Challenges Facing the Commercial Insurance Industry 

The commercial insurance industry has a long history of providing solutions for business in times of crisis.  From the simple auto bumper claim to a complex property loss, insurance solutions have continued to evolve and respond to the changing climate.   Parametric, gig economy and crypto currency solutions have come onto the scene to provide robust solutions for complex risks.  However, the tools by which to obtain and place all types of risks have not evolved as quickly.  

Finding the Right Solutions and Markets

The insurance marketplace is dynamic with ever changing solutions, carrier risk appetites and underwriting contacts.   Brokers struggle to stay up to speed with these changes due to limited tools to personally maintain this knowledge as well as share it across teams.  Current systems available are email boxes, excel spreadsheets and stagnant databases that are hard to keep updated.  Having a dynamic market directory that maintains and updates this history of appetite and contact points is an essential tool to being able to access the right solutions and markets.   Having a system that captures carrier appetite, broker input on carrier strengths and weaknesses and artificial intelligence informing the broker of carrier recommendations makes the difference to find the right solutions the first time.  

The Strength of Broker Teams

In recent years, remote work environments have provided greater flexibility and more work / life balance for brokers.  However, it has also created challenges to driving collaboration and tapping into the strength of a team.   Having a system that enables a broker to leverage the collective knowledge of the team is critical to knowing the right solutions and markets for the client.  While stopping at the water cooler may not happen as often, that collective market intelligence can be created by having the right system that enables efficient file sharing, market appetite guidance, market contacts and real time artificial intelligence enabled feedback on carrier appetite and quote / bind experience.  

Process Efficiency

While insurance solutions have evolved, the insurance marketing process has remained roughly the same: email submissions.   Most email platforms are organized chronologically or with a limited file structure.  These current systems do not facilitate efficient communications with multiple parties organized around one project.   Brokers are left to cut and paste communications multiple times or using the impersonal BCC.  Having a system that efficiently enables effective communications to multiple parties,  and the ability to store associated documents (applications, quotes, binders) is a critical time saver and prevents errors and omissions.  A system that also enables the efficient building of program layers, client proposals and binding documents is critical to a successful placement process and quality client documents.  

All for One

Some Brokers have been able to tap into recent software systems that provide efficiency but those systems currently on the market only provide one step in the process leaving the broker to go in and out of multiple systems to do many manual and repetitive tasks. Having one system to effectively find the right solutions and markets and manage the placement process is critical to a broker’s success. A system that enables team collaboration in one spot fosters growth for the entire team and enables all of us to broker better.