Paul Taylor has gone from directing the business operations of the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO) to selling technology intended to improve brokers’ business operations throughout the country.
Brovada Technologies announced on May 6 that Taylor has become its new vice president of sales.
Taylor began working in the insurance industry at the Personal Insurance Company (TPIC) in 1999. He has spent the past 10 years at the IBAO.
During Taylor’s time at the IBAO, the association introduced a number of technological breakthroughs, including the launch of the online quoting website myinsuranceshopper.ca and the development and launch of the Insurance Companion mobile application. The mobile application provides first notice of loss reporting capability to consumers. Approximately 150 brokerages in Canada have branded the mobile application as its own.
For Taylor, his objectives at IBAO seemed a natural fit for what he is now doing for Brovada, which is a software provider that specializes in business process integration, system conversions, legacy system integrations, and broker connectivity.
“I’ve had lots of conversations with brokers over the years about what the ideal workflow should look like, and how they would want their ideal systems to look,” he told Insurance Business. “Hopefully I can bring some of that to the development that’s taking place at Brovada and we can help shape the product and make it better and stronger as it evolves over time.”
Ultimately, the objective is simple.
“Brokers really just want efficiency," Taylor said. "They want simplicity in their transactions and they want to do things once, not multiple times. Brovada has connectivity to many insurers and has worked really hard to make workflows very, very easy for brokers.”
One of the big projects for the industry over the past decade has been to work towards some form of single-entry, multiple-company interface (SEMCI) solution. This would allow brokers to interact with multiple insurance companies without having to re-key information using multiple company interfaces such as carrier portals, for example.
“I don’t think it’s far,” Taylor answered, when asked how close the industry might be to a SEMCI solution. The technology exists, the real challenge is getting all of the players to the table. ”
He mentioned that Brovada has built straight-through transactions with most of the carriers in Canada including ‘once and done’ workflows with Saskatchewan Government Insurance, The Dominion, Pembridge Insurance Company, and a host of others.
“Rather than [the carriers] creating a website, we leverage the data from the brokerage management system and create streamlined interfaces to the insurer’s back end,” he said. “A website is really just another user interface. If the insurer contacts us and wants to build something that is very specifically broker focused, you really don’t need the website.”
