One of the common themes I’ve heard in the insurance industry year after year is how we succeed when the industry works together. This is the proverbial “three-legged stool” consisting of technology providers, agencies, and carriers supporting the independent agent channel. A cohesive and defined playbook helps us all achieve our business goals while serving the needs of our clients and communities.

Yes, we are competitors and look to provide value-added products with differentiated service. However, one area we should not compete on is security. There is no advantage to any of the channel participants, or even to our insurance clients, when we compete on security. In practice the opposite may be true: We can improve the cybersecurity posture of the channel by having consistent practices.

ID Federation is a nonprofit coalition of insurance industry leaders committed to improving the security and efficiency of insurance transactions. Multiple insurance technology providers—including Vertafore—are members of ID Federation in this spirit of cooperation to improve security for the independent insurance channel. SignOn Once is ID Federation’s primary initiative.

Imagine if independent agencies were able to sign on to their management systems with multi-factor authentication (MFA) and then connect to all their carrier partners without having to enter a second ID, password, or MFA. For VSSO-enabled AMS360 or Sagitta agencies this is available with leading carriers like The Hartford and Nationwide.

Agencies are enthusiastic about the potential and benefits of SignOn Once, and to make this initiative truly useful for the independent channel, ID Federation needs carrier participation. Vertafore, your technology partner, has invested in this solution. If we as an industry want to eliminate multiple IDs, passwords, and MFAs all carriers must join ID Federation. For carriers, this is an investment of about $1 per agency per year. Will you invest $1 annually to allow you to eliminate the multiple IDs, passwords, and MFA processes required today?

Alvito Vaz is Executive Director of the ID Federation. He has had over 30 years of leadership in the insurance industry with technology positions at Progressive and Travelers. His involvement in the agency automation space has included working with comparative rater and management system solution providers. As a member of ACORD’s Property & Casualty Steering Committee, he was engaged in the insurance standards setting process. An inaugural member of IIABA’s Agents Council for Technology (ACT), he has chaired and participated in ACT workgroups. Alvito continues to champion the use of standards to improve operational efficiency across the IA channel.