It’s no secret that modern technology is finally making its way to insurance agencies in a big way. With new services, new companies, and even new conferences and events dedicated entirely to the insuretech space popping up all the time, it can be difficult for an insurance agent or broker to feel confident about which products are a “must have” for their business.
From enabling marketing and sales, to driving operational efficiency and improving the customer experience, there’s an onslaught of options. But, which of these options is going to be most effective in edging out the competition?
While all of these products exist to solve problems and build your business, the options that will immediately impact your insured will, of course, have the biggest perceived value, and therefore the biggest impact on your agency’s ability to compete. When it comes to selecting the options that will mean the most to your insureds, consider the challenges they are facing:
1. Your insureds are not following best practices for risk management.
Many insureds look to their insurance agent as their primary resource for insurance and risk management expertise. Agents receive loads of questions they’re happy to answer. Unfortunately, insureds often don’t know what they’re overlooking, or what to ask. Agents don’t always have the means to proactively check in on the risk management items they’re not receiving questions about, either. Any technology that will help the agent play a more proactive role in the insured’s overall risk management program is going to increase the insured’s perception of the agent’s value.
2. Your insureds are spending too much time managing their insurance program.
When your insureds are managing their insurance program effectively (and sometimes even when they’re not), these efforts can take a tremendous amount of time. From manually keeping track of coverage dates and details for themselves and all the parties they work with, to treading through mountains of paper files when a claim or audit requires it, there are numerous tasks that could be automated to help your insureds save time and decrease stress.
3. Your insureds don’t have access to the right data to make effective risk decisions.
It can be difficult to keep up with data that is tracked manually. Even more difficult? Maintaining it in a way that makes it available and reliable for all parties who need that data. When the parties in charge of that data also lack the risk management knowledge necessary to interpret it correctly, it becomes an even bigger challenge. Talk to your insureds about these challenges to gauge where the biggest gaps exist and where technology fits in. Solving their biggest problems makes the biggest difference in how your agency stands out from others.
You can learn more about how myCOI is changing the way agencies compete and receive a personal look at our streamlined insurance tracking platform here.