On Point - Insurance Journal

What are some of the latest developments with independent agent and broker technology? On this episode we’re joined by a variety of industry leaders attending Applied Net 2026, held recently in Washington, DC. We hear about Applied’s approach to AI support for agent-carrier submissions and renewals from Michael Streit and Rob Bourne. Other guests include Kasey Connors, who outlines key initiatives from the Agents Council for Technology; Dave Evans, who moderated a session on agency succession planning; executives with Cogneesol, which structures data to help merging agents and brokers maximize the value of the acquisition; and James Li, a young founder who launched an insuretech with AI to free up agency staff from keystrokes.

This episode is supported by Liberty Mutual® for small business. Explore new products, enhanced quoting, and more than 650 classes on our small commercial agent portal. Find out more at https://cloud.smallcommercial-libertymutual.com/writesmallbusinesswithlimu

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To be sure, LinkedIn is the dominant social media hub for the risk and insurance business. It serves perfectly for professionals connecting within the industry—and for producers building relationships with prospects in regional areas or in commercial specialties like trucking, construction, manufacturing, etc. Beyond posting, LinkedIn can supercharge your visibility and connections via paid ads. But how do you wisely spend money on the platform? We have just the resident expert to walk us through how that all works. Our guest on this installment is AJ Wilcox, a LinkedIn ads expert who’s consulted with 800+ businesses and hosts a podcast of his own. Not surprisingly, paid ads featuring your firm’s thought leaders—especially on video—will perform the best, AJ says. He also offers tips to improve how you personally show up on LinkedIn.

This episode is supported by Liberty Mutual® for small business. Explore new products, enhanced quoting, and more than 650 classes on our small commercial agent portal. Find out more at https://cloud.smallcommercial-libertymutual.com/writesmallbusinesswithlimu

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“AI is really starting to help us execute real insurance work. It’s not just about summarizing documents; it actually can turn the conversation into action,” which means binding coverage, says Nga Phan, head of product at bolt, a P/C distribution platform connecting insurers, distributors and customers. AI is helping agents and brokers move faster from quote to bind, reducing manual work and head counts, and improving retention. “We’ve seen doubled quote-to-bind performance when you use AI to lead qualification,” says Nga. “The bound policies increase by 34%. Quoting time can decrease as much as 57%. Human talk time reduces by 36%.” There are challenges ahead, she acknowledges. “Can the industry put AI into production successfully? Can we all be ready to integrate AI into how our teams work in the way that is accurate, secure and accountable within a very regulated industry?” Nga envisions a world where “insurance should feel like nothing at all until the moment it matters. Protection will show up when life actually happens—when you buy a car, sign a lease, bring on a new employee… It’s not a separate errand that you want to or have to put off.”

This episode is supported by TomTom — AI‑ready location intelligence that insurers can trust, with validated map and traffic insights for sharper pricing, smarter claims and agentic workflows. Learn more at https://www.tomtom.com/insurtech

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Our guest on this lively episode is Pat Sullivan with Risk Information, a firm analyzing trends in auto and home insurance. He is bullish on the future of independent agents. Why? “In part because products have gotten better, lives have gotten more complex, and people need help.” Renters, too, have kids, cars and a small business, Pat says. “They need a package. The IA is great for servicing somebody in this sweet spot.” He raves about Progressive’s growth via independent agents. It has passed State Farm (the last big captive carrier left) in private-passenger auto market share. Progressive is “in the middle of one of the greatest runs in American business in the last 100 years,” Pat says. “They’re firing on all cylinders. They are incredibly focused. They are better at failure; they’re better at iteration.” Agents are struggling with bundling home and auto because each has its own issues, Pat says. Consumers are frustrated with premiums. Pat thinks carriers could gain goodwill by proactively sharing risk management and claims data—and speaking directly with policyholders and agents. “AI is the step change that’ll allow carriers to unlock and share that information securely and at scale to make the world a better place.”

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Earlier this year, Vertafore rolled out a series of AI-supported tools for agents, MGAs and carriers that automate manual work and allow them to focus on customers, says James Thom, the chief product officer at the insurance tech provider. On this podcast, James walks through the tools as well as broader observations on where the industry is headed. The AI tools allow users to “focus on more high-value work and take them out of the drudgery of data entry.” The tools focus on email management, commission reconciliation, commercial lines submission, and more. With all the “bright shiny objects out there right now,” tech leaders should “respect the workflow,” James says. “Insurance buyers don’t buy technology because it’s clever. They buy because it fits into their workflow. Don’t think about solving clever problems; think about solving actual problems.” He adds that AI offers “massive tailwinds for growth,” but people shouldn’t focus on the problems of the past. “Help people shift into the new roles you need. The personalized advice, human in the loop, the care our clients give to customers doesn’t go away.” James outlines an ideal vision for insurance: “The key feeling—if you put yourself in the customers’ shoes—working with insurance feels like a more proactive business. It feels very reactive today. In the future we take noise and friction out of the process and we shift our time. It’ll feel more connected, understandable and proactive. Things are faster. Less adversarial. As an industry, it’s less about manual work, and more on advice and service.”

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A mentor suggested insurance to emerging talent Patience Noah — and lucky us, she went for it! You’ll sense the energy from this agency owner as she outlines a career starting in phone sales and then service and production roles. As a carrier field rep, she became curious about owning an agency. The principals “were mostly older, white and male and there were fewer women in the industry,” Patience says. “I thought, ‘Maybe there’s an opportunity for me to start an agency. I’m in my early 30s. I have no kids, no bills, no mortgage. What’s the worst thing that could happen?’” Soon thereafter, the pandemic arrived. Turned out to be a good thing for Patience, as the world slowed and she figured out how to run the firm. “Once things settled down I focused on the producing side of the business.” With her prior experience, she says, “I understood what carriers are looking at when they come into an agency.” Patience specializes in commercial lines, particularly nonprofits and healthcare-related clients. She realizes she faces stereotypes about her age. But she immerses herself into the policies. “I took an interest in really learning insurance contracts,” she says. “People mostly look at the price tag. Insurance is an art…a dying art. For me as an old soul, I thought, ‘How can I tap into the older generations with longevity in the business for 30, 40, 50 years where they are passing on to the next generation the value of learning about the policy?’ It’s not about the price.”

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James Benham operates in a lot of areas: insurance thought leader, entrepreneur, technologist, TEDx speaker, author, podcaster and pilot. Naturally, he’s also a chatty fella—an engaging guest you’ll enjoy as he unpacks how he learned early to bootstrap, mowing lawns at age 12 to earn money because dad wasn’t opening up the wallet. That led him to an entrepreneurial world first in construction-related technology, and later in insuretech. Listen as he talks about leadership and core values. “Leadership is motivating ordinary people to do extraordinary things. The sum is greater than the individual parts. Management is managing individual people, tasks and projects to conclusion. The #1 rule of leadership is to feed your people’s emotional needs. Do you understand the vision of what we have, and the direction we’re headed? And do you understand the why?” James founded JBK, a global tech firm powering major carriers, and Terra, a cloud-native platform reimagining work comp. Insurance “is a harder business than people think. It doesn’t always make money!” he observes. He also points to “a self-reinforced internal myth,” that insurance is slow to adopt new technology. On the contrary, the industry was an early adopter of mainframes, software and databases.

This episode is supported by TomTom — AI‑ready location intelligence that insurers can trust, with validated map and traffic insights for sharper pricing, smarter claims and agentic workflows. Learn more at https://www.tomtom.com/insurtech

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Parametric insurance is expanding in usage, particularly when paired with traditional policies, according to Dr. Megan Linkin, who heads the parametric natural catastrophe team in the Americas for Swiss Re Corporate Solutions. On this installment, Megan outlines the benefits of parametric, which settles claims based on the intensity of the event itself versus estimated property loss. (Example: amount of rain or level of wind speed.) Parametric is transparent in what is covered, the claims settlement is quick, and the funds can be used immediately for a wide range of uses, Megan says. “It covers things your insurance policy does not. You can use it to jumpstart your recovery efforts.” While public entities were early adopters of parametric, it also is resonating with hospitality, retailers, construction project owners and manufacturers. “It’s no longer a niche product; it’s an accepted insurance product,” she says. Megan grew up fascinated with meteorology, and recalls being glued to Weather Channel’s coverage of Hurricane Andrew in 1992. “We can observe storms, but there’s nothing we can do about them,” she says. “We have to prepare for them and live with them.” We also dive into a favorite topic for we two Jersey natives: food!

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Employee benefits is “a fast-growing vertical” that often outpaces the rest of agents and brokers’ p/c business, says Tammi Shapiro, who leads benefit solutions at Applied Systems. On this installment she covers the value of technology in a complex and process-heavy space. But more than tech and efficient processing is needed, she says. With research showing a third of employers are considering changing brokers in the next 1-3 years, consulting and advisory about developments such as industry trends is critical. “The human being needs to be the consultative part of the process,” Tammi says. Amid all the agent and broker M&A activity, the value of change management is often overlooked, she adds. “Tech and AI is a critical part of the story, but it’s not the only piece. While AI drives digital transformation, it can’t be successful without organizational transformation. “Yes, you need to invest in new technologies,” Tammi says, “but you also have… to train people who have done things the same way for decades. Use AI to almost reimagine how work gets done. When you’re doing things the same way, that doesn’t scale.” For insurance careers, AI “resets the playing field,” Tammi says. “There is a window now for someone wanting to grow their career. Ask yourself, ‘How can I embrace it and have my teams embrace it?’ And almost leapfrog.”

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We all love our favorite consumer brands. We feel like they understand us, like good friends. Why? In part because for years they’ve invested in branding targeted to us. Those investments are often difficult to explain to insurance finance pros, as insurance organizations typically grow by buying talent, books of business, and other firms. Insurance industry branding guru Lorraine Jeckells joins us to research she says will tie long-term branding investments to growth—specifically in the insurance industry. That’s just the ammo insurance marketers need, she says. “Share of voice equals share of market. The data is there, but mostly in the B2C world.” While insurance leaders are reassured by ROI showing results of tactical digital marketing campaigns, “on the brand level you’re still see a lot of underinvestment.” Lorraine is incoming chair of the Insurance Marketing & Communications Association, which hosts its annual conference in June. She will unveil the research results at the conference. Lorraine also outlines reasons for young people to join a dynamic industry like insurance. She encourages young professionals to “be brave, even if you doubt yourself. Everyone doubts themselves. It doesn’t matter how senior or impressive they are, they always have the little worry of failure. The difference is doing it anyway.”

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