Customer service

Darwin's theory of natural selection proclaims that the strong species will thrive, while the weak will vanish. It's not unlike carriers' Web sites, where the best ones may have the inside track on survival.In the mid-1990s, when insurance carriers were developing corporate Web sites, many discovered they could do little wrong in the eyes of their online constituency-particularly casual users with modest expectations.

Insurance companies, banks and brokerages are all proceeding aggressively with their strategies to move into each others' territories and provide more financial products to their customers. Between Jan. 1, 1997 and Nov. 30, 2000, 45 insurers had filed for thrift charters with the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS). And banks are gobbling up insurance agencies at a rapid rate.

Losses and loss adjustment expenses account for 75% of automobile insurers' total costs. Yet carriers invested only $2.5 billion in claims-related technologies in 1999-less than 1% of industrywide premiums.

Last October, Insurance-Noodle.com made a bold strategic move when it expanded its Web platform to attract independent agents. The Chicago-based e-broker, which specializes in small-business insurance, made a gamble that it could change the rules for selling insurance to small businesses.

Techniques that foster thinking outside the box will go a long way toward attracting small-business owners to the Web to research insurance needs, many industry observers believe.For example, Chicago-based InsuranceNoodle.com has begun to augment its small-business insurance product line with personal insurance products. "We are exploring the personal lines side of the equation," says Donald Urbanciz, CEO of InsuranceNoodle.com, an e-broker that provides coverage from multiple carriers. "It's a business-to-consumer play because the companies we sell to have indicated they want a chance to buy coverage for their home or auto. We want to give business owners a chance to buy a workers' compensation policy one day, an annuity another and an auto policy a third day."

Whether she is implementing corporate policies to attract and retain skilled technical employees or conceiving better ways to use technology to deliver service to customers, Andrea Anania believes that a business-first approach serves her well.

Integrate systems. Simplify the business process. Improve the profit. That's what commercial agents need from their insurers.But they aren't getting that kind of support, particularly for small commercial coverages that generate 10% or less in commission, says Donald E. Martin, founder and former chief executive officer of Cal- Surance in Orange, Calif., one of the nation's 50 largest agents and brokers and now founder of EPolicy.com.

Two IT professionals from an insurance company recently called a consultant to find out which e- business companies they should consider for partnerships or alliances.