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To Digitally Transform Agents, Start with Quoting

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11 September 2023
Nathan Golia

For the first several years of the insurtech movement, the conventional wisdom from the tech-industry founders looking to disrupt insurance was that insurance agents were on a course to oblivion. Commodification of bread-and-butter lines like auto insurance had obviously provided the blueprint to convert even the most complex lines of insurance business to digital distribution. As such, it was only a matter of time before insurance agents sat beside switchboard operators or pinsetters – or travel agents – in the annals of careers that were automated out of existence. Therefore, they reasoned, there was little need to invest in digitally transforming the agency.

But insurers, agents, and customers proved this thesis wrong. While digital distribution has eaten away some of agents’ stranglehold on insurance sales, a combination of factors has kept intermediaries relevant:

First, complexity of the insurance product means that while Millennial customers surveyed in the early 21st century may have not wanted to go to an agent, now that their insurance needs have matured beyond simple auto and renters policies to homeowners, multiple vehicles and possibly even small commercial policies, they are looking for guides to help them make the right choices.

Second, regulatory differences across geographies make standardizing online policy sales difficult as products get more nuanced. A related issue is underwriting appetites for more complex risks: Insurers want to be sure they are getting the best information possible before binding a policy, as underwriting discipline is the industry’s greatest indication of health.

That’s good news for agents in terms of their perceived value. However, there is still an important factor at play: Speed. While insurance customers want a trusted guide who they can ask questions of and feel they are being rewarded with the right choice – they want their decisions to be closed out as fast as if they had been selecting a new bookshelf on Amazon. That puts a lot of pressure on intermediaries to move quickly from the information-gathering phase to the binding phase as fast as the literal light speed that their DoorDashing, curbside pick-up-ing customers are used to.

Agents who are working with new customers are gathering the crucial information they need, but are faced with a wide range of channels to connect with carriers. Carriers have used the carrot of a well-functioning agent portal to encourage more business, but agents know that they have to prove they’ve credibly explored multiple options – and filling in several portals with identical information is time-consuming.

Now, a new wave of insurtechs -- as well as some longtime agent technology vendors – are attempting to fill the void by providing exchange, marketplace, comparative rater and other platforms that combine the speed of digital with the value proposition of multiple options. That’s good news for agents, but the experience of moving from being sidelined in digital transformation discussions to actively feted in those same discussions can be overwhelming.

In a session I’m moderating at Celent’s special Insurtech Connect pre-conference event, Navigating the Quote Maze, we’re bringing together players from across the value chain to help identify agents’ pain points and how to solve them with digital transformation. Register for the preconference session today to learn which of these channels is right for your organization as options rapidly evolve. There’s no charge to attend, although you do need to be registered for ITC. Let us know if you need a discount code.

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