Today, technology is a fundamental part of most business sectors. Fast-tracked by the impact of COVID-19, organisations across the globe have been forced to utilise cloud technology to remove physical restrictions and barriers, and beef up their own risk mitigation strategies to enable a ‘work from anywhere’ environment.

Of course, as a sector, insurance has its own complexities. With an increasing onus on compliance and regulation, and the value-add that comes with exceptional client service, finding the right solution is critically important. And, with a raft of start-ups emerging on the scene to complement the more established players, there’s plenty of technology to choose from.

“Broking, like the broader insurance industry, has experienced a significant change in the ways of working after two years of the pandemic,” says Simone Dossetor, CEO of Insurtech.

“The brokers we speak to are seeking to adopt benefits of flexible and remote working within their businesses to attract and retain talent without sacrificing their customer focus, which has typically been relationship-driven.” Dale Smith, CEO of JAVLN, agrees. “Over the past couple of years, I’ve seen a huge acceleration in technology adoption across the whole insurance value chain. If you’re an organisation that was already on a transformation journey, you’ve accelerated the speed at which you’re going. If you’re an organisation that hasn’t started that journey, you’re definitely either thinking seriously about it, or you’ve already started, and you’re on your way.

“It’s a strategic objective for every insurance business, and technology is a core pillar to growth.”

Drew Schnehage, Managing Director of Innovation Group, arrived in Australia from her native South Africa just before the pandemic and sees a significant opportunity for insurance technology here.

“In South Africa, we have advanced digital platforms that have integrated policy and claims processes between brokers, insurers, underwriting agencies and suppliers,” she says.

“When I arrived in Australia, I was a bit taken aback at how behind the technologies are here compared to South Africa, where the quoting, policy and claims administration platforms are one and the same.

“At the moment, brokers either don’t have a technology platform or the process is still manual, especially regarding claims reporting. Technology should enable brokers to deliver a better customer experience via a seamless integration with their insurers. Brokers should be focused on building relationships whilst technology takes care of the rest.”

With so much data available, insurance is a sector primed to be enabled by technology (note: not disrupted – we’ll come to that later).

So, what are the benefits that technology can provide for brokers and clients, and what are some of the key aspects that brokers should consider when choosing technology partners? Over the coming pages, we’ll find out.

TECH BENEFITS FOR YOUR CLIENTS.
We live in a tech-enabled world today, and as consumers, we expect goods and services to be delivered in a highly efficient way overlaid with exceptional customer experience.

Think about it: how many times have you not ordered something online because the website was slow or unclear? Or because the app didn’t work as well as it should have? We have high expectations, and tech can help meet them.

“Technology enables the insurance industry to provide customers with what is a very normal 21st-century experience – one they are used to from the likes of Uber and even Australia Post,” says Tetiana George, Co-Founder and CEO of insurtech start-up Curium, which provides claims and compliance software as a service that improves the broker and customer experience.

“There have been many psychological studies done into what customers want and don’t want, and there are a number of transactional things in insurance – such as making a claim or renewing a policy – that people want to do themselves, online, without having a conversation with someone.”

Drew Schnehage, Managing Director of Innovation Group, says, “Online lodgement does not exist today for policyholders that procure insurance cover via a broker or an underwriting agency. The best that is available is an online form to be completed.

“Imagine a policyholder can lodge a claim via their phone instantly, and this claim is reported immediately to the insurer

or administrator. The broker is notified simultaneously to proactively contact their client to assist with the claim. What a better customer experience.”

The right software can streamline all your communication with clients – and automate much of it – meaning timely, quality communications.

“It’s about managing all of the touchpoints you have with a client,” says Dale Smith, CEO of JAVLN. “​Technology can help ensure your documents are professional, modern and really look the part.

“In our platform, for example, we can tell whether a client is new, and if they are, you can easily produce a welcome pack with all of the nice marketing material at the front. It really enables you to deliver a digital experience that complements the human interactions you have.”

More broadly, however, dealing with a business with technology at its core enables a smooth, digital experience – and gives clients confidence in the security and accessibility of their information, too.

Kiersten Lethbridge, System Migration Consultant at Technosoft Solutions, says, “As a customer, you want any information you send to your client to be stored securely, but also easily accessible in the event of a claim.

“The right technology can make the whole process smooth and simple for everyone.”

TECH BENEFITS FOR YOUR DAY-TO-DAY.

From a business perspective, having the right technology in place can result in some significant benefits for your operation and ultimately enable you to spend time in the areas you want and need to focus on – areas that technology cannot replace.

“Brokers are incredibly customer-focused and provide customised risk management expertise to their clients. However, their operational processes are often complex and inefficient given they use multiple insurer platforms, and there can be reluctance and an expertise gap when it comes to investing in technology,” says Simone Dossetor, CEO of Insurtech.

The right technology can, however, speed up and streamline those operational processes, reduce admin and help create a significantly more efficient business.

“Many of the tasks associated with insurance are prescribed,” says Kiersten Lethbridge, System Migration Consultant at Technosoft Solutions.

“For a renewal, for example, there are certain steps that you have to go through, and in that instance, a document management system helps you manage that process flow so you can set up your tasks and finish one before moving on to the next.”

By automating those admin tasks, as well as using technology to speed up sourcing quotes from multiple insurers, standardising documents that are sent out to clients and enabling clients to selfserve aspects of their interactions with you should they wish to do so, brokers can free up time to invest into their clients.

Drew Schnehage, Managing Director of Innovation Group, reflects on the evolution of the broker market in South Africa as a template for what could happen here in Australia over the coming years.

“The world has moved along quickly in the last ten years in South Africa, where brokers are purely focusing on what they should be doing – underwriting risks, providing advice to their customers, making sure that they have the right cover and the right products and helping them make those decisions.

“When it comes to claims, the process needs to be more integrated and efficient. Insurers need to collaborate with suppliers and other stakeholders to create a more seamless and integrated digital journey.

“However, at the moment here in Australia, brokers have to spend so much time and cost trying to manage claims on behalf of insurers because, unfortunately, our big insurers are not always managing claims efficiently, and brokers have to protect their customers.”

Dossetor says insurtechs are adding value to the sector in several ways. “We have seen several tech-led brokers and agencies launching over the last five years, offering to service the broker sector with a digital offering that takes advantage of risk data for improved underwriting and client service,” says Dossetor.

“Insurtechs are developing technology solutions for brokers and underwriting agencies to improve operations by providing more flexibility, faster product launches and improved customer experience at a lower cost.

“They are offering services that enhance broker capabilities in specialised ways. For example, supporting cyber risk prevention capabilities, asset inspection process using drone technology and providing buy now pay later options developed for the business insurance sector.”

CHOOSING A TECH PARTNER IS SERIOUS BUSINESS – SO MAKE SURE YOU DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE.
Can they solve your problem?
Seems like an obvious one, but it’s good to get clarity on the problem you want to solve. Do you want to reduce admin tasks? Gain efficiencies? Improve the experience you deliver to clients? Make sure you know what you’re wanting to get out of your new software solution before you speak to vendors – after all, it can be easy to overlook something if you get too far down the track.

What does their track record look like?
The broker community is a great source of information and knowledge, so ask around. What have other brokers found when working with different providers? If it’s a newcomer to the sector, they may not have a direct track record. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work with them, of course, but ask around all the same – organisations such as Insurtech will be able to give you information to help make your decision.

Do they have a structured delivery method?
While most technology solutions today are cloud-based and can be up and running in a matter of minutes, it’s important to understand how the vendor will get the technology working for you. What’s their process? What customisations are needed to meet your workflow? What can you learn from their workflows that will improve how you do things?

What training and support will they offer?
The training and support aspect is critically important for any technology, so ask questions about this. What training will the vendor deliver? Is it included, or does it come at an additional cost? And in terms of support, how accessible is it? Where is it based, and how is it accessed?

Do they bring some new thinking to the business?
New thinking can come with experience gained from a decade in the sector, through learning from the mistakes others have made or from a fresh perspective. Talk to the vendor about their perceptions and experiences; it’s important to have some thinking that can challenge your way of doing things. After all, you don’t want a tech provider that just says yes, do you?

Simone Dossetor, CEO of Insurtech, says, “One benefit that comes from working with insurance start-ups is the different perspective and experience they bring to the insurance process. Many of our members have come either from the fintech sector or academic research, and they bring a fresh perspective to broking and insurance.

“Also, the majority of our start-ups (72 per cent) are still small businesses with fewer than 10 employees – just like many brokers – so they can be more flexible and adaptive in how they operate. As start-ups are still refining their product fit and business proposition, they are more likely to be able to adapt to the specific needs of insurance brokers and their customer segments.”

EMBEDDING TECHNOLOGY IN YOUR BROKERAGE
The right approach is vital for tech success.
Technology, of course, is merely an enabler. As the adage goes, it’s only as good as the information that’s put into it and the people using it.

Implementing new technologies can be time-consuming; it’s a big commitment and does require change. And if it’s not broken, why bother?

Tetiana George, Co-Founder and CEO of insurtech start-up Curium, says, “Two common objections always come up. The first is, ‘why would I break a working process, even if it’s slow, expensive and inefficient?’ People know they’ll need to seriously look at it, but it’s always ‘later’.

“The second reason is that people have already had their fingers burnt by tech in the past. Either it was too expensive or was sold as cheap and transparent and then became big and unmanageable. So many people have just had negative experiences and say, ‘I’m not touching this’.”

It’s no surprise, therefore, that some hesitation exists. However, technology is vitally important for businesses across all sectors to survive, if not flourish, and Dale Smith, CEO of JAVLN, says building trust is essential.

“We know it takes time, but the first thing we do is build trust. At a platform level, we comply with the best global standards and international security standards, which gives a level of comfort.

“Then, typically, a broker will have a particular pain point that they want to solve – they might have lost a client because of X, Y and Z, or they’re finding that the only way they can grow is to keep putting on people. There’ll be something driving them towards a technology decision, so it’s really important that we spend the time to truly understand what they need from a platform.”

Smith says the difficulty that comes with change is sometimes overestimated.

“There is a perception that moving systems is difficult, and I don’t want to dumb it down because it is complex, but it’s not as hard as you think. Typically, the hardest piece is the change management process.”

And for that to work successfully, says Kiersten Lethbridge, System Migration Consultant at Technosoft Solutions, you need to invest the time upfront to do it properly.

“If you can invest the time to learn and set it up well at the start, it pays off a thousand times over, further down the track,” she says.

THE NATURE OF TECHNOLOGY AND HOW IT CHANGES
Rewind a decade or two, and the word technology went hand in hand with ‘disruption’. ‘Digital disruption’ was the topic on everyone’s lips – and in some respects, left many tech start-ups and platforms at a disadvantage.

“There are disruptive technologies out there and enabling technologies,” says Tetiana George, Co-Founder and CEO of claims and compliance insurtech start-up Curium.

“Disruptors want to take away your share of the market, while the enablers want to help you get more of it, and at present, I’d estimate 70 per cent of insurance technology is enabling. “Ultimately, if they’re targeting you [as a broker] as a customer, it can probably enhance your business by helping you provide a better customer experience, spend less time on admin, and stand out from the crowd when it comes to winning new business or retaining existing clients.”

What’s also changed in recent times is the cost of technology. We’re all used to subscribing to platforms – Netflix, for example – every month, and that can make it an awful lot easier for businesses to justify from a financial perspective.

“It moves the cost from a CAPEX (capital expenditure) to OPEX (operating expenditure). Paying a monthly subscription fee that will scale up as your business grows, rather than being charged a large fee at the outset,