Digital Agency Scorecard: How Does Your Agency Rank?

Digital technology is rapidly transforming the way independent insurance agencies run their businesses. From accounting and administration to customer service and sales, technology has automated these processes so less time is spent on manual, administrative tasks. Agencies that have embraced digital technology benefit from higher employee productivity, better customer service and greater profitability – earning their designation as digital agencies.

The Digital Agency

Digital agencies capitalize on five areas of technology, including a foundational agency management system, data analytics, insurer connectivity, cloud and mobile technology.

1. A foundational agency management system: Leverage a single system to efficiently manage customer relationships, policy and benefits administration, sales automation, financial accounting processes and document management across the entire business in one application.

2. Data analytics: Make more informed business decisions through data analytics software to uncover insights on client and business operations.

3. Insurer connectivity: Communicate and exchange data securely and seamlessly from insurer systems directly to your management systems to reduce manual processes and deliver faster, more complete service to your insureds.

4. Cloud technology: Secure your data and improve performance by moving core software applications to offsite data centers.

5. Mobile technology: Provide insureds and staff anytime access to insurance information with information readily available via mobile devices.

The Digital Agency Scorecard

Applied‘s Digital Agency Scorecard measures an agency’s digital transformation against their peers, based on industry benchmarks developed from agents’ answers to the Applied Digital Agency Survey. In this survey, independent insurance agents worldwide are asked a series of 15 questions about the use of technology in their businesses. Responses provide data, which is used to calculate a digital score for each survey respondent and identifies a baseline for technology adoption. Each year, the survey is distributed to agents around the world to gain an understanding of the current technology adoption trends across the industry, keeping the Scorecard up to date.

Businesses scoring 80% or above across all core competencies are considered to be digital agencies, having adopted most of the key drivers of digital transformation. By asking questions about technologies already implemented, the Digital Agency Scorecard also identifies which factors can be improved upon to become more of a digital agency, ultimately increasing productivity and profitability.

It is critical for agencies to evaluate their use of technology in order to grow their businesses. Digital agencies benefit in ways such as ease of doing business, better customer service and greater connectivity to insurers. Agencies can use the Applied Digital Agency Scorecard to see where they rank in relation to their peers, as well as assess how they can improve their operations through technology. Get your score now and learn how your business can take advantage of the latest industry technology trends to remain competitive.

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Industry Trends, 2017, Best Practices