According to the Big I more than 36,000 insurance agencies are responsible for driving the country’s $415B commercial insurance industry. When you look closely though, it’s only the top 3,000 of those agencies that employ 75% of the industry’s workforce and drive 85% of the premiums. These “Enlightened Agencies'' have reached a scale that makes a huge difference. They serve large and small businesses and, according to the latest Agency Universe Study, the top 2 issues they face are 1) their online presence for marketing and 2) online business tools for servicing their clients. This means that having a first class submissions platform to help them with their clients is key. As an innovative InsureTech providing solutions to these agencies, Broker Buddha has become the preferred partner for many of the top agencies in the country.
Broker Buddha is proud to serve some of the largest insurance agencies in the U.S., including AON, Brown & Brown, Relation, Holmes Murphy, Connor Strong and Buckelew, HILB, and EPIC Brokers, as well as tier 1 carriers like Travelers, Hanover, and Cincinnati Insurance. Our customer engagement tools help these top tier companies streamline the commercial insurance submission process for their largest clients with the most complex insurance needs. Thanks to overwhelming demand in 2021, Broker Buddha reached a major milestone with more than 10,000 carrier applications converted into online Smart Forms. These applications represent over 200 lines of business and over 500 carriers, and thanks to this massive library, submissions on our platform doubled in 2021.
Improving customer experiences in the insurance industry
We created Broker Buddha to improve the commercial insurance application and renewal experience for agents and their clients. The industry has been historically slow to embrace technology and the current commercial insurance application process is inefficient and far from customer-friendly. If you compare technology progress in commercial insurance with personal insurance (e.g. Geico or Lemonade), or to the banking sector (e.g. Plaid, Chase, N26, Brex) – you can see just how far behind the industry really is.
To help these Enlightened Agencies deliver better customer experiences for their most important clients, Broker Buddha has replaced the outdated application and renewal process with a more intuitive and interactive technology solution leveraging our 10k online Smart Forms. Agencies who use our software-as-a-service (Saas) platform are able to simplify agency operations and reduce cumbersome administrative duties.
Our cloud-based service pre-populates submissions with prior year data and delivers an integrated eSignature experience, making it simple for agents to collect client information in revolutionary a way… as TurboTax modernized tax filing, Broker Buddha is transforming the process of collecting the necessary information to secure insurance coverage, making it far less time-consuming for agents while providing a modern, user-friendly interface for their customers.
Simplifying and improving workflows with digital document management tools
Today, the majority of commercial insurance agents still use email, PDF documents, and Excel files to exchange information with clients and document application submissions. This process is slow, inefficient, expensive to manage, and prone to data errors. We use technology to automate and simplify the data-heavy process, while delivering a first class customer experience for an agency’s largest clients.
As any good agent knows, to source commercial insurance coverage options and identify the risks in large businesses, carriers require applicants to submit detailed business information on carrier specific forms. To apply for multiple coverage options from multiple carriers, agencies need to use multiple forms that each request similar information.
When using PDF technology, these forms are difficult for clients to fill out, save, and sign. From forms that aren’t fillable to PDF editing tools that are cumbersome to use, the commercial insurance industry’s most common applicant data collection method is painfully outdated. Customers expect more in this digital age, and it’s past time agencies implemented the technology to give them the customer experience they expect (and deserve).
Customizable SaaS platform delivers agency branded experience
Broker Buddha delivers a customer-friendly online insurance application and renewal process that improves efficiencies and increases agency profits. Agencies can configure the platform to meet the individual needs of each agency, while supporting each company’s individual brand guidelines.
Like Wix or Squarespace, Broker Buddha’s innovative technology solution allows agents to control the look and feel of the platform using branded agency assets like color schemes and images, creating a digital experience that inspires safety and trust. Agencies can also customize the messaging used on the platform to match the tone of voice characterized by the agency brand, helping customers and prospects develop and maintain a personal connection with the agency while interacting in an online environment.
21st Century customer experiences with Broker Buddha
By improving workflows and introducing a customer-friendly technology solution, Broker Buddha is helping transform the commercial insurance application process for agents and their most important clients. It’s already past time for the industry to provide a 21st century customer experience that consumers expect. Between next-gen experiences like Lemonade’s renters insurance application to Google’s auto-fill address and credit card tools, clients expect more from their business partners than the insurance industry is currently providing. Thanks to our progress on converting 10k carrier applications into online Smart Forms and to all of the unique tools we offer agents, agents selling commercial insurance using Broker Buddha are ahead of the game.