If you're like me, it seems each year passes more quickly thanthe last, making it more important than ever to take time toreflect back on the successes and challenges of the last yearbefore we look ahead to a new year and new opportunities.

That was the tone of my recent conversation with KellyBolton, business development manager for Dowling & O' NeilInsurance Agency in Hyannis, Mass., (a member of theHilb Group). We talked about the outlook for InsurTech in2018, what she's been working on this past year, and industryissues like the stigma around legacy technology.

Here's what she had to say.

Tell us a little bit about youragency?

Kelly Bolton: We were founded 177 years ago. Weprovide property & casualty insurance services to thousands ofconsumer and business customers in 49 states.

Related: 5 high-tech challenges (and solutions) for today'sindependent agents

I couldn't help but notice you said "services" andnot "products."

Bolton: That's right. Part of the roleof the independent broker is to work with our customers to find thebest insurance products that protect their most important assets.But it's more than that. We're meant to be a resource, guide, andpartner before, during, and long after the product is purchased.Right now, there's a push by outside tech companies aiming tocommoditize insurance products, encouraging customers toself-serve — but these "off-the-shelf" insurance solutionscan leave gaps in coverage. Experienced brokers are needed to educateclients about their options and give them personalizedinsurance and risk management advice.

Related: InsurTech: Where's the beef?

The commoditization of products is definitelysomething we're seeing in the market too. What other challenges doyou foresee for the independent channel in 2018?

Bolton: To be honest, there's a skillsgap that is expected to keep growing next year. I heard that one infour insurance professionals are expected to retire by the end of2018. While we are finding some success hiringmillennials to fill the gap, we are relying more and more onsome of the legacy technology systems we have in place to driveefficiencies in the business, keep up with direct and emergingcompetitors, and provide the best possible experience for theinsured.

Kelly Bolton with the Dowling & O'NeilInsurance Agency in Hyannis, Mass., says it's a mistake to presumethat early insurance technology adopters are now 'laggards.'(Photo: iStock)

Across industries, a legacy technology system is often seen as ahindrance to innovation, but the way you are talking about it, itdoesn't seem like you agree with that definition.

Bolton: Just because you were an earlyadopter of a technology and didn't throw it out when new productscame to market, doesn't mean you're a laggard. The important thing to remember is neither you northe technology partner can get complacent. For example, we'vebeen using our agency management system Sagitta for more than 29years to manage all aspects of our business, but we didn't stopasking questions and seeking out best practices once we signed thecontract. We also make sure to participate in the annual customerroundtable to provide feedback on the product, and joined theDesign Partners team to test out new features so we have input inensuring the technology will continue to work for us. If the techis continually evolving and adapting to its users' needs, it nolonger prevents innovation but expedites it.

Related: 5 dated insurance business tools,technologies

Tell us about the Design Partners team and some ofthe system updates you've been testing?

Bolton: In March, we attended thecustomer roundtable at NetVU to share our ideas about modernizingthe user experience within the product. As a Design Partner, weworked closely with a dedicated development team to put these plansinto action. I'm happy to report back that several new featureswere recently released that enable a more modern and user-friendlyexperience with the product overall. I'm particularly excited aboutnew functionality within eForms, passwords and policies.

With eForms, there's a totally redesigned Auto-ID cardexperience integration, with much better mapping functionality. Theinformation is also now available in "Help" so that your teams cancompletely understand exactly how information maps in ACORD forms,where it is sourced.

Related: Rethinking a digital approach toinsurance

Users can also now reset their own passwords. This sounds like asimple update, but it has large implications on the businessproductivity. Despite other great improvements to passwordmanagement over the last few years, like the "Sign On Once"initiative, passwords will always be an issue for us as a largeagency. We've spent a lot of administrative time to send one-offpassword requests to individual users when they need them, andthough it sounds like a light lift, it can get backed up quicklyand if you can't access your various technology platforms due to abad password, your productivity obviously drops off completely andwe just can't afford to lose time like that. Now users can handleresetting on their own and get back to serving their customerswithout losing any time at all.

The new "previous term" and "next term" hyperlinks within thepolicies grid allows our teams to access information even faster,to keep up with the service needs of our clients.  I lookforward to the next advancement of this helpful feature.

What's your new year's resolution?

Bolton: Have youheard of Inbox Zero? I'm going to unsubscribe from a bunch ofnewsletters and finally get my email more controlled this year.

Interviewer Bruce Westman is the Sagitta Product Manager atVertafore.You can reach him at [email protected].

See also:

3 insurance technology trends for building customerrelationships

Customer expectations: 4 digital technologyimplications for insurers