APT & SEMCI A LOT ACCOMPLISHED MORE TO DO

"Many agents still are not aware of what SEMCI is
and its potential for streamlining agency workflow."

In preparing a contribution for this year's Special Section, I reviewed each of the past three sections for inspiration. A look at those articles reveals a lot about the progress we have made as an industry in understanding the concept of SEMCI and accepting its key role in getting the costs out of our distribution system. They also tell a great story about the development of the APT product from concept to reality.

Three years ago the focus was on the idea of SEMCI--what it was, and why we needed it. The potential cost savings from eliminating duplicate entry at the agent's office made for compelling arguments. Two years ago the good news was that APT had delivered the goods and we moved from SEMCI as a concept to a reality. Early implementors, both companies and vendors, provided encouraging stories on their successful use of the APT software. In addition, agents who were using the software had started to capture the promised cost savings. Last year, the focus moved toward increasing awareness that many companies and vendors had working implementations and the push was on for more agency users.

We have come a long way in three short years. SEMCI is no longer a concept just out of reach; it is a working reality in more and more agencies. At The Travelers we are pleased to have been part of this progress from the beginning. As a founder of APT we have worked hard to bring SEMCI to our agents over these same three years. From our early pilots with APT in 1995, SEMCI has developed to where it takes its place alongside download as a key element in our agency interface strategy. From our perspective, APT and SEMCI have lived up to the promise. We are very satisfied with our ability to edit and receive data from our agents using the APT module.

More and more agencies are taking advantage of our implementation, and our number of SEMCI agents has more than doubled over the past year. In addition, with many agents replacing or upgrading their systems, we see the number of potential users growing rapidly in the future. So where do we go from here? From our standpoint there are three key things we need to accomplish to keep the concept of SEMCI viable and available for our agents.

First, we need to make it available to more of our agents. Currently about half of our independent agents have access to our SEMCI implementation. That will change rapidly over the next few months. By early next year all agents in all states will be able to process SEMCI transactions for the new Travelers products. In addition, we will be expanding the number of vendors we work with as their implementations come on line.

Second, we need to expand the available functions. We will be making more products available for SEMCI processing and, most important, adding the policy change function. While SEMCI processing savings for new business are significant, the real icing on the cake is in the high volume change transactions.

Finally, we need to be sure that our SEMCI implementation is available to our agents through whatever technology they deem appropriate. As APT and vendors move to alternative technology, we will see that our implementation is available through those paths. With all the discussions regarding the Internet, objects and other emerging technologies, we need to be sure we keep our eyes focused on what SEMCI is about. It is about giving agents a way to interface policy transactions in a way that works from within their workflow and doesn't add more steps and costs. We will be prepared to support that process, however it is accomplished.

What do our agents need to do? For those who are doing SEMCI, continue to provide feedback to your vendor and companies regarding the product. We need your help to continue to make it better and easier to use. In addition, spread the gospel. Many agents still are not aware of what SEMCI is and its potential for streamlining agency workflow. Share your experiences with your peers. For those agencies that are not already involved, find out if your vendor supports SEMCI and if not when they will. If they do, find out more about it and be prepared to invest in it if it's right for you. It's there, it works and there is no reason to wait.

If vendors, companies and agents all do their parts, next year we will be writing about a mission accomp-lished and a thriving interface standard for the industry.*