%>'s most recent survey of agency automation. The ACORD Automation & Interface Survey, conducted every two years, has been a trusted resource for the industry since its introduction in 1987.

Eighty-three percent of the agencies surveyed in 1997 are interfacing with carriers, an increase of 12 percent from the previous survey in 1995. Sixty-one percent of interfacing agencies receive downloads at least once a day, while 66 percent upload at least daily.

The typical interfacing agency reported that they were communicating electronically with an average of 3.1 companies, up from 2.4 in 1995. The trend toward more agencies interfacing with companies can be expected to continue, as more than half of the non-interfacing agencies said they expect to be uploading and downloading by the end of 1998.

Key statistics from The ACORD Automation & Interface Survey 1998 Report were highlighted in a general session at the ACORD Technology Conference '98, in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The session was one of 37 workshops and sessions presented during the three-day Conference, attended by 900 of the industry's leading technology users and providers.