Mining the Hidden Treasure of Your Insurtech Investment

Your agency may have a treasure trove of untapped potential with your unused insurance software. The good news is you can unlock that potential for more value for free, it just takes spending some time to remember why your agency bought the insurtech in the first place and choosing to explore its capabilities further.

In complex industries like insurance, B2B software often does more than agencies anticipate. After the sprint to get basic workflows up and running, it can be difficult to settle into a steady marathon pace. Incremental experimentation, learning and training can easily fall by the wayside.

Let’s explore several questions that can help you uncover where these opportunities might exist.

Do employees know why you have the software?

It’s not uncommon for those who decide to purchase the software to utilize it differently than those who will be using it day-to-day. Depending on an employee’s perspective, they might initially feel hesitant at the thought of new technology in the workplace if they don’t understand the value or rationale behind it.

Take client portals, for example. Many agencies want to provide self-service portals where tech-savvy clients can complete simple tasks that then decrease time on paperwork and increase opportunity for agents to act as a trusted advisor. While this increases efficiency and can improve client satisfaction for those who want quick and easy tools, agents who are used to having regular personal interactions with their clients may feel as if their daily communications with clients are no longer of value or may feel like they are being replaced by technology.

This misperception can mean cultural consequences that affect staff morale and retention and can negatively affect software adoption and use.

Without the right communication upfront and a thoughtful onboarding process, your employees may view your new software purchase as a threat or a hinderance to their work — jeopardizing the investment you’ve made.

Are you leveraging your vendor enough?

Scrappy, headstrong agencies are often reluctant to lean too much on their software vendor, as they don’t want to seem needy. But it is essential for agencies to have regular, proactive communication with a software vendor to keep up with product updates, enhancements and ongoing training tools. It is not uncommon for customers to approach us and ask why our software can’t do what a competitor’s can do — when in reality our product has had the capability in question for years.

Here’s some advice: Contact your vendor, give them your tech wish list and put them to work. If your vendor doesn’t have a solution yet, you might convince them to put it on their roadmap.

Do you have a culture of learning and training?

Some agencies put recruits through a one-time software tutorial. Then, they ask employees to sacrifice one day a year to a hands-on training loaded with more material than anyone can retain. That means employees are unlikely to learn the new features and capabilities released throughout the year. Conversely, agencies that benefit most from those updates tend to have a culture of continuous training.

The key is to make training and learning a part of your culture. That means making software trainings readily available and approachable. For example, share bite-sized, five-minute video lessons that employees can view whenever they want, and give them incentives for doing so. Your vendor should have a growing library of videos and be able to offer help for best ways to use them.

The software is already yours.

The best way to ensure you’re getting the most value out of your software is through communication and training among your employees. Let employees know that the software will help them do what’s most important — providing excellent customer service and building strong client relationships. Communicate, implement and encourage continual training. Agents will feel empowered to use it successfully, and adoption and satisfaction will run high. By reframing the use of software as a prized skill and cultural strength, your agency will unlock untapped value and keep employees happier.