How broker tech can reduce E&O exposure  

A growing wave of retirements means Canada’s property and casualty (P&C) insurance brokerages are losing the knowledge and experience of many of its senior leaders.

“Many brokerages run into issues because they don’t have a system for knowledge transfer, which is a big missing piece that leads to E&O exposure,” says Christy Silvestri, president of QuickFacts.

Consequently, many senior leaders at brokerages are concerned about what might happen if they’re not available to help their team members find the answers they need to do their jobs effectively. However, no business leader can be available 24/7. Plus, having only one person who knows how to do a wide variety of tasks creates significant errors and omissions exposure.

“Having systems with easy access for everybody on the team to know what needs to be done and the proper processes really helps reduce that E&O exposure,” adds Silvestri, who spent 17 years in a brokerage before founding an insurtech.

“Then there’s no, ‘Well, I don’t know, Christy wasn’t here to tell me what to do,’ or ‘The person who knew everything about boats wasn’t here that day, so I didn’t know how to do it properly.’”

E&O exposure also stems from the recruiting difficulties many brokerages face. Quite simply, there aren’t enough people to do the work. Some brokerages believe they can solve the problem by boosting hiring efforts, but that may not work.

“Technology is going to help those organizations to be more efficient in areas where they may not have the resources they need,” Silvestri says. “Technology can help complement, and alleviate, the brokers’ heavy workloads.

Conversely, a lack of technology could lead to burnout, which means losing good employees.

“The new generation is more tech-inclined,” Silvestri observes. “There will be more opportunities for them to ask: ‘Why are we doing it this way?’ or ‘Why can’t we do it this way?’

“That mentality is what’s really going to drive change. Keeping those young people engaged and passionate about the industry is the best way to progress technology for our industry.”

This story is excerpted from one that appeared in the May print edition of Canadian Underwriter. Feature image by iStock.com/kitzcorner