Insurers are transforming everything but many are forgetting their agent networks and it’s a mistake!
Based on our experience, many companies are missing a key transformation opportunity central to their success … Agent Experience. Although core transformations advance operational capabilities into the 21st century, one of the highest available growth strategies is improving how a carrier engages with its agents, how it manages social media and SEO. More effectively aligning goto market engagement strategies with the field makes agent portals the cornerstone of a digital growth strategy.
I want to outline key considerations that we think Property and Casualty (P&C) and Life, Health & Wealth technology executives need to weigh when designing and implementing agent experience transformation via portals. These executives will face decisions ranging from which benefits they hope to achieve and what types of architecture flexibility they’ll need, to how they should coordinate agent portal development with related core agent transformation projects.
Well-designed Agent portals improve client and agent engagement resulting in two primary benefits.
1) Reduced engagement friction
2) Business Growth
A Portal Can Be An Anchor For The Joint Carrier/Agent Brand Identity
By focusing investments targeting these benefits organizations will be more successful. Examples of outcomes to achieve these goals include creating two-way connections, simplified compliance and brand management, and spur new client acquisition. Agent Portals should offer more than self-service libraries of marketing assets by offering unique agent capabilities for creating website assets, launching campaigns and accelerated, quoting, claims management, and renewal management. Integrated approaches to improving these functions can accelerate business outcomes and position your firm as the carrier of choice for agents.
By following a structured portal implementation approach that aligns with the digital strategy and offers unique capabilities targeted at their agents, carriers can make the most of their portal and create growth for themselves and agents. An integrated portal can more effectively serve agents for market resources, obtain quotes, transmit claims data, and renew policies. At the same time, this portal ecosystem can serve policyholders for research, insurance purchasing, claim, billing, and coverage management as their financial needs change. In short, a portal can be an anchor for the joint carrier/agent brand identity, a cornerstone of a digital strategy that emphasizes branding and client centricity in an age of continually rising client expectations.
