Joint Committee to Review Transmitting Electronic Information between Producers, Carriers  

One of the most important issues the industry’s Joint Automation Committee plans to tackle is a process to address technological difficulties that producers and carriers experience when transmitting electronic information to each other.

“Transmitting information between producers and carriers electronically has presented issues for both parties, and as a joint committee, we are exploring avenues with the goal of streamlining to ease that experience,” said Nick Newton of Rudnik Surety, Mounds View, MN.

Newton was among five NASBP members who participated in the recent Joint Automation Committee meeting held July 31 and August 1 in Washington, DC. The Joint Committee represents the collaborative efforts of the members of technology committees from the NASBP and Surety & Fidelity Association of America (SFAA).

NASBP member representatives at the meeting included: Deborah Burton of Wells Fargo Insurance Services USA, Inc., Louisville, KY; Robert Coon of Scott Insurance, Greensboro, NC; Nicole DeChiaro of Willis of New York, New York, NY; Nick Newton of Rudnik Surety, Mounds View, MN; Johnmichael Monteith, Parker Smith Feek, WA; and Dave Golden, Director of Technology on the NASBP staff. Newton is Chair and Burton is Vice Chair of the NASBP Automation & Technology Committee.

The meeting was attended by 29 and covered the most pressing technology topics of concern to surety professionals. First on the agenda was a discussion of the issues or “pain points” that exist between producers and carriers and how the committees could develop an action plan for the coming year.

Later, Newton announced how NASBP plans to create Version 3 of the NASBP Producer’s Tool Kit Forms and how the forms will undergo a major transformation to promote seamless data transfer from the form to applications and web services. Newton indicated that the NASBP Automation & Technology Committee’s goals in this process are gathering support from key stakeholders including vendors, agents and sureties on the Committee and creating the ability to import/export data easily resulting in the elimination of re-keying common data in applications and web services. He said the Committee plans to create a working model of at least two forms by the NASBP Mid-Year Board Meeting that will be held November 14 to 16.

Another topic covered was proprietary and vendor systems communication and what the Committees can do to further promote and support interoperability between systems.

They also discussed how mobile technologies are affecting work flows and processes and the impact of Windows 8, as well as the latest developments in e-mail encryption.

In addition, the group discussed revisiting the development of the Surety Automation Web Site (http://www.suretyautomation.org), which had been on hold since late 2011.

The Meeting attendees learned that Louis Holland, Senior Deputy Attorney General at the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT), contacted both NASBP and SFAA regarding the agency’s transition to a paperless system. Holland has been provided the eProcurement Bidding/Bonding Guidelines and Best Practices for Electronic Bonding Technologies documents. The group discussed the next steps how it could assist the NDOT.

The meeting concluded with discussions about the continued growth of specific technologies including bandwith, cloud security, and social media.