At Ivans, we see a prime opportunity to better connect to the independent agency channel. Don’t believe us? Let’s walk through the art of what’s possible when carriers embrace modern tech.
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Meet Andrea
Our carrier persona, Andrea, leads commercial distribution at Spark Insurance. Her team has struggled daily with agency connectivity challenges because their work activities have been filled with manual tasks, from agency searches to appetite, quoting, book rolls, data entry, and many other tedious workflows! That is until Spark Insurance found game-changing technology that brought their traditional, manual agency-carrier workflows into the modern age.
Before and After Digital Connectivity
Let’s step back in time and compare how things were for Andrea and her team to how they are now when it comes to finding agencies, communicating appetite, quoting new business, managing book roll, and more. You’ll also find some key stats from our Agency-Carrier Connectivity Report, highlighting similar realities from nearly 1,500 agencies, carriers and MGAs we surveyed.
Finding Agencies
Before Connectivity
Andrea's team struggled to pinpoint the right agencies. The process involved guesswork, crammed schedules with endless phone calls, and face-to-face meetings, which often missed the mark. Agencies were becoming frustrated because they didn’t know Spark’s appetite.
This is a familiar sentiment. In our latest digital connectivity survey, 76% of agent respondents said they cannot win an opportunity because they can’t find or access a market that will quote the risk, up 3% from last year. This means a greater opportunity for carriers like Spark to offer technology that will help satisfy agents’ appetites.
After Connectivity
Andrea and her team can now meet their goals of growing their books of business in the southwest region of the United States with the power of the latest appetite communication tech and new insights available to carriers. This allowed her marketing reps to focus on the right partners and fit their evolving appetite.
Communicating Appetite
Before Connectivity
The team at Spark created lengthy PDF guides and emailed them to agencies, hoping these information dumps would convert into new business. They also relied on in-person visits in many cases, and they’re not alone! 78% of carriers we asked told us they use in-person visits to communicate appetite guidelines.
After Connectivity
By leveraging world-class appetite communication and marketing insight tech, Andrea and her team could precisely identify the best agencies to partner with based on Spark’s commercial appetite. This means appetite is instantly published to agencies and underwriters with seamless API integrations. No more PDFs for appetite!
Quoting New Business
Before Connectivity
Spark encouraged their potential agency partners to log into their portals, submit new business, and receive quotes. Entering the same information across multiple portals was frustrating and time-consuming for all parties. This is consistent with the quoting disconnect we heard about in our latest survey. While 55% of agents say they use carrier portals to quote commercial lines, only 32% prefer to do it that way.
After Connectivity
Now, agencies ready to quote new business can log into their preferred commercial quoting platform to see Sparks’ appetite and receive quotes across multiple carriers. No more typing the same information across multiple portals. With integrations across many industry-leading systems, Andrea and her team can connect to the quoting platforms and management systems her agencies prefer to use.
Managing Book Roll
Before Connectivity
Agencies manually pulled policies from their agency management systems to deliver them to Spark. Andrea and her team then needed to manually quote the business, which sometimes took weeks or even months. In our survey, many carriers echoed this experience, with carrier respondents telling us they spent an average of 20 hours a week processing book rolls.
After Connectivity
Thanks to modern book roll tech, Spark can now send automated requests to their agencies regardless of what agency management system they use. Agencies have complete control over policies to share with Spark. Once the agencies approve, Spark receives the book roll policies within their system.
Why It Matters
By taking advantage of modern tech, Andrea brought on newly appointed agents who write the business she wants to grow while also growing premiums and reducing operating expenses related to book transfers and field marketing. Adopting tools meant to enhance digital connectivity with your agency partners can also save you time, money and frustration.
Next-Step Tech to Spark Digital Connectivity
Ready to explore the technology that helped Spark Insurance and other carriers free up their time spent on manual tasks to focus on more important tasks? Take a look at some of the latest in digital connectivity tech:
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Ivans Bookroll
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Ivans Marketing Insights
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Ask Kodiak
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Ivans Download
What It Means to Be Ivans Connected
Like Andrea, the persona in the Spark Insurance story, Ivans’ carrier and MGA clients use our modern tech to connect and improve everyday processes to define appetite, connect with potential agency partners, and analyze using the latest insights available. With the latest digital connectivity, you can become Ivans Connected™, growing your business, improving relationships, and improving staff productivity. We have more insights reflecting the importance of being Ivans Connected and using Ivans technology to connect within your workflows optimally. Check out our latest Agency-Carrier Connectivity Trends Report.