As the insurance industry grows more competitive, the particulars of your specific insurance agency management will make your business stand out. Those particulars could be location proximity, ease of doing business, or even something as simple as how your website looks. Though price still matters, changes in cost can only go so far.
The true test of what makes your agency the best choice is the overall customer experience. Seemingly small touches that make each interaction easier, more personable, and leave each customer with a positive feeling have a real impact. Today it’s about more than the best price and the latest tech; it’s how you use these tools to empower, differentiate, and create the best experience in your agency.
Stick with the Fundamentals
Whether your agency has been around for five years or 50, there are some fundamental core elements your customers value. Those are:
Knowledge
Service
Relationship
An old adage says, “You lose a customer for the same reason you won them.” These three areas are those reasons: your agency stands out because of your niche knowledge, speedy and effective service, and the personal relationships you build with customers. Big-name providers simply can’t offer these to the same degree as you, an independent agent. Focus on holding fast to these fundamentals, and you’ll gain more customers than you lose.
Blend Tech with Human Interactions
One of the biggest mistakes newer agencies make these days is to rely too much on technology to get work done. Though insurtech has its place in increasing efficiency, it doesn’t replace the power of human interactions.
Focus on finding that balance between using tech
for its speed and accuracy while keeping human-driven avenues open for service
and support. Look to tech to streamline routine claims and policy processing,
but leave space for in-person meetings or phone calls to walk customers through
more complex issues. The tech/human balance is an essential chord to strike to
keep your agency growing.
Grow Your Expertise
Your deep knowledge of the industry and its nuances is why customers choose you over big-name providers. However, the insurance industry is changing due to technological advances, new ways of doing business, and changes in regulations. You need to keep your team up to date on the latest in the industry with regular continuing education sessions and by gaining additional professional accreditations.
Streamline and Personalize Communications
If your agency has been around for a while, you likely grasp what it means to personalize your communications. Yet, it may become more difficult to keep up that personal touch in your usual ways as you grow. Tech can help by leveraging data to customize your email, social media, and text outreach. Look into tools like marketing automation and an integrated customer relationship management (CRM) to get the personal connection and efficiency you need.
Expand Ways to Get Service and Support
Your customers’ service experience is vital to your agency’s reputation. As a new generation of individuals enters the insurance market, they have different service expectations. Though all your customers will want personalization and a human-driven experience, they’ll also want the option to communicate in different ways. Expand your communication offerings with texting, a branded agency app, an easy-to-navigate website, and an online customer portal. The more choices customers have when it comes to service, the better.
Stay Nimble to Stay Relevant
In a recent conversation with one of our Partner Platform agencies, we talked about the importance of being flexible in order to respond to unexpected changes in the market. Disruptors like the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2008 financial crisis can be hard to prepare for, but you can react quickly if your agency has a culture of trust and flexibility.
Equipping your agency with more tech efficiency is
part of that nimbleness. When you have systems that can automatically operate
without much effort, you create the time and space to think about what
adjustments you need and how to make them happen – fast. Large, complex
agencies simply cannot make the quick adjustments your agency can to provide speedy,
personal service and communications during uncertainty.
Partner Platform is the Independent Agency’s System
When we created our Partner Platform agency management system suite, we designed it with the independent agency in mind. The easy-to-navigate system has room for personalization bolstered with the latest tech efficiency. We regularly consult with our Partner Platform Community to find ways to make our system work better for our independent agents.
Discover more about our system, community, and commitment to independent agents. Visit us at sispartnerplatform.com and get in touch with our team today.
The year 2020 was unique in many ways, one of which was how the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the use of technology across industries. This was just the beginning. We continue to see insurance software emerge as a decisive factor among agencies. Many of our independent agencies identify understanding and embracing tech as critical for survival and growth for small to medium-sized agencies.
So, to prepare our agency clients, we look forward and ask: what does the future of insurance software hold?
An Agency Management System that Can Grow
Gathering, analyzing, and storing prospect and customer data is essential for the future of insurance. Your agency management system is your data hub, and it needs to keep up with expanding data use. Successful agencies will have a management system that evolves with the changing market without interrupting daily service. Modern agency management systems need to live in the cloud, have regular updates, and focus on security to help your agency stay data-forward.
Systems that Work Together
The future of insurance software is systems that work
together without you having to lift a finger. Integrated accounting, email,
texting, quoting, and other systems save time and improve data processing. As
system integration continues to improve, agencies that utilize their management
system as a proper “system of record,” flooding data to and from other
necessary systems without duplicate entry, will get ahead.
Intelligent Reporting
Data reporting and analytics are just as important as storage and integration. As analytics improves, agencies will be able to conduct the type of analyses that large carriers do today. With quality, customizable reporting, your agency can improve lead qualification and identify more ways to grow your current book of business. Analytics can also help improve your customer service, identifying areas of specific need so you can devote resources to address them.
Digital Sales and Marketing
The National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA)’s Independent Insurance Agent Survey found that over 64% of respondents said it’s “Very or Extremely Important” that their partners provide marketing and sales support. These agencies recognize that digitized sales and marketing are now essential for success. That doesn’t mean other marketing forms should go out the window; it simply means you need to diversify your efforts. A quality website, marketing automation to send targeted messaging, and a CRM to track individual sales journeys should all be in your agency sales and marketing toolbelt.
Personalized Customer Service
While your team can provide personalized service to a certain number of customers, it’s difficult for them to keep up once you hit hundreds or more. Digital customer service can help you provide that all-important personal service without your staff needing to work 24/7. Client portals are now expected among millennial and Gen Z insurance customers, giving them access to their plan information and the ability to update information and print insurance cards anytime. Texting is another quality tool that puts customers in direct connection with agents when needed, giving them the immediate, personal attention they expect.
Stay on Top of Insurance Software with Partner Platform
and SIS
Our SIS team knows the value of identifying and
investing in insurance technology. We work alongside our Partner Platform
agencies and specialized tech partnerships to understand emerging needs in the
industry before they become essential. Our Partner Platform integrations and
updates are focused and beta tested, so they’re ready for our agencies to use immediately.
Part of what makes our Partner Platform agency
management system and insurance CRM so robust is the partnerships we foster
with insurance tech companies. Our
Partner Allies specialize in their arenas, from esignatures to comparative
rating and more, each Partner Ally hones their technology to serve agency
needs.
Our Partnership with Exago and Exago BI
Today we highlight our longstanding partner, Exago. Exago specializes in building and delivering customized business insights with intuitive reporting and dashboards that anyone can use. After designing and implementing our own BI ad hoc reporting system, we found it too cumbersome and confusing for our Partner Platform agencies. Acting on our spirit of innovation and efficiency, the team knew it was time to look for an expert to work with and for our community.
Enter Exago and their Exago BI solution. They
offered canned templates to make available in Partner Platform user libraries and
allow users to adjust reports and dashboards in real-time as needed. Plus, Partner Platform
users can create ad hoc, highly customized reporting and dashboards from
scratch.
What Exago BI Brings to Partner Platform Agencies
In our search for a business insights tool, we knew
we needed something that would adapt to our Partner Platform agencies’ unique
needs. In Exago BI, we found a system that was:
Flexible with canned and ad hoc reporting
and dashboard abilities
Easy to use so employees of all levels of
tech and business understanding could create, manipulate, and read information
Web-based to integrate seamlessly with
Partner Platform’s cloud-based system
Customizable to fit the varying needs of
agencies of any size
Exago BI checked all the boxes. Plus, the people
at Exago mirror the SIS and Partner Platform team: imaginative, resourceful,
client-focused, and community-oriented. SIS CEO Alex
Deak said it best:
When
we decided to start our search for a business insights integration, we knew we
were looking for a partner, not just a solution. After meeting with several
different companies, Exago stood out. Everyone we met with had enthusiasm and
drive. They were client-driven and relentless in finding the best solutions.
Not only is their BI tool powerful and offers great features, but their people match
its excellence. We’re happy with our partnership and look forward to success
for years to come.
Learn More About Our Partnerships
The ingenuity and utility of Exago’s BI system are
part of what makes the system a great fit for SIS and our Partner Platform
agencies. The other part is the common culture we share. As Mike Brody,
President & CEO at Exago, said:
SIS
shares our client-first approach to product development, and it’s made them an
ideal partner. We strive to provide the most user-friendly, self-service BI and
reporting solution on the market, and that wouldn’t be possible without engaged
clients like SIS. They’re always forthcoming with feedback and insight into
their use cases. We look forward to a continued partnership.
Exago is an example of just one of the great
companies we partner with here at SIS. These tech relationships are more than
integrations with our Partner Platform system – they’re commitments from
like-minded companies with diverse strengths working to serve mutual clients.
Our next “Behind Our Insurance Agency Software”
series focuses on encrypted email and
signature provider RPost. Based in Los Angeles, CA, the team at
RPost operates in the U.S., the U.K., and more than 100 countries worldwide.
Formed in
1999, RPost filled an emerging need in online communications. While the
convenience of email made it the dominant form of business communications, the
team at RPost saw a worrying trend in email security. Organizations were
sending sensitive information via the web and needed to protect it.
RPost stepped up to fill that gap between convenience and security, adding legal verification to email content and attachments through encryption technology. I talked with RPost’s VP of Business Development, Jake Finnell, about how RPost brought its powerful encrypted email and esignature services to SIS and the Partner Platform community.
How did you first become connected with SIS and Partner Platform? What prompted you to want to collaborate?
Our partnership started around 2013 thanks to
mutual clients who saw a possible collaboration. They reached out to us and
SIS, asking to integrate our services with the Partner Platform system. When we
connected with the SIS team, we saw the opportunity – it was apparent that SIS’s
clients needed a secure way to send and sign documents. After talking more with
the SIS team, we knew they were someone we could work with; the drive to
collaborate and innovate was there.
How did you first become connected with SIS and Partner Platform? What prompted you to want to collaborate?
Our partnership started around 2013 thanks to mutual clients who saw a
possible collaboration. They reached out to us and SIS, asking to
integrate our services with the Partner Platform system. When we
connected with the SIS team, we saw the opportunity – it was apparent
that SIS’s clients needed a secure way to send and sign documents. After
talking more with the SIS team, we knew they were someone we could work
with; the drive to collaborate and innovate was there.
What services do you provide for the Partner
Platform customer base?
Initially, we integrated our
RMail service with Partner Platform’s email integration. RMail provides
HIPPA-compliant email security and encryption, allowing Partner Platform users
to email documents with sensitive information to their clients. We recently
expanded our services with our RSign esignature service.
With RSign, Partner Platform agencies can send and receive secure, binding
signatures on documents. This makes it easier for agencies to sign new
business, update existing coverages, and process claims for their clients.
What prompted you to want to
collaborate and integrate your technology with SIS and Partner Platform? Why
did you feel the collaboration would be beneficial?
The market demand was strong. Partner Platform is
a popular management system among independent agencies, and insurance agencies
need better ways to send and receive the confidential documents they deal with
daily. We’re excited to partner with the SIS team to provide this essential
service to their agencies because they’re a great team to work with.
What do Partner Platform clients like about
RMail and RSign? What type of feedback do you hear?
We hear great feedback. Agents and brokers are
constantly focused on revenue-generating activities, and the combination of
“ease of use” and affordability are the top two comments we hear. That
combination makes it easy for agencies to generate revenue rather than worry
about security, compliance, and collaboration.
What has been your experience with the
SIS/Partner Platform team so far?
The SIS
team is highly responsive and constantly provides top-tier support and
educational content for their customers. That combination is rare – we can see
how we can grow together, continually improving our services.
What emerging needs do you see for
cybersecurity and insurance in the next 3-5 years?
Every day, we learn something new about how
technology can help us and how it makes us vulnerable. Cyber
threats and attackers are constantly evolving,
and the insurance industry needs to evolve, too, to stay one step ahead. We’re
focused on continually improving our services, and we know SIS is as well. Armed
with SIS and RPost, insurance agents and brokers can keep ahead of these
threats.
In the latest of our “Behind Our Insurance Agency Software” series, we talk with Brad Ruben of IT services provider Archway Computer. Archway has been one of our industry partners for years, and we rely on Brad and his team to keep us and our community up-to-date on the latest insurtech and cybersecurity.
Brad Ruben
has been working with insurance agnecy software since 1985, when he first
helped a family friend install and run a Coast Premium Rater software as part
of the friend’s insurance business. Since then, Brad founded Archway Computers
to help independent agencies get the best insurtech and IT support at a price
they can afford.
I talked with Brad about Archway’s partnership with SIS and the Partner Platform community, aiding agencies with IT services and providing expert consultation around insurtech and security.
How did you first become connected with SIS and Partner Platform? What prompted you to want to collaborate?
We had a mutual client who told me about SIS and Partner Platform. There
was a definite connection around personalized service and commitment to
innovation. Once I met with SIS President Michael Doran, we immediately hit it off and have been working together ever since.
We had a mutual client who told me about SIS and Partner Platform. There was a definite connection around personalized service and commitment to innovation. Once I met with SIS President Michael Doran, we immediately hit it off and have been working together ever since.
We get
great feedback from our Partner Platform clients about how SIS and the team
support them, which we love to see in any insurance technology provider. However,
what really stands out is the seamless sales and marketing integrations SIS provides in Partner Platform. That’s
something few agency management systems do well.
What services do you provide for SIS and the
Partner Platform customer base?
Archway
Computer provides managed IT services exclusively for independent insurance
agencies. That means keeping their information secure and their technology
compliant with cyber regulations in their state. Small and mid-sized agencies
usually cannot afford a full-time IT person, and their local IT company knows
nothing about insurance technology. So, we’re a great fit for the independent agencies in the Partner
Platform community.
Beyond
being a preferred IT service provider for Partner Platform agencies, we also provide
educational opportunities for the broader Partner Platform and SIS community.
We’ve been part of numerous national conferences and hosted cybersecurity
webinars for the community. We’re a comprehensive IT resource for SIS and its
Partner Platform agencies.
We’ve
been lucky to work with SIS for years, establishing a solid relationship. As
cybersecurity and compliance issues grow, our partnership is that much more
important. Partner Platform understands that having a digital presence and
working from anywhere are vital issues for their agencies. Working with us,
they can help agencies grow while keeping them protected from cyber
vulnerabilities.
You have a unique value proposition that
aligns with independent agents (as does Partner). How do independent agents
benefit from working with you versus a big-name provider?
Independent
agents need someone who already understands the technology they’re using and
how to make it work better for them. Larger IT firms just don’t know insurtech and take a long time to get up to speed.
Agencies love that we’re knowledgeable, responsive, and hands-on right from the
start.
Also,
we’re not selling them anything they don’t need. Insurtech software providers
will often sell their IT services alongside their tech and then constantly try
to upsell. We’re a neutral party that fairly evaluates agency tech without a
stake in the game. Our only goal is to keep agencies efficient and protected.
What has been your experience with the
SIS/Partner Platform team so far?
We love
the SIS team. All our mutual clients experience excellent customer service from
them, and we know they’re always working for the client’s best interest, just
like us. It’s been great sharing our expertise with the Partner Platform
community, including the staff at SIS, who integrate our expertise into their
software.
Plus,
the Partner Platform team are just all-around great as people. We look forward
to getting to meet face-to-face again at the next convention.
——–
Our Partner Allies like Archway Computer provide
invaluable insights into tech advances and how to keep our Partner Platform
community connected and protected. You can learn more about Brad and his team
at myarchway.com, and see the remote
work tips Brad shared
with us on our blog.
Your insurance agency marketing goal is to stand out among the noise. Identifying and investing in serving a niche market is one of the most efficient and effective ways to achieve this challenging goal.
When you serve a niche market, you have less competition, making it easier to gain new customers in a specific arena. Your agency is set apart as providing “X” type of insurance, making you distinctive. PIA National’s 2022 Independent Agent Survey found that respondents devoted more than 20% of their book of business to a niche market. You, too, can capitalize on this valuable strategy.
Over the past few years, there has been a surge in insurance agency management transitions. Mergers and acquisitions specifically are on the rise, with an estimated 550 deals, up 12% from the previous year, in the first quarter of 2021. While these transitions can be profitable for owners, they can come with significant trepidation and worry from employees and customers.
As an owner, you need to start thinking ahead about how to prepare your agency for its eventual ownership transition. Whether you plan to perpetuate internally or externally, it’s essential that you prepare. That preparation includes setting your agency up for its highest valuation, prepping your team, and investing in tools and processes to bring your agency into the future.
Good partners and partnerships are critical to success in any business, but it’s crucial in technology where the pace of change and breadth of innovation is high. Insurance tech is growing fast, and it’s critical to look to progressive partners to keep up with the pace.
Why Partnerships Matter
Innovations happen everywhere, every day. Things like electric cars, an increase in IoT, the interconnectedness of tech systems in healthcare and our own homes, and other innovations significantly impact our industry. These tech advances inform how insurers can gain data to inform policies and process claims.
