Picking the right technology can be a daunting task for any independent agency. Whether you’re a one-person band or orchestrating offices across multiple states, your agency’s needs are unique—and you need solutions that fit your business.
These four metrics can help you find the right partner and find tools that work—and work together—to support your business goals and needs.
Product agility
The best solutions are the ones that not only address the specific needs and pain points of the insurance industry, but also the ones that are built to evolve over time as agencies themselves evolve. Independent agencies are always looking for ways to grow their book of business and expand their reach, and when that growth happens organically or through acquisition, InsurTech applications need the ability to grow with them.
InsurTech vendors should be dialed into their community and share their product vision to customers and prospects, showing how dedicated they are to not only providing solutions for today’s insurance market, but also tomorrow’s.
Built for insurance by insurance experts
Insurance isn’t just like any other business, and it demands technology solutions that are purpose-built by people who understand our industry. Client journeys, workflows, metrics, and growth strategies (just for starters) are unique to insurance and are often not easily captured by or compatible with generic technologies.
Independent agencies often struggle when they attempt to apply generic solutions for key functions like CRM and sales management. It’s like trying to get a square peg into a round hole. Instead, when working with technology partners dedicated to the insurance industry—and only the insurance industry—solutions will be better positioned to deliver a higher ROI, employee adoption rate, and lower overall spend.
Look for a vendor that is dedicated to the insurance industry and building technology. That vendor will be staffed with insurance experts who understand the needs of agencies of all types and will have developed strategies and considerations to solve a host of insurance-specific pain points and bottlenecks.
Open architecture = designed for integration
There’s a saying among those who know our industry: if you’ve met one independent agency, you’ve met one independent agency. And that’s why one-size-fits-all technology solutions and cookie-cutter tech bundles rarely work in our industry.
A key to vendor partnership success is finding those with an open API architecture approach to building solutions. What does that mean? First look for InsurTech products that work well together. For example, you want your agency management system to be able to integrate with your rater and also be able to pull data from your insurance CRM. “Open platform” is really just code for a more seamless user experience, less duplicate data entry, and higher efficient.
Second, when InsurTech platforms are built with an open architecture, they allow for seamless integrations with other, complementary best-in-class solutions that help you run your business. Think functionalities like e-payments, digital signatures, automated client communications, and other hallmarks of a modern digital experience. With an open platform, these solutions can be onboarded quickly and reliably with partners that have a strong, vetted relationship with the InsurTech vendor.
An InsurTech partner, not an InsurTech seller
Finally, whether it’s collaborating with agency customers or working with industry leaders on best practices, vendors that place an emphasis on partnerships are always looking at what’s next and what’s best. This can impact everything from investing in a better user experience and user interface (UX/UI) to innovating with the latest trends in data security and a continuous focus on customer education and support.
The most customer-focused InsurTech vendors are not operating in a vacuum, and rather are working within the greater community and the customers themselves to continuously innovate and deliver the best in breed to their suite of solutions.
Agencies have a lot of choice in their InsurTech journey. With the right partnership in place, agencies can find a vendor that empowers them to build the tech stack that supports their needs and is designed for how they work—because one size rarely fits all.
Learn more about Vertafore's partnership with United Valley Insurance Services