Embracing technology key for brokers to stay competitive: IBAO head

Using technology to meet today’s consumer expectations is key for Canadian brokers to stay relevant and competitive, says the head of Ontario’s broker association.

The way consumers interact and purchase goods and services has changed dramatically over the past 20 years, but the broker business model hasn’t necessarily kept pace, Randy Carroll, CEO of the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO) said Wednesday.

“Our challenge is really to get our brokers to understand that they have to step up to the plate and deliver,” he said.

Carroll made his comments during the Canadian launch event in Toronto for Epic 7.0, the most recent broker management system from technology firm Applied (formerly Applied Systems).

Innovation and collaboration are what Carroll calls the “new age benefits” for consumers. “We’re actually looking at ways and providing ways for consumers to communicate their preferred way,” he said.

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Customers today may not necessarily want phone calls from their brokers, he pointed out. Instead, while the personal touch that a broker can provide is still crucial for many consumers, that personal interaction could mean a text message, Carroll said.

“Consumers want interaction choices,” he said, a change that’s been driven mainly by non-insurance companies like Apple and even Starbucks.

Having a way for customers to access their policy information themselves easily, and even to update or purchase policies is has become a new expectation that brokers must deliver on, Carroll noted. “(Consumers) want the purchase process to be really simple.”

If brokers can provide that, then they’ll have a competitive advantage over direct writers. “The more we focus on easy, the happier this association will be.”

Moving to a new, higher-tech system can be challenging, especially for longtime brokers more comfortable with hard copies, Joe Pratts, chief operating officer at Hoffman Brown, an independent brokerage based in Sherman Oaks, Calif. said a presentation at Applied’s Toronto event.

His firm began using Applied’s Epic broker management system in 2009 and it has now become essentially a paperless office, he said.

For Pratts, having easy access to client information has been a faster and more efficient way to make connections among customers (who may have made referrals) and even looking up clients’ birthdays.

Using certain technologies can also allow brokers to take the personal touch a step further, he noted. For example, in the event of a wildfire in California, the firm could leverage its BMS and use mapping tools to find out which policyholders will be potentially affected and give them a call, he said.

And, making those connections is crucial in a time when competing heavily with banks, Pratts noted.

Using a comprehensive management system also allows a brokerage to find areas it can capitalize on and new opportunities without the major changes associated with something like making an acquisition, he added.