What do agents expect from daily interactions and processes with their carrier partners? Let’s look at what more than 1,000 agency respondents from small to large agencies had to say in our latest Ivans Connectivity Survey.
3 Things Agents Say They're Looking For
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Automation
Agent respondents ranked technology that supports ease of doing business as number two, only second to superior product offering as the reason they chose their carrier partners. Higher than customer service and higher than commissions! Why? Without automation, day-to-day processes for these agents take hours. In fact, time savings is the top reason agents said they place business with carriers who provide automation. Agents want to save as much as possible to focus on value-added tasks for their customers, which is where the next-step tech comes in to cut hours from your day.
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A Focus on Commercial Lines
55% of agents let us know they want to see additional tech capabilities adopted in the commercial submissions process. And 60% of agent respondents reported spending over 30 minutes submitting to ONE carrier for a simple commercial risk. With most submitting to four or more carriers, that’s two hours just to find the right carriers to submit that business. In addition, agents ranked fast quoting as a top reason for giving business to carriers, especially in small commercial lines. And this is just a small piece of one process within the insurance lifecycle. With the premium for small businesses being low, in order to make money on these policies, agents need to quote them in the least amount of time possible. This is where technology can help.
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Access to Real-Time Information
Access to accurate appetite information is critical to winning business for the risk you want. 73% of agent respondents cannot win an opportunity because they cannot find or access a market that will quote the risk. And 83% of agent respondents say they would write more business with carriers if they provided real-time appetite and quoting within their management systems. When carriers automate processes with their agents, it gives them time to focus on value-added tasks for their customers. Ivans is here to support the automation of processes for carriers, MGAs and Independent agents, from quoting to servicing.
Continue to Spark Agent-Connectivity
We’re just scratching the surface here. Discover more trends and tech solutions to help you foster the best agent relationships in the 2023 Agency Digital Technology Adoption Tends report.
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Bob Bardwell
Chief Operating Officer
Bob Bardwell, Chief Operating Officer, leads Ivans day-to-day operational functions of the business. Prior, he served as vice president of Strategic Initiatives at Applied where he was responsible for supporting the international growth of the business. Bardwell also previously led SMS Assist’s commercial vertical as senior vice president and general manager of operations, as well as held strategic leadership roles at Rackspace.
