LOGIN
MEMBER LOGIN
Calculate Your Growth Potential

5 Tips for Integrating New Insurance Agency Software: What Strategy Works Best for Successful Agencies?

A digitally altered image of a cybernetic hand.

As principal, you’re aware that there are multiple insurance agency software solutions designed to help make your business more efficient and empower your staff to better serve your clients. 

With so many options to consider, self-reflection is necessary to determine which of your agency’s processes you would like to improve.

What are your operational goals? Do you seek a comprehensive way to monitor production, retention, premium growth, and carrier performance across your book? Would you like to automate tasks such as sending marketing e-mails and monitoring renewals? 

The reality is, for every one of your agency’s needs, there’s an insurance agency software tool built specifically for the job.  

The most successful agents who leverage insurance software solutions clearly define their needs, do their due diligence in selecting the right tools, and mindfully implement those tools with the agency staff’s full buy-in. 

Here are our best tips for a seamless transition to newer, more efficient agency software – a journey that begins with a more thorough understanding of the types of tools available to you and how they can aid your business.  

What is Insurance Agency Software? 

An insurance agent works at her computer in her office.Software for insurance agents helps agencies or brokerages manage their day-to-day operations online.  

From an administrative point of view, various types of software can help an insurance agency’s staff access client data; manage leads, prospects, products, and quotes; and track policy and claims information.  

On the customer side, insurance management software enables your customers to log in and fill out forms, check their policy information, make online payments, and perform other actions on your agency’s website.  

Possessing functionality for both business process management (BPM) and customer relationship management (CRM), insurance software serves as the means to facilitate all of an agency’s primary business processes.  

Benefits of Insurance Agent Software 

With the right insurance tools in place, manual processes can be left behind and your business can gain new benefits and efficiencies. These include:  

  • More efficient operations. Valuable hours can be saved by having all of your customer information in a single database and enabling your staff to automate tedious processes like billing and reporting.
  • Better customer service. Customers want the flexibility to pay online and perform self-service tasks, and they expect your agency to stay on top of renewals. The proper software helps you do those things and so much more.
  • Improved communications. Automatic notifications, communication tracking, and other features can ensure nothing gets lost in translation when dealing with clients or your carrier partners.
  • Up-to-date regulatory compliance. Some software tools can help you stay in step with evolving state and national regulations for your customers that could have turned into expensive oversights if you’d missed them.
  • Enhanced data security. Encryption and user-authentication features help keep your clients’ sensitive customer or carrier information safe.  

When seeking to adopt new software solutions, it’s critical to know whether the new software you want to utilize is compatible with your agency management system. 

What are Insurance Agency Management Systems? 

An open Macbook, showing software used for business.Simply stated, insurance agency management systems (AMS) provide solutions to help insurance agencies manage their day-to-day business.  

Insurance software platforms perform several primary functions. At a minimum, they:  

  • Store information on all the agency’s clients, including policy documents and statements
  • Deliver reporting tools for monitoring sales performance and tracking an account’s status 
  • Provide features for streamlining or automating agency workflows   

Combining the capabilities of customer relationship management software and marketing automation software, an agency management system assists in managing relationships with clients, customers, and prospects. They also deliver automated solutions to streamline agency back-office tasks such as bookkeeping, generating quotes, commission processing, and sending e-mail marketing campaigns, to name a few.  

An agency’s embrace of AMS depends entirely on its needs. If an agency just wants to use it for bookkeeping and policy management, an out-of-the-box, basic system will often fit the bill. If the agency wishes to automate various tasks such as real-time quoting, processing payments, or targeting prospects with e-mail marketing campaigns, then a more extensive setup, integration process, and a training plan will be required. 

5 Tips for Integrating New Software Into Your Insurance Agency 

Agents often resist changes in agency technology because they are afraid of experiencing major glitches while transitioning to new tools. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are five tips to help you get set up smoothly:  

  1. An insurance agency's team discusses technology implementation.Don’t overhaul everything all at once. Make changes slowly across departments, with iterative adoption. Understand that the process of implementing new agency technology can have its share of challenges, especially when you’re adopting a new process.
  2. Ensure your employees understand what changes are being made to your software toolkit, why they’re happening, and how you’re going to be supporting them during the adoption process. You’ll need your staff’s unified commitment to making the new tools work, so ensure that the benefits of the new technology tools are clearly articulated for all involved.
  3. Put customer service first and train your staff. Include your people in the process of learning the operational ins and outs of how the new solution works.
  4. Provide the necessary resources needed to make the transition. Budget considerations are always a factor for independent agents, but understand that implementing one solution may require you to upgrade existing software in order for the new tools to work.
  5. Appoint a key person to supervise and coordinate the changes. This could be yourself, a trusted advisor, or an expert from an agency network like Renaissance that specializes in agency technology to guide you through the transition. 

Indeed, those independent agencies that are members of a tech-enabled agency aggregator would have a distinct advantage when it comes to integrating new technology solutions.

Implementing new technology tools at your agency is a far simpler, less complicated process when you partner with a network experienced in assembling a cost-efficient, fully integrated tech stack that sets your agency apart from the competition. 

Renaissance offers best-in-class tools, from powerful dashboards to marketing platforms and AI-powered innovations — in addition to the support, training, and vendor discounts agencies need to thrive. Talk to our team today about how our technology experts can help you accelerate your business. 

Link to Renaissance e-book.

About Renaissance

Renaissance provides market access, placement services, technology and resources for independent insurance agents that want to grow their business and maximize efficiency.

Learn More

More Insights

Subscribe

Linkedin Youtube
Start the conversation
Renaissance Logo - White

155 N Wacker Dr., Suite 820
Chicago, IL 60606
(800) 514-2667

Linkedin-in Youtube
©2024 All Rights Reserved | Legal Notice

NON-DISCLOSURE TERMS AND CONDITIONS

These Non-Disclosure Terms and Conditions (“Agreement”) govern the provision of information by Renaissance Alliance Insurance Services, LLC (“Renaissance”) to a prospective agency member (“Recipient”). Renaissance and Recipient Renaissance and Recipient are hereinafter referred to together as the “Parties,” and each may be referred to separately as a “Party.”

The Parties acknowledge that Renaissance may disclose to Recipient certain of Renaissance’s confidential, sensitive and/or proprietary information including, but not limited to, business, financial or technical information, in connection with the potential establishment and/or conduct of a business relationship or transaction between the Parties (the “Transaction”). In connection therewith, for good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which consideration are hereby acknowledged by Recipient, and as a condition of the provision of Confidential Information (as defined below) to Recipient, Recipient hereby agrees as follows:

  1. Confidential Information. “Confidential Information” means any and all information provided by Renaissance to Recipient in any form, and at any time (including prior to or following the execution of this Agreement), including but not limited to any such information that (a) is related to Renaissance’s business, finances, financial information, pricing, business plans, profitability, projections, business or financial opportunities, investment strategies, other strategies, data, products, services, concepts, contacts, personnel, customers, vendors, prospects, intentions, formulas, methods, processes, practices, models, tools, computer programs, software, discoveries, inventions, know-how, negative know-how, business relationships, agreements (including this Agreement), intellectual property, trade secrets (whether or not patentable or copyrightable), trade secrets, or other confidential or proprietary information, (b) contains or is related to any communications, negotiations or proposals regarding the Transaction; (c) Recipient has either been informed, or reasonably should know, is confidential in nature; or (d) consists of or contains names, addresses or other information of any description relating to any of Renaissance’ member agencies or any of such member agencies’ customers or clients. Confidential Information shall also include any analyses, compilations, studies or other documents or materials prepared by Recipient or by any of its Representatives, that contain, rely upon, are derivative of or otherwise reflect any Confidential Information as described in the preceding sentence. The foregoing notwithstanding, Confidential Information shall not include any information which, at the time it is provided to Recipient; (i) is already known to Recipient, (ii) is then or later becomes available to the general public without violation of any requirement of confidentiality.
  1. Providing of Confidential Information. Renaissance may provide to Recipient any Confidential Information, in such manner and at such times as Renaissance may determine, to assist Recipient in evaluating, negotiating and carrying out the Transaction, but shall have no obligation to provide any, or any particular, Confidential Information to Recipient. Renaissance makes no, and disclaims any, representations or warranties regarding any Confidential Information it may provide, except as may be provided in any definitive documentation relating to a Transaction.
  1. Non-Use and Non-Disclosure; Representatives. Recipient agrees not to use any of Renaissance’s Confidential Information for any purpose other than for or in connection with the evaluation, negotiation, entering into or carrying out of a Transaction. Recipient agrees not to disclose any of Renaissance’s Confidential Information to any third party other than Recipient’s directors, officers, employees, affiliates, counsel, consultants, advisers, representatives and agents (collectively, “Representatives”) who have a reasonable need for the same in connection with the uses thereof permitted under this Agreement. Any such Representatives who are provided with any Confidential Information shall be instructed to maintain the same in confidence, and not to make any use or disclosure of the same other than as permitted under this Agreement. Recipient shall be responsible for any breach of this Agreement by any of its Representatives, to the same extent as though Recipient had committed such breach personally. Recipient agrees to use the same level of care in protecting the Confidential Information from unauthorized disclosure as it uses to protect its own confidential or proprietary information, and in any case will use no less than a commercially reasonable level of care in protecting all Confidential Information from unauthorized disclosure. The foregoing notwithstanding, Recipient shall be permitted to disclose so much of the Confidential Information as has been authorized for release by Renaissance in writing, to the persons and upon the conditions so authorized by Renaissance, in connection with the carrying out of the Transaction. Recipient shall not circumvent or seek to circumvent Renaissance’s negotiations with any third party, either by entering into discussions directly with such third party otherwise than on behalf of Renaissance, or otherwise. For purposes of this Section, each Party shall act in good faith and deal fairly with the other Party.
  1. No License; Return of Confidential Information. Recipient will not acquire any license or other rights whatsoever with respect to any of the Confidential Information by virtue of its disclosure to Recipient pursuant to this Agreement, or by virtue of any use thereof permitted hereunder. Recipient agrees to destroy or to return all Confidential Information to Renaissance, including both originals and all copies thereof (other than copies created as part of the routine backup of Recipient’s servers, or copies retained pursuant to a requirement of a governmental or regulatory authority, all of which retained copies shall be held confidential for so long as such materials are so retained), and to confirm the completion of such return or destruction to Renaissance in writing, promptly upon demand by Renaissance within the term of this Agreement. The term of this Agreement shall be for a period of five (5) years, commencing on the Effective Date set forth above. Either Party may terminate this Agreement at any time, upon written notice to the other Party, provided that the obligations of Recipient hereunder shall nevertheless survive for the period above stated, with respect to all Confidential Information provided prior to such termination.
  1. Orders Requiring Production. In the event Recipient receives a court subpoena, request for production of documents, court order or other requirement of a governmental agency to disclose any Confidential Information (a “Disclosure Requirement”), Recipient shall (unless prohibited by law) give prompt written notice to Renaissance thereof so that Renaissance may seek to challenge or limit the Disclosure Requirement. Recipient agrees to cooperate reasonably in any effort of Renaissance to limit or prevent any required disclosure of Confidential Information, provided that Recipient shall: (i) not be required to incur any expense in connection with such cooperation, and (ii) not be required to disobey any Disclosure Requirement. Recipient shall not be deemed in violation of this Agreement if it complies with any such Disclosure Requirement either after having provided Renaissance with notice thereof and a reasonable opportunity to contest the same, or if such notice is not permitted. Recipient agrees to (a) exercise reasonable efforts to disclose only the minimum amount of Confidential Information that Recipient is compelled to disclose, in the opinion of its legal counsel, and (b) request that confidential treatment (if legally permissible) will be accorded to the Confidential Information being disclosed.
  1. Injunctive Relief. Recipient acknowledges that the Confidential Information is confidential, and that disclosure or use of said information in violation of the terms of this Agreement would result in substantial and irreparable harm to Renaissance, the actual dollar amount of which damage would be impossible to determine. Accordingly, Recipient agrees that, in addition to any other remedies that may be available, in law, in equity or otherwise, Renaissance shall be entitled to seek injunctive relief against the actual or threatened breach of this Agreement or the continuation of any such breach by Recipient, without the necessity of proving actual damages and without posting bond. This provision shall not limit the right of Renaissance to seek actual damages or any other legal or equitable remedy for any breach hereof.
  1. Miscellaneous. This Agreement shall be construed in accordance with and governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, without regard to its conflicts of laws principles. Any action or proceeding against either Party relating in any way to this Agreement shall be brought and enforced only in the Federal (to the extent appropriate jurisdiction exists) and State courts located in Cook County in the State of Illinois, and the Parties irrevocably submit to the jurisdiction of such courts in respect of any such action or proceeding, and irrevocably waive any objection to venue in such courts, including but not limited to any objection that such venue is inconvenient. This Agreement embodies the entire agreement of the Parties with respect to the subject matter hereof, and supersedes all prior and contemporaneous agreements and understandings, oral or written. No amendment to this Agreement and no waiver of any provision hereunder shall be effective unless it is in writing and signed by an authorized officer of the Party against whom such amendment or waiver is asserted. No invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of this Agreement shall affect the validity or enforceability of the remaining portions hereof. This Agreement shall be binding upon, and shall inure to the benefit of, each of the Parties and their respective successors and assigns. There are no intended third-party beneficiaries of this Agreement. This Agreement does not in any way bind either Party to enter into or continue any type of business relationship with the other. Nothing in this Agreement shall prevent Renaissance from at any time disclosing any of its Confidential Information to others or negotiating with others for any purpose whatsoever. Nothing contained in this Agreement shall be construed to constitute the Parties as partners, joint venturers, co-owners or otherwise as participants in a joint or common undertaking. Recipient’s indication of assent to this Agreement via electronic means shall be equally binding and effective as an original signature hereon, and shall be deemed duly and effectively delivered if so transmitted or provided.