The value of insurance agents has been under attack for some time. For years, it was based on a perception of insurance agents as simply pass-through "middle-people" in the purchase and placement of insurance. Today, the stakes are much higher. Anything that is, or can be, process-oriented (such as quoting, servicing, communicating, tracking, etc.) will generally be better served by technology, over individuals with telephone and paper.
The technology world is powerful. It is innovative, future-focused, and the darling of the investment world (i.e. they have plenty of money.) We know that some technology companies have their eyes set on taking over the insurance industry. They trample our "paper" ways and "old school" service mentality while launching multi-million dollar campaigns to lift massive insurance market share from right out under our noses.
Of course, we know that the insurance industry is not all about processing generic, templated, insurance policies. The insurance industry serves no one without its masters in coverage and risk. In fact, technology companies themselves, are dependent upon high-level insurance and risk management wisdom.
Yet as technology companies take on the insurance industry, they seek to onboard people who will help them scale as fast as possible. The last thing they want to do is onboard a bunch of technology illiterate or paper dependent insurance people.
Can we blame them? Generally, when insurance people get frustrated with technology, they prioritize the immediate insurance need and resort back to paper to solve it. Ok, so we meet the immediate need and free fall into the "old school" ditch. Ask them, "Why the paper?" and you hear...
"The carrier required it"
"I'm too busy doing my job to take time to figure out technology"
"The technology doesn't work"
"My clients want personalized service from me and not impersonal technology"
The last one is the most dangerous! It's a lie we tell ourselves and it will be the landmine that will take us out. Having our clients go through us for everything is slow, redundant and fertile ground for errors. Technology is the rocket that gets us where we want to go better and faster.
Failure to fully embrace technology, in all aspects of client interface and internal agency management, will likely be the #1 insurance career killer by 2017. Way too many insurance people are deceived about the danger here. Whether they tell you or not, clients will leave for better technology. By 2017, tech-literate insurance professionals will be non-optional for agency survival.
As sportscaster John Rooney once said, "The quickest way to become an old dog is to stop learning new tricks."
Lynne Wallace is the CEO and president of VANTREO Insurance Brokerage and co-founder of NDOI, the National Directory of Insurance.
