Insurance Automation: what is it?

What is ‘automation?’

Chances are by now that you’ve heard automation talked about in insurance at least half a dozen times now. Automate this, automate that – but what does it really mean? When these insurance leaders talk about how automation is changing the game in insurance, what specific processes are they referring to? Let’s break down what automation in insurance really is, and how it can affect your business.

What does it mean, and why should you care?

Automation broadly refers to technologies and protocols that reduce servicing time. One of the biggest issues that small agencies run into frequently is that servicing time can quickly eat up your entire day, meaning you’re stuck with the clientele that you have with no time left to grow your business. If you’re a one or two-man shop, automating some of the servicing you generally spend hours on can put time back into your hand, and give you the opportunity to develop new clients and explore more markets.

What kinds of technology are available?

Some of the most common technologies that help you assist your clients are:

• VOIP systems for your phones
• portals and payment areas on your websites
• contact and insurance review forms
• and even programs that help you pre-fill application data for carriers or vendors.

Say a customer is calling to make a payment on their policy. For many agencies, the customer will call, and the agent will spend 10-15 minutes with them confirming policy numbers, credit card numbers, processing the payment, and then chatting about anything else the client may think. Whereas this provides a good chance to show excellent customer service, it can also take up a huge portion of your day as your client base grows. With a phone system that helps walk the client through making a payment on your own, you still provide the same option without having to spend your time phone call after phone call repeating the same process.

How can ASNOA assist?

ASNOA assists by providing agents with many in-house solutions as well as a large number of ASNOA exclusive discounts with technology partners. From phone systems, to Applied Epic add-ons, to marketing platforms, our whole library of solutions is built for the purpose of helping you grow and succeed.

ASNOA helps you quickly integrate into marketing solutions by use of our SQL server, which stores the information that you put into Epic into a database that we are able to link to other other business providers. Because of this, we can help you build a complex email marketing system, with automations such as welcome emails, check-ins, insurance reviews, and recapture campaigns – all just based on the information you’ve already input into Epic. Automated email marketing can help you cut down on servicing time while still giving you a chance to reach out to your customers at important touchpoints. The same process can be applied to AI chatbots, to automatically generated reviews, and even more.

“Having your data already in a place of seamless integration is the first obstacle that many companies struggle to get past,” said Daniel Molinero, ASNOA’s Marketing Technology Administrator. “Without asynchronous integration between your data source and your marketing platform, the daily task of updating all your lists and policies in more than one place removes any of the efficiency you were hoping to get.”

So how does this help you?

Now that we’ve better defined what automation means, how does this help you in your workday? Access to these systems means it that you can assist clients, generate reviews, and create touchpoints with your clients all without you having to do more work throughout your day. Because we’ve already put in the work to create these systems, all we have to do is help create the imagery and branding that you’d like to use, and your data is already live and ready to implement.

To learn more about why insurance agents need to start using automation, take a listen to this podcast from Agency Revolution that features Nick Petrocelli, ASNOA’s Chief Operating Officer, and Steve Gebhardt, ASNOA’s Southwest VP of Distribution.

“The squeeze is on,” Petrocelli shares. “We’ve seen the [insurance] landscape change dramatically, and agents will have to adapt their business strategies in order to keep up.”

Begin the process today

Automation can seem daunting if you don’t have the resources to begin the journey. That’s where ASNOA already has you covered. With a team of experts in both Applied Epic and marketing technology, we can help you automate and grow your business unlike any other aggregator. Talk to us today about how we can use our programs to stay on the cutting edge of the insurance industry.