Gregory Maciag

Dangers of non-ACORD Forms

Curt Pearsall recently counselled agents on what action they should take if they are asked to provide a non-ACORD certificate for one of their insureds. He points out that it may well be illegal to do so in the agent's state, because the non-ACORD form is unlikely to have been approved. He offers a form of words that agents can use to explain their insistence on using a standard ACORD certificate in such circumstances.

Pearsall mentions that the agent could contact the carrier to see if “they are agreeable to honoring any unique language on the non-ACORD certificate”. But: “There is a very good chance that they will not allow you to execute the form.”

 

I like the phrase “unique language”. Doing business in our industry means, among other things, knowing where originality belongs – and where it can kill the business. What purpose can “unique language” serve in a certificate of insurance? The relevant passages are either intended to undermine the purpose of the document, or are unintentional variants on standard passages which then have to be interpreted and validated by experts. Either way, if an agent calls a carrier to query a non-ACORD standard certificate form, he's presenting an unnecessary and unmeasured risk.

Standards are about correct language, where “correct” means “agreed to meet the needs of the adopting parties”. Standards create assurance. Let's leave “unique language” to the poets.  Curt Pearsall

Certificates of Insurance

Certificates of Insurance are critical to our business and provide information needed by policyholders.  According to ProperttCasualty360. "One consultant estimates the cost to issue a plain-vanilla ACORD 25 document at $7; and if some customization is required, it could be as much as $15-18. This figure could go even higher when responding to requests that insist upon the completion of some sort of “compliance checklist” that consists of dozens of broad, vague, generalized questions about policy coverages."

Please visit the ACORD website to view the latest forms and be sure that your software includes the latest updates. ACORD Forms

Bill Wilson goes on to say that "The costs associated with certificates of insurance are not trivial, whether you’re considering operational expenses or potential E&O claims. To learn more about risk managing your certificates-of-insurance exposure, visit the Big “I” Virtual University’s free Certificate Resource Center at www.iiaba.net/VU.

And read the entire story at PropertyCasualty360

ACORD eForms Are Here!

We now have a series of ACORD eForms that can be used to capture data and electronically feed data into computer systems using standard XML formatting. This allows end users to contunue using ACORD Forms as they have but allows receipients to consume data directly into their systems. Tools are being made available to vendors as well. Here's the flyer. Download Business Flyer   Download Technical Flyer

 

Are ACORD Forms Still Relevant?

Interesting question. Some vendor systems may print ACORD Forms when needed, but transmit data electronically to insurers. Some agents print the forms for signature, PDF the signed form for the record and shred the paper. So why do ACORD Forms continue to have legs after 40 years? ACORD Forms exist for only one reason, to replace proprietary forms created by insurers and regulators. If proprietary forms did not exist, there would be no standard ACORD Forms.  

The digerati refer to ACORD Forms as the physical representation of the electronic standards. That's somewhat true, but the relationship between electronic messages and forms is more complicated. The good news is that we are updating all 700+ ACORD Forms to make them smarter. We created an eLabel database for every piece of data on every form.  We provide eForms that enable online completion and we're building better integration tools for software developers.  The line between the paper and the digital world is blurring.

Someday, you may never actually print an ACORD Form on paper for any reason once we all agree on electronic signatures. But you'll probably continue to see ACORD Forms because they also provide a standard view for consuming information. Don't underestimate the value of a consistent look and feel.

The Future presents itself in waves. We are engulfed in a blend of old and new technologies. Some fade away, others endure for awhile as new compounds emerge from the mix. You'll continue to see ACORD Forms in the mix somewhere.

Hurricane Ike & ACORD Forms

We responded to requests from agents and others in Texas last week and put up a link for agents and the public to get easy access to our notice of loss forms.  Of course, most consumers are already being helped by their agents or directly talking to their carriers, using existing systems.  But providing one more way to get the claims process going is a good thing in times like these.  We let the trade associations know, as well as the NAIC and the Texas TDI.

In days gone by, we shipped boxes full of these forms to hard-struck areas after floods, hurricanes, and other disasters.  In fact, in 1997, we gave the Grand Forks Herald newspaper in Iowa temporary permission to publish the ACORD First Notice of Loss form in their first edition after the Red River Flood; we’re told policyholders showed up at agents with newsprint in hand, filled out and ready to go. Now the best way to accomplish the same task is to offer an easy-to-find link over the internet. Technology changes, but the fundamentals of our industry do not.

eForms Bridge Analog Digital Worlds

We are hard at work to improve ACORD eForms because I do not foresee a purely digital world no matter what pundits may say. Yes, the bulk of information flowing through fiber optic cables or over radio frequencies will be system to system messaging. And ACORD XML Messaging Standards will be the catalyst for moving this information in our business. But the wall that divides our digital and analog world is... well... right in front of your eyes.

People live in the analog world and we do have a symbiotic relationship with the digital world. (My Blackberry is chirping as I type). There was a time when everyone thought that ACORD Forms would be replaced by data messaging between computer systems. It didn't happen and I do not see it happening anytime soon.  eForms are smart because they allow people to enter the data to save, print, fax or email. And they also allow people to save a data file that separates the captions and lines from the data itself. That data file can be used in many ways by system developers in order to avoid re-keying the information.

Almost all ACORD Forms in circulation today originate in agencies that use software products from vendors licensed by ACORD.  Our goal is to make it easier for those vendors to keep up with changes and avoid work that ACORD can do for all of them.  Insurers are typically recipients of ACORD Forms and they too will benefit by eForms where electronic messaging is not available or applicable.

I'll keep you posted on our progress and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on eForms.

ACORD eForms Launch

We posted the new eForms on the ACORD Advantage website last week. The forms are fillable and have been enhanced to fix some of the data parsing (segmentation) issues and to add flexibility by expanding key fields as needed. Take a look at them on the Advantage site.

The real story behind the new eForms is that we have partnered with IBM to include the capability for insurers and vendors to map all the information to an XML message. This is the ultimate merger of old world and new world.  Agents can use a standard eForm and their markets can pull the data from the form into their systems.  Our plan this year is to work with all our licensed developers on a migration plan from the old static forms to the new eForms.

For agents that have complained about all the different proprietary front end screens on insurer portals, this may prove to be what the doctor ordered. A potential win-win for both agent and insurer.

ACORD eForms Brochure   ACORD Advantage Website

Forms as a User Interface

This excerpt from a RI3K's press release on using forms as a user interface.  It also goes on to mention ACORD compliant templates. This mix of ACORD Forms, ACORD compliant electronic messaging and proprietary user interfaces are all part of the new way to look at forms and e-forms in software development.

RI3K Announces New "Easy to Use" Trading System

Monte Carlo, Monday 11th September 2006:  The electronic trading service RI3K today announces a revolutionary new version of its trading system.  Named "V3", the new system will be rolled out in the run-up to renewals to replace the existing RI3K platform.  It will allow users to handle all types and classes of facultative and treaty reinsurance, as well as commercial "direct" insurance.

"This is a completely new animal" say RI3K's Chief Executive Alex Letts.  "It is wonderfully intuitive, and many of the heavy processes have been smoothed out.  It is so much easier to use." Key innovations for the new version have been in making the service much more flexible for brokers, allowing them to use their own contracts and wordings on the service, by using the powerful ACORD-based form-builder.

"The form-builder is the sensation," says Letts.  "At a stroke it transforms the electronic trading landscape because it preserves differentiation for brokers in their product presentation.  Rather than being forced to use RI3K prescribed slips, broking houses will be able to create and store their own ACORD compliant templates in the form-builder whatever type, class or line - fac, treaty or direct.  They can add their wordings from their selected sources, and then simply allow their placing brokers to distribute and trade these out over the service."  V3 has also been upgraded with enhanced data integration capabilities.  It can be connected to brokers' own slip systems, and it can pass data into peer-to-peer underwriting gateways.

"For companies, V3 is a path to efficient, compliant and cost effective distribution," Letts adds.  "But for the actual users themselves, V3 is just a marvellous modern service that makes their day easier and more productive."

About RI3K

RI3K has built an electronic trading service to support all types and classes of reinsurance business, treaty as well as facultative and commercial insurance. The Trading Service provides the reinsurance market with a fully ACORD, LMP and Contract Certainty compliant solution.It combines four key elements - collaboration, contract management, business process and dataflow - to produce a complete front-office suite supporting the business processes.

Roddy Langley
Marketing Communications Manager
RI3K Limited

ri3k Home Page

Premature Forms Obituary

Sometimes I think that forms are the least appreciated and most misunderstood vehicle for transporting or transferring information between trading partners, even though they have done so for hundreds of years.  A few facts about ACORD Forms. Now 35 years in use. Over 700 in the library. Used by about 1,000 P&C insurers and almost all 40,000 independent agents and brokers in one way or another. Licensed to over 100 software developers. Saved the industry hundreds of millions of dollars over the years. A real success story if I do say so myself.

Today we have EDI and XML Messaging so who needs forms or so the story goes. The first time I heard that comment was at an EDI meeting back in the 1980's. But the truth is that while forms are often replaced because there are better ways to transport or transfer information today, they also survive for many reasons.  We have the niche markets that have yet to benefit by digital messaging. They are also used to gather information at the point of sale, for legal transactions or claims purposes. And in some cases, forms have been re-purposed as user interfaces rather than transfer mediums.

Users that connect elctronically with many trading partners would prefer seeing a standard user interface or screen (i.e. Form) rather than all the proprietary screens presented for gathering essentially the same information. This is less of an issue if you only use a single system for everything and that system connects to every other system including all the web services.  But we do not live in a single system world and that's why we need standards today.  The future is best of breed systems coupled by intelligent messaging.

The good news is that IBM, Adobe and Microsoft are getting into the electronic forms world with products that help to design forms that cannot only serve as a user interface but can also transfer the data electronically.  Their point being that XML messaging is great, but humans need to be presented with some structured way to enter and view information.  People do not look at XML message streams.  So forms have received yet another reprieve from obsolesence as they become digital themselves. I was at an industry session last week and we talked about a default user interface template that could be extended as needed, but would simplify interfaces for end users.

I was approached by a trade association from a nation that skipped the forms era altogether by going directly to EDI and now XML messaging.  And while they do transfer data electronically today, users are complaining about all the proprietary messaging and user interfaces required to do so.  They want to move to industry (ACORD) standards and are seriously thinking about beginning to use ACORD Forms. Why? Because it would converge thinking about using Standards in a non-threatening way and would also provide a path to follow as ACORD eForms would be linked to electronic messaging in the future. Some proprietary forms are tied to front-end systems, so migrating to a standard of any kind can take time and that should be viewed as an opportunity rather than a problem. Standards are evolutionary, not revolutionary.

So before you throw the baby out with the bath water, think about what IBM, Adobe and Microsoft are doing.  As a matter of fact, think about what they are doing to re-purpose ACORD Forms.  There is no one simple way to frame everyones thinking around forms and eForms.  My sense is that a position on forms or e-Forms depends on how and where one draws the line between people and machines. And that sweet spot is characterized in different ways by different people. 

So what's your view on the future of forms and eForms?

IBM Workplace Forms

Adobe LifeCycle Forms

Microsoft InfoPath Forms