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ACORD (Pearl River, N.Y.), the global standards-setting body for the insurance industry, has announced that it will be aligning its efforts to develop new Digital Standards for efficient data exchange with members of the independent agent distribution channel via a partnership with the Agents Council for Technology (ACT), a program of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (IIABA or the Big “I,” Alexandria, Va.).
ACORD reports that the Digital Standards will complement existing ACORD standardized forms and electronic messages, enabling streamlined data exchange capabilities which are optimized not only for mobile devices, but also the Internet of Things, distributed ledger technology, and other emerging technologies. ACT will provide an additional forum for independent agents and other ACT members to participate in the development of the ACORD Standards.
Bill Pieroni, CEO, ACORD.
“ACORD and ACT have always shared the mission of facilitating fast, accurate data exchange for insurance agencies and their business partners,” comments Bill Pieroni, CEO, ACORD. “Agents are a critical link in the insurance value chain, and bring a unique perspective to our standards development process. With ACT as the voice of the agent community, we will be able to more effectively meet the needs of the industry.”
In addition to contributing to the development of ACORD Standards, ACT will collaborate with ACORD on education and advocacy on behalf of the agent community, according to ACORD. ACORD will offer discounted registration to independent agents at its annual conference, ACORD Connect, taking place October 29th-30th in Boston.
Critical Need
“We recognize the critical need for our independent agents, insurance companies, and technology vendors to provide guidance on needed standards changes as technology evolves,” comments Bob Rusbuldt, President and CEO, Big “I.” “Having an additional platform for submission of Standards Enhancements requests is one way ACT can help amplify the voice of IA stakeholders.”
Malou August (SVP of Standards & Membership, ACORD) and Ron Berg (Executive Director, ACT) will be presenting more details on this collaboration and the standards development process at the ACT meeting to be held May 20th-21st in conjunction with Accelerate 2019 in Cincinnati.