As insurance changes, so does the role of insurance agents. Shifting customer expectations and carrier abilities leave agents scrambling to adopt new ways to manage their business, communicate with both customers and carriers, and build their businesses.

New technologies have changed the business of insurance. These technologies, including insurance agent sales platforms like bolt Exchange Unify, can help agents succeed in an era of digital disruption.

Why Insurance Agents Need Better Technology

Digital disruption in insurance is already impacting insurance agents, and it is predicted to continue doing so. In one McKinsey study, researchers Ramnath Balasubramanian, Ari Libarikian, and Doug McElhaney predict that by 2030, the number of insurance agents will be “reduced substantially as active agents retire and remaining agents rely heavily on technology to increase productivity.”

The agents that remain will find their professional role has changed. Automation via artificial intelligence (AI) and other means will take over most or all of the once-common routine tasks of an insurance agent or broker. Instead, these professionals will focus on facilitating communication between customers and insurers, providing education and support as customers look for the coverage they need.

Insurance agencies have been seeking technological efficiencies since before the COVID-19 pandemic. In a 2018 study by Insurance Digital Revolution, for example, 95 percent of responding agents said digital technologies are important or very important to the continued success of insurance agencies. These tools can help agents build personal relationships with their customers, said Mike Becker, executive vice president and CEO at the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents.

The pandemic accelerated the adoption of many technologies, including online platforms and the use of digital communications. Yet insurance agencies still have much room to grow.

Even the most technologically efficient insurance businesses have missed opportunities to maximize their use of new technologies to improve their business, researchers Davide Lanfranchi and Laura Grassi found in a 2021 study published in the Eurasian Business Review. The researchers identified a “vast scope for improvement,” suggesting that now is the time for insurance agencies to embrace new technologies in order to improve their own bottom lines and their standing within the industry as a whole.

How Streamlined Tech Benefits Agents

Early attempts to introduce web interfaces and similar digital tools to insurance often caused more headaches for agents. Insurers each had their own website or platform, for example, forcing agents to navigate among several different systems in order to gather quotes and answer customer questions.

As insurance technology has matured, the tools have become better suited to agents’ needs. For example, bolt Exchange Unify now allows agents and brokers to issue quotes from multiple carriers, bind policies, and address customers’ needs within a single interface. Agents and brokers can work on customer needs across all 50 states without having to re-learn a new set of steps. Everything they need is in bolt Exchange Unify.

With bolt Exchange Unify, insurance agencies and brokerages can:

• Gather information more efficiently. bolt’s AI-enabled forms gather only the information agents need, resulting in a quicker workflow and a more pleasant customer experience.
• Provide better answers. The platform’s automated workflows allow agents to offer multiple quotes and price comparisons.
• Expand market reach. Through bolt Exchange Unify, agents are connected to over 120 carriers in both personal and commercial lines — allowing agents to ensure they’re obtaining all the coverage their customers need.
• Improve productivity and increase profits. With routine tasks managed automatically, agents and brokers can focus on upselling, cross-selling and tailoring coverage to customer needs in the moment.

Technology continues to change the world. Insurance agents who embrace tools like bolt Exchange Unify can keep pace with technological changes and the changes in business processes and customer expectations that result.

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