Author: Dave Willis
Everyone’s path to the independent agency arena—and to the Agents Council for Technology—differs. For some, it’s relatively direct. For others, not so much. For example, Mark Harrison’s journey included, among other things, a career-altering workplace injury, front-line direct-writer experience, and a “bus tour.”
Harrison, agency operations administrator at NBT-Mang Insurance who holds the ACORD Certified Expert (ACE) professional designation, says he has always had a thing for technology. “My passion for it probably began when I was a kid first playing with an Apple IIe,” he recalls. “I’ve always been interested in tech.”
However, turning this avocation into a vocation didn’t happen until several years into his adult life. “I was a professional cook for a number of years,” Harrison explains. “An unfortunate injury—the result of me carrying one too many heavy pots of sauce—meant I couldn’t stand on my feet for very long anymore, so I needed to find an alternative work environment.”
That alternative environment was at an insurance company. “AIG Direct had an office in our area, and I had a couple of friends who already worked there,” he explains, “so I signed on and spent some time there selling auto insurance.” A desire for face-to-face customer contact led him leave the call-center environment and join a local State Farm agency, where he was involved in sales, service and office management.
From there, he took a job as benefits CSR at his current firm, a Big “I” Best Practices agency. Before long, his tech passion began to shine through. “It didn’t take long for me to see some processes in the independent realm were lacking,” Harrison says. “For instance, when I was at State Farm, I could get a quote from the system in five minutes. Why couldn’t I do that here?”
A little research led him to realize workflows and tools existed that would allow more streamlined quoting and service. So Harrison got his agency to start using them. “I worked with our management system vendor and carriers to implement real time and download and to streamline our agency workflows to better assist our customers,” he explains. Adoption was so strong that, a few years ago, the agency earned national recognition for its high Real Time volume.
This recognition led Harrison to be tapped to take part in an Applied Client Network “bus tour” to carrier offices. “It was on the bus tour that I met Cal Durland, which led me to get involved with AUGIE and ACT,” Harrison recalls.
Since then, he says, his involvement “has snowballed.” He’s participated in various AUGIE initiatives, taken part in the ACT Strategic Futures Issues work group and shared his insights at ACT and other industry meetings. Harrison also chairs the Real Time subcommittee of the Applied Client Network Industry Solutions Committee. He continues to take strategic and tactical information from ACT and AUGIE to help position his agency to respond to market trends and advances.
Harrison encourages other agencies to get more engaged with ACT. “Becoming involved allows agencies to get their voices heard,” he explains. “But even if they’re not able to get involved, they should make use of available resources. ACT offers a wealth of information to help agencies better understand technology, customer and other trends and to leverage technologies to better service our clients. There’s a lot of really useful information.”
He also encourages carrier involvement. “ACT provides a great venue for carriers to really understand agency needs and expectations,” he explains. “The open and complete communication that takes part provides valuable information from agencies about what’s working, what needs improvement and where things are going.”
When he’s not, as he puts it, “slaving away at insurance,” Harrison—a New York Mets fan—spends time in the kitchen, releasing his inner chef. He also keeps busy with his son’s hockey practices and games and with his daughter’s cheerleading activities. “My fiancée and I are already traveling all over the northeast with them,” he notes. And with the kids being just six and eight years old, they can look forward to many, many more miles in the years to come.