BOSTON, MA – October 27, 2009 AgencyPort, the leading provider of web-based solutions to the property and casualty insurance industry, today unveiled the findings from its unprecedented, in-depth polling of independent insurance agents on their views of the current state of insurance technology.

AgencyPort conducted the one-month, 1,500-mile, 66-stop Agent Insight Tour to determine which technologies are succeeding (and which are not) in moving the industry from paper to online—what challenges still exist and what steps the market must take to improve the way insurance is transacted. The 20-page report details feedback and suggestions from hundreds of agents and covers virtually all topics relevant to agent/carrier connectivity for commercial, personal and specialty lines of P&C insurance.

“In every state we visited we heard the same thing from independent agents: the time it takes to process new business and renewals is debilitating,” said Eric Harnden, CTO at AgencyPort. “On top of that, current economic conditions have forced agents to do more work for every deal—making them even less patient with inferior technology.”

AgencyPort’s research cites specific shortcomings with carrier technology that cause agents to choose other carriers for quotes. Additionally, AgencyPort staff lay out a vision for solutions that carriers can adopt to help affect change in the industry. According to AgencyPort, to provide agents with the kind of business transaction environment they envision, carriers will need to rethink basic business practices and move to relax the specialization of their products and process.

“As vendors, we all have to enable better standardization of products and technologies, but true industry change is not just about improving technology,” said Steve Hauck, President at AgencyPort. “Common product definition among carriers remains the largest obstacle to providing agents what they want. It’s a big assignment, but it sits at the very center of what we consider meaningful change. In the meantime, there is today’s reality, and AgencyPort remains committed to helping keep P&C carriers ahead of the curve—investing heavily in R&D for new product development and enhancements to our existing solutions.”

The Agent Insight Tour report was released on September 30, 2009 to AgencyPort’s current carrier customers and business partners during the company’s annual User Conference held at the Chatham Bars Inn in Chatham, Massachusetts. It is now also available free of charge to the general public at http://www.agencyport.com/AIT-Report.

Daily updates from the month-long tour were posted to, and are still available on, the AgencyPort blog at http://www.agencyport.com/tour.