Sign of the Times
With the technology mature, insurers need to work to ensure
distribution channel buy-in for e-signatures. By Ed McKinley
Some insurance agents are mbracing electronic sig- natures, while others re- main skeptical. The recep- tive agents praise the
efficiency of e-signing and fear a competitive disadvantage for agencies that
fail to offer e-signatures to their tech-savvy clientele.
The reluctant agents hesitate to inter-
fere with the traditional, handwritten
signing ceremony or feel uneasy about
putting a computer between themselves
and their customers.
That leaves carriers with the task of converting reluctant agents to e-signing.
“We’re trying to create that desire in
them to change and to keep current
with the overall marketplace,” says Wade
Harrison, SVP of life/health operations
for Bloomington, Ill.-based COUNTRY
Financial. “It’s certainly a change-man-
agement process that we’ve taken very,
very seriously.”
COUNTRY Financial agents, or finan-
