Data Tuneup

Business automation still requires human direction.

Consider the prudent motorist, who makes use of vehicle technologies to reach a destination, while retaining overall control. The most careful drivers choose options that best cope with expected and changing conditions. For example, when winter comes, provisions include snow tires and anti-freeze, and perhaps a set of chains in the trunk. If traffic is congested, drivers may leverage information from a navigation app to help them best deploy time, fuel, and vehicle resources.

The vehicle can be a metaphor for a brokerage business. The tools selected require maintenance to be most effective. Careful preparation is needed to travel without ending up in gridlock or at a dead end. To best position brokerages for successful future road trips – i.e. to retain and grow business, and to adapt the business to an evolving marketplace – broker principals cannot run on cruise control. They must source and refine technologies that support their business objectives.

Part of a broker’s unparalleled value proposition is providing individual customer choice in products, insurers, and for service delivery. Brokerage leaders make choices that suit their own client mix, including existing customers and the intended future clientele.

Brenda Rose, Vice President and Partner, FCA Insurance Brokers

Recently, tech development has produced a steady stream of new options for brokers to meet customers’ service preferences. A constantly growing menu of options includes digital platforms, mobile apps, enhanced telephony, and e-wallets. Choices providing the broadest customer-service capability often result from improved communication and integration between broker and insurer information systems. Both BMS and carrier development cycles are accelerating to accommodate industry partners’ needs.

Read the full article in the Digital Edition of the May 2018 Canadian Underwriter.

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Brenda Rose, Vice President, Partner, Firstbrook Cassie & Anderson Ltd.