This post is part of a series sponsored by AgentSync.
People often think change is expensive. But what about the cost of staying the same? When your insurance business doesn’t invest in process improvements, including modern technology and automation, you run the risk of paying the price in the long run.
Doing nothing doesn’t cost nothing
We love a good analogy, so let’s think for a minute about your car. Let’s imagine you own a car that’s 20+ years old and has 300,000 miles. Suspend your disbelief for a moment, or at least pretend it’s a Toyota.
You’ve long since paid it off so there’s no monthly car payment. And your auto insurance is dirt cheap because you don’t even bother with comprehensive coverage. Wind, hail, and fallen trees be damned!
Your cost of ownership may feel like it’s small compared to the idea of buying a new car, but the reality is, not making a change is costing you more than you’d like to admit. While you’re focused on the large down payment or the higher-than-zero monthly installment, you forget about things like:
- New high-tech safety features that can prevent accidents before they happen
- Fuel efficiencies that save big money on gas–or eliminate gas altogether
- Zero-cost maintenance for your first few years
- Lower insurance premiums for cars with anti-theft devices and internet enabled tracking
- Warranty coverage for major mechanical failures within the first five or even 10 years of ownership
When you really think about it, it’s often costing you more to stick with something you’ve had forever than to embrace something new.
This same thing happens in businesses all the time. When people think about upgrading their internal processes–replacing manual work with technology, for example–all sorts of obstacles get in the way.
“It’ll be too expensive.”
“It’ll take too much time or effort.”
“We’ll sacrifice productivity while people get up to speed.”
And our personal favorite, “But we’ve always done it this way!”
Just like your old (imaginary) car, the costs at the forefront of our minds are usually temporary, and much less over time, than the ones we’ll pay to keep doing things the old way.
Is your insurance compliance process the equivalent of an old jalopy?
Forget about your car for a minute and let’s think about your insurance business. Whether you’re an insurance agency, carrier, or MGA, you have processes and systems in place for dealing with things like producer licensing, appointments, and contracting.
It’s entirely possible that your “system” is a spreadsheet. In fact, more than 10 percent of our customers do upgrade directly from one! Or, it might be some combination of different tech tools your organization has cobbled together over the years, but which don’t integrate or interact with one another.
It’s tempting to think the only cost you face is the one for adopting a new technology solution. Now, think about that old car – your process is likely similar. What seems like a good and cost-effective method now is actually costing you more than you realize.
For example:
- Duplicate work because of data and workflow silos
- Lost revenue due to producer downtime between hiring and being ready to sell
- Bloated recruiting costs due to a cumbersome employee experience leading to high turnover
- Human error due to manual and repetitive tasks that could easily be automated for greater speed and accuracy
If you’re ready to take a good hard look at what price you’re truly paying to keep doing “business as usual” at your insurance company, agency, or MGA, our guide can help.
Download “What’s the Cost of Doing Nothing?”, AgentSync’s guide to the price of “business as usual” in the insurance industry to explore how much you’re already paying (and risk paying) just to stay the same. Or click here to set up a live demo to see what AgentSync can do to reduce these costs for your business.
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