Cloud tech SaaS adoption is a turnkey solution for insurance industry challenges

Cloud technology can lift productivity, data-driven decision making, customer service and compliance for insurance brokers, agencies and underwriters.

Outdated technology is holding brokers back from keeping pace with the change the industry is facing, research from JAVLN, the cloud-based insurance policy management platform, has found.

The Brokering Change report surveyed 500 insurance brokers at small and medium brokerages across Australia, exploring the biggest challenges today's brokers face.

Brokers are being challenged on multiple fronts. External pressures such as natural disasters, inflation and cyber breaches affect insurance affordability, while internal ones such as rising admin time, complex compliance requirements and poor data get in the way of serving customers well.

At the heart of the internal challenges is slow technology adoption. Insurance is a slow-moving industry, and decisions on technology often take longer than they should when the options are standalone or disconnected systems.

With almost eight in ten brokers saying they do not feel equipped to be as productive as possible, and outdated platforms the major blocker, why do these barriers still exist?

JAVLN spoke to brokers and industry experts to understand the hesitance. Perceived complexity and a lack of resource, data security fears and cost versus return came up most, along with an overall "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" attitude.

"It feels daunting to take the first step to move away from legacy systems and invest the time and money in new tech, even though most of us recognise the ROI and value this could unlock across all facets of our business," one broker admitted.

Another broker described a generational tension: "As a younger broker, I've noticed my older counterparts are reluctant to learn a new system, even if they know it will help improve their productivity and service our customers better, faster and more efficiently. I fear that if we don't adopt technology, our challenges will only compound and grow. As an example, there's no way our small IT team could compete on data security compared to an ever evolving, cloud-based tech provider."

The Brokering Change report echoed this, noting the industry will struggle to attract and retain its future leaders if technology and automation are not up to scratch.

Many brokers do recognise the benefits of a modern, integrated cloud set-up for managing clients and policies, with 30% saying it would be a real differentiator for their business. A quarter (24%) now believe their organisation's hesitance to move client and policy information to the cloud will cost them in the long run.

David Leach, CEO of JAVLN, believes cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology is a turnkey solution to the industry's key challenges.

"The path to a better, faster, modern and more customer-centric business demands adoption of new technologies that simplify and optimise our work by addressing those wasteful, mundane and repetitive tasks. Keeping up with tech creates competitive advantage and gives time back to focus on your customers."

"For example, cloud software that connects to other cloud applications brokers use streamlines workflows and removes a significant amount of duplication and manual handling. I wasn't shocked that our research found 70% of brokers spend more than three hours per day inputting data in systems due to clunky, siloed technology. Imagine what could be achieved if they got this time back," Leach said.

There are different ways to adopt cloud technology, Leach added, but the easiest and most sustainable is a SaaS platform built natively in the cloud.

"JAVLN's cloud-based SaaS technology offers productivity and compliance solutions to brokers. Ironically, the very barriers towards adoption are the top drivers for cloud migration: security, flexibility and ROI," Leach said.

JAVLN customer Trans-West changed its technology stack and saw a 20% improvement in productivity and an 8% increase in average revenue.

Trans-West Insurance Brokers, said: "We were struggling with a fragmented system that made it incredibly difficult to get a full picture of our clients. Information was siloed in different locations, and there was no consistency in how we recorded client data, making it nearly impossible to provide the kind of client service we strive for. JAVLN has been a game changer for our brokerage."

JAVLN is a New Zealand founded insurance technology company providing cloud-based policy and document management software for insurance brokers, agencies and underwriters.