Insurance professional across the country know how to adapt. From rising catastrophic weather events to shifting carrier appetites and increased regulatory and legal complexity, today’s market is putting more pressure–and more work–on leaders nationwide.
To stay ahead, many agencies are turning to technology. Automation–and even artificial intelligence–can help streamline many routine, manual tasks so agents can spend their human power on more valuable activities, like relationship building and prospecting.
But to leverage technology efficiencies and meet the changing expectations of clients, agency leaders are rethinking the skills they need on their teams. Increasingly, successful agencies are prioritizing “soft” skills, like flexibility and adaptability, along with “hard” tech skills when training staff or making new hires. Today’s leaders need to invest in a tech-savvy workforce that knows how to use all the tools available to them. Leaders and agents alike need data literacy, tech fluency, and flexibility to change with whatever comes next.
Data Literacy: Big Data Is a Big Deal
Insurtech is constantly expanding the toolbox of data-driven solutions. Tech-forward agencies are using their data to fine-tune efficiencies, track performance, and stay on top of market trends.
But data must be collected accurately and analyzed correctly to deliver value. For agents, that means data literacy is a must-have skill.
As data connects people from one part of an organization to another, insurance has become a team activity more than ever before. Teams that treat clean data as everyone’s responsibility get more from the tools they already have.
Insurance professionals who bring attention to detail and an understanding of how data gets handed off from one department to the other can maximize the potential of the information that moves in and out of an agency. At the agent level, those who bring in or improve their data skills contribute to the entire organization’s goals. While not everyone needs to know how to analyze data, everyone needs to understand the importance of data to the agency’s work.
Agencies that maintain clean data do more, from placing risk to tracking client interactions. That’s why data-savvy leaders communicate about data in their organizations. They clearly explain to their teams why and how data is collected and how it impacts everyone’s job. They continually reinforce data collection standards, and they regularly share data insights with their teams to build better understanding.
That level of data literacy makes existing data-driven tech more effective and opens opportunities to implement other technology. Data knowledge is a new prerequisite for both potential hires and current employees in today’s agencies.
Think Beyond Insurance: Hard-Coded Technology Skills
Technology is increasingly used across many sectors to manage workflows, track performance, automate client communication, and make sense of industry trends. Insurance is rapidly adopting solutions for these same functions, and agencies need people who can put these solutions to work in their own organization.
Agencies can expand their tech abilities by developing skills within their current team. But they can also add those skills by looking for new hires from outside insurance.
‘At the agent level, those who bring in or improve their data skills contribute to the entire organization’s goals.’
In a 2023 survey of insurance agency professionals by Vertafore, one-third of agency professionals reported starting their insurance career after working in another industry. Those employees can be uniquely useful for an agency. Consider what skills new employees can bring in from other fields–such as familiarity with CRM systems, analytics dashboards, or AI-powered customer service.
New hires from tech-invested fields may already be fluent with the tools that are transforming our industry, and that can shorten training time and speed up adoption. They may also be able to bring in best practices and insights into how technology improves work in other sectors–knowledge that can benefit an entire agency.
Hiring from outside the industry brings advantages when agencies import technology knowledge that complements the deep industry experience of long-term insurance professionals. In addition, these new employees can bring a level of excitement and curiosity to the ways technology can help agencies work smarter and put more energy into the tasks where humans thrive, like advising clients and finding ways to grow.
Growth Mindset: Keep an Open Mind
Developing or importing technical skills and knowledge comes with a requisite: a growth mindset. That’s why tech-savvy agencies are prioritizing curiosity as an essential attribute for both their leaders and staff, and why they are finding ways to harden curiosity into a key agency value.
Staying ahead requires evaluating technology and using sound judgment. For leaders, that means taking the time to thoroughly vet new tech and trusting the people around them to say what could be improved.
Think about one of the most famous corporate curiosity experiments. Decades ago, tech giant 3M famously started a “15% time” program, giving employees time to explore new ideas, which resulted in new innovations that ultimately benefitted the company.
Agencies that thrive in demanding markets rely on agents who work with this mindset: they follow their curiosity, find efficiencies, and help their business grow. While 15% of time allocated to curiosity may be a little much in our industry and the demand that comes from our roles, providing employees the ability to drive change goes a long way.
I was given the ability to explore in my own agency experience, which led to sizable innovations for our agency and empowered me to feel that I was making a greater impact for my organization.
Leaders who listen to employees and encourage them to explore new processes stand to benefit. There will always be someone in an organization who wants to improve efficiency or find change. The value in skilled leaders is finding those people and giving them the opportunity to make that change happen.
Since technology is constantly changing, investing in skills that help agents take advantage of tech–data literacy, cross-industry expertise, and a culture of curiosity–will help agencies stay prepared for new advances. Agencies that embrace tech-driven efficiencies and human-centered skills will be best off to succeed in any market.
Erlandson manages partnerships at Vertafore, where he focuses on technology that makes the most impact for agencies. He has 18-plus years of experience in both insurance and insurtech with a passion for efficiency and automation.
Topics
Agencies
InsurTech
Tech
