Today’s insurance technology — from commercial raters for single-entry quoting and digital submissions applications to appetite search and more — allows agencies to integrate the commercial quoting process directly into their agency management system. (Credit: yutthana/Adobe Stock)
The small-to-medium commercial insurance space grew steadily over the past several years.
Global commercial property and casualty lines have seen strong financial performance since 2018, according to a 2023 McKinsey report, with premiums growing at an annual rate of 6% to 8%. Many factors have played a role in this growth, including hard market conditions, carriers pulling out of states like Florida and California, and increasing demand for specialized insurance coverage to manage unique risks.
Related: Farmers expanding coverage in California
Another major factor is diversification. As insurance agencies look to weather challenging market conditions, they need to diversify their books of business. Making the move into commercial lines and cross-selling to existing clients is an easy way for agencies to increase profitability.
So why don't more agencies do this? Many still believe that commercial lines workflows are too time-consuming and complex due to data collection inefficiencies, individual carrier portals, and the E&O risks that come along with the disjointed quoting process.
But the good news is, technology is solving these challenges by streamlining workflows.
Let’s explore how digitizing the quoting process can help agencies make commercial lines work for their business.
Expanding access to carriers
The introduction of commercial quoting applications has created many efficiencies for agencies, but one of the most notable is expanded access to carriers. It’s no secret that getting quotes from multiple carriers was a painful and clunky process. Many agencies had to limit quotes to just a handful of carriers simply because of how long the process takes. But that means clients may not be getting the best coverage option possible. Or, conversely, the agency pulls more quotes from more carriers, but the client must wait longer to get their options.
Using a commercial lines quoting tool allows agents to enter information once and get quotes from a robust panel of national and regional carriers. They no longer need to rekey customer data into multiple carrier websites to track down information. Agencies can receive multiple quotes from an expanded list of carriers all in one place, saving time and clicks for its staff. This “one-to-many” quoting approach not only allows the agency to easily expand its book of business into commercial lines, but it can be confident they are offering clients the best coverage options.
Saving time and reducing errors
Even with the right tools, the commercial quoting process can be cumbersome and time-consuming if those tools don’t communicate with each other. Many agencies still toggle between multiple systems and portals to complete each task, creating redundant data entry across systems that costs staff time and opens the agency up to E&O risks.
Today’s insurance technology — from commercial raters for single-entry quoting and digital submissions applications to appetite search and more — allows agencies to integrate the commercial quoting process directly into their agency management system. Agents can enjoy automation that enables information already in their AMS to prefill in the quoting tool, reducing data entry to make the submissions and renewals process easier and speedier. This connectivity between platforms also reduces the risk of keying in wrong information, which creates room for errors and causes delays in the submissions and renewals process.
Using the right tools can also eliminate time spent manually managing paperwork and requesting information from individual insurer partners. Sending policy, claims and other information directly from the insurer/MGA to the AMS ensures the most up-to-date information is instantly available at the moment the agent needs it.
Succeeding in commercial lines with automation and connectivity
The commercial lines space is ripe with opportunities for agencies to expand their book of business, but they must be smart in how they approach the quoting process if they want to be successful. There’s no longer a need to manually fill out applications or visit multiple carrier portals. It’s crucial to embrace the newest technology that enables the “one-to-many” quoting experience and connects with the management system. It’s time to embrace a digital commercial lines experience to see the ROI of leveraging technology for commercial lines in the form of increased efficiency, better carrier relationships, and greater profits.
Raghav Tanna serves as the senior vice president of Product Management and Commercial Lines and chief executive officer of Tarmika. After getting his start in the industry in 2015 as a commercial insurance producer and underwriter, Raghav founded the insurtech startup Tarmika, a commercial lines comparative rater that streamlines the quoting process and increases the efficiency and profitability of insurance agents and carriers. Tarmika was acquired by Applied Systems in August 2022. Raghav also serves as a board member of Little Sparks Project, a non-profit organization that supports children with complex conditions and their families.
These opinions are the author's own.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.