Many independent agencies would like to take advantage of the technology revolution but don’t have a ton of capital to invest in products or services that aren’t going to yield a high return on investment. ACT News turned to some of our industry members to find out what could be implemented affordably and in the short run for marketing, sales and in-office operations. ACT members Bruce Winterburn and Dave Acker of Vertafore talked with Dave Willis, editor in chief at Rough Notes, about some of the best options.
What’s been the most impactful independent agency channel technology development you’ve seen?
Dave Acker: The paradigm shift in the agency’s way to deliver personal lines prices to the market. The whole ratings business just fell in the toilet in the 2003-2005 timeframe. We couldn’t get anything accurate anymore. That has changed. The whole dynamic of connecting to the carriers to produce a workflow to represent their choices through the independent channel is the biggest change. We are looking at hundreds of millions of transactions in real time. That adoption is the biggest change.
Bruce Winterburn: I think Dave is dead on. But somewhat more recent is the availability of information. We were built on an apprenticeship model—you used to specialize. But today the availability of information allows people to be subject matter experts on every topic. If your right thumb is working, you can get the answers. You don’t have to guess or remember things. It’s right there at your fingertips. That access to information has emboldened people. It’s revolutionized the capabilities of those who have embraced that technology. The number of individuals who have taken advantage of this capability is a small subset of the entire industry, but for the ones who have, it has really changed things.
We in this conversation go back before the Internet, but when we look at what is available today, the information and what you can do with it is revolutionary. Look at the mobility. I see my son in the field [Bruce’s son is an agent], and he has all that information but doesn’t have to carry volumes of files with him. It’s changed our whole ecosystem.
Acker: There’s also been a shift into a SaaS model for all kinds of products—management system, rating system, sales tools, market tools. Almost 80% of Vertafore’s revenue comes in through SaaS products. You no longer have to lug around computers or monitors to give a presentation. Our agency customers don’t have to manage infrastructure and networks. SaaS helps with security too, which is important.
What are most small to midsize agencies overlooking or not making the best use of?
Winterburn: The list of what they’re taking advantage of is shorter than what they’re missing. I see young agents giving their wish lists, and it’s frustrating because what they’re asking for already exists. The vast majority of producers don’t travel with a tablet and don’t take advantage of the remote capabilities of their management system. Look at those who don’t use comparative quoting and are not taking advantage of the value of that technology. For instance, we offer CRQ (consumer rate quotes) that gives an agency the ability to put their comparative rates on their site branded to their agency with everything running in the background, but just a small portion of our customers take advantage of that. There are all sorts of connectivities that are out there that aren’t used. Those who do use them are exploding. It will end up being the survival of the fittest.
You mentioned things like mobility, comparative rating, upload download—do these fall under a low-cost model?
Winterburn: Low additional cost. About half or two thirds of these technologies are inherent in the core management systems being sold today. Agencies are already paying for it. Why not use it! CRQ, for example, is very low cost.
Acker: Low-cost items—let’s talk about functionality and value. The purpose of the independent agent is to sell, not to service the customer. The technology needs to free them up to sell insurance. Those who have leveraged the technology are making more time to sell. If carriers respond to that, absorb that, we will see a much bigger change. Agents want to know: how do I get out and market my brand.
There are marketing systems available that allow agents to drive information out, to create marketing programs. We have add-ons that extend our ability to get our customers’ customers’ information. This kind of data helps…
Winterburn: …[taking up Acker’s sentence] having information in the cloud, aggregating data, all of these allow analysis. If I put my agency owner hat on, I take exception to the idea of “what’s cheap and affordable.” It’s about value. Our employee count has gone from 12 to three, but we’ve doubled our size through technology. Technology has allowed us to do unbelievable things. We use social media and SEO [search engine optimization] and other things that get our name out there. Small guys don’t have to be “lesser than.” They need to deploy and be empowered by technology because we don’t have the wallets the big guys do. There’s the human time cost, but it’s not a hugely onerous task. Technology has enabled us to compete in our local market with much larger groups. It’s these affordable technologies that allow us to pop up third or fourth in Google searches in our locale.
What technology outside the agency management system is available?
Acker: Access to insurance-specific information, sales information, coverage descriptions, etc.—it’s all available on the SaaS environment even when it’s not easily found on Google. How does someone coming into the industry learn how to write for specific clients? It’s available from these insurance-specific sources.
Winterburn: Within my son’s first two years of doing business, he wrote a cabinet maker. He was able to do that by—on the drive over—listening to information from his tablet on appetite for cabinet makers and a survey of questions in that niche that made him a little smarter on that industry—something about dust collection systems. With those industry-specific questions, he was able to speak to the client about his own business. The client moved from an agent he’d been doing business with for 27 years and told my son his previous agent had never asked him the questions my son did. Accessibility of information is really empowering.
As for SaaS, it is the untethering of our producers and agents. You can do business from a balcony at a hotel because essentially your office goes with you.
Acker: Let’s add something about the agency websites. People are searching and gathering information. If you aren’t there…
Winterburn: Yes, the whole leveraging of the social network is important. We had a Facebook page before we had a website. I’ve seen websites that are totally static. That doesn’t work. When we bought our agency, my son had the Facebook page up the second the deal was closed. He did it on his phone while we were all talking.
If you had to pick the top one or two issues, where would you point people who aren’t using technology to the extent they should?
Acker: A mind is a terrible thing to waste, and so is a management system.
Winterburn: (laughing) There’s a tagline for you.
Acker: Leverage everything that’s there. Your management system does a lot more than you use it for.
Winterburn: I keep going back to enabling agents with mobile devices, but that is an extension of that management system as well.
Bruce Winterburn is VP of Industry Relations and VP of Carrier and MGA Sales at Vertafore. Dave Acker is VP and General Manager of Information Solutions at Vertafore.