ACT e-Sig Survey – Results

A couple of weeks ago I told you that The IIABA Agent’s Council for Technology (ACT) was seeking feedback from agents on how e-Signatures can be used to help make agency workflows more efficient.

Many of you took the time to complete our short survey. I’d like to provide you with the results of that survey. A total of 71 surveys were completed.

Are you using e-Signatures in your organization?

• Do Not Offer: 49%
• In Office: 28%
• E-mail: 21%

Most agencies do not currently have the ability that allows their prospects or clients to sign documents electronically.

Would you like to offer this option?

• Yes: 80%

It’s obvious from this response that agencies see the need for streamlining the way we obtain necessary signatures.

What insurance companies currently provide this capability?
Progressive was by far the most cited property-casualty company. A couple of people mentioned Safeco and Travelers. The other companies listed were all life and health insurance companies which have taken a lead in this area.

We asked the open-ended question: How would you like the signatures to be integrated into your workflow and technology? The comments provided can be grouped into several responses.

• Need both internal and external capability. (employees and clients).
• Integrated with agency systems (policy management, document management, rating) so applications can be electronically delivered to client, signed electronically, and stored back in that system as part of the client record.
• The current workflow of printing applications, delivering to the client, client needing to print, client signing, client scanning or faxing back to the agency, agency reattaching to the client file, is cumbersome and time-consuming for both the agency and the client.

What key features do you need?

• User friendly: easy for the client and the agency.
• Notification to the agency when document is signed by client.
• Acceptable validation so it can be ascertained that the client actually applied the signature.
• Have many companies offer this capability.

By far the biggest comment was that the process needed to be easy to use for both the agency and the client.

This short unscientific survey certainly does highlight that agencies want to implement some type of e-Signature capability for their clients. Any solution(s) provided, however, needs to be easy to implement and easy to use for all parties.