Insurance brokers provide tremendous value in the experience and knowledge they provide - but the global insurance tides are changing, and brokers are having to adapt fast in order to surf the waves of success.
Disruption has hit the industry from various angles, most notably in the
form of digitization, artificial intelligence and direct-to-consumer modelling.
One way to combat industry redistribution and disintermediation is by mastering the niche – a technique adopted by award-winning brokerage, Platform Insurance Management Inc.
“Rather than attempting to be an expert at all opportunities, Platform remains razor focused on a finite set of competencies, services and products – we want to go deep in our areas of expertise,” said Neil Morrison, chairman and managing partner of Platform Insurance Management Inc.
This razor-sharp focus helps Platform’s brokers combat challenges and threats in the Canadian marketplace, according to Morrison. It enables them to provide value in
a system where direct-to-consumer models of lower-value add commodity insurance products are thriving.
“For Platform at this point in our evolution, the benefit of being highly focussed and independent makes a difference in terms of offering clients a broader choice of markets in our defined channels on the one hand - and maybe attracting great producers who’ve had their go-to markets cancelled by their employer’s new insurer-owner, on the other,” Morrison told Insurance Business.
“Ultimately brokers who grow at rates above that of their peers will do so by giving clients and stakeholders options, and by
focussing on higher value-added products and services that customers will both value and also pay for.”
Platform’s strategy certainly seems to be working. The brokerage has achieved considerable success in 2017, almost tripling its commission revenue, securing two acquisitions, doubling the team’s headcount from 13 to 27 colleagues and moving into a new office space on Toronto Street.
It also launched an MGA/Wholesale entity, migrated to a new broker management system and found time to give back to local communities. All of these achievements led to Platform winning the
Burns & Wilcox Canada Award for Best Brokerage Over 10 People at the
Insurance Business Canada Awards 2017 – for the second year running.
Hard work for the brokerage does not stop now, Morrison added. Platform hopes to double its commission and fee revenue in 2018 by securing two further acquisitions and recording an equal amount of organic growth.
“Next year, we will strive to continue delighting our customers; attract, retain, engage and invest in great colleagues and build out space for another 18 people adjacent to our existing offices,” he said. “We will continually enhance our margins so that Platform Insurance Management stays ahead of the curve.”
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