Kelly Bolton: We were founded 177 years ago. We provide property & casualty insurance services to thousands of consumer and business customers in 49 states.

Related: 5 high-tech challenges (and solutions) for today's independent agents

I couldn't help but notice you said "services" and not "products."

Bolton: That's right. Part of the role of the independent broker is to work with our customers to find the best insurance products that protect their most important assets. But it's more than that. We're meant to be a resource, guide, and partner before, during, and long after the product is purchased. Right now, there's a push by outside tech companies aiming to commoditize insurance products, encouraging customers to self-serve — but these "off-the-shelf" insurance solutions can leave gaps in coverage. Experienced brokers are needed to educate clients about their options and give them personalized insurance and risk management advice.

Related: InsurTech: Where's the beef?

The commoditization of products is definitely something we're seeing in the market too. What other challenges do you foresee for the independent channel in 2018?

Bolton: To be honest, there's a skills gap that is expected to keep growing next year. I heard that one in four insurance professionals are expected to retire by the end of 2018. While we are finding some success hiring millennials to fill the gap, we are relying more and more on some of the legacy technology systems we have in place to drive efficiencies in the business, keep up with direct and emerging competitors, and provide the best possible experience for the insured.

Kelly Bolton with the Dowling & O'Neil Insurance Agency in Hyannis, Mass., says it's a mistake to presume that early insurance technology adopters are now 'laggards.' (Photo: iStock)

Across industries, a legacy technology system is often seen as a hindrance to innovation, but the way you are talking about it, it doesn't seem like you agree with that definition.

Bolton: Just because you were an early adopter of a technology and didn't throw it out when new products came to market, doesn't mean you're a laggard. The important thing to remember is neither you nor the technology partner can get complacent. For example, we've been using our agency management system Sagitta for more than 29 years to manage all aspects of our business, but we didn't stop asking questions and seeking out best practices once we signed the contract. We also make sure to participate in the annual customer roundtable to provide feedback on the product, and joined the Design Partners team to test out new features so we have input in ensuring the technology will continue to work for us. If the tech is continually evolving and adapting to its users' needs, it no longer prevents innovation but expedites it.

Related: 5 dated insurance business tools, technologies

Tell us about the Design Partners team and some of the system updates you've been testing?

Bolton: In March, we attended the customer roundtable at NetVU to share our ideas about modernizing the user experience within the product. As a Design Partner, we worked closely with a dedicated development team to put these plans into action. I'm happy to report back that several new features were recently released that enable a more modern and user-friendly experience with the product overall. I'm particularly excited about new functionality within eForms, passwords and policies.

With eForms, there's a totally redesigned Auto-ID card experience integration, with much better mapping functionality. The information is also now available in "Help" so that your teams can completely understand exactly how information maps in ACORD forms, where it is sourced.

Related: Rethinking a digital approach to insurance

Users can also now reset their own passwords. This sounds like a simple update, but it has large implications on the business productivity. Despite other great improvements to password management over the last few years, like the "Sign On Once" initiative, passwords will always be an issue for us as a large agency. We've spent a lot of administrative time to send one-off password requests to individual users when they need them, and though it sounds like a light lift, it can get backed up quickly and if you can't access your various technology platforms due to a bad password, your productivity obviously drops off completely and we just can't afford to lose time like that. Now users can handle resetting on their own and get back to serving their customers without losing any time at all.

The new "previous term" and "next term" hyperlinks within the policies grid allows our teams to access information even faster, to keep up with the service needs of our clients.  I look forward to the next advancement of this helpful feature.

What's your new year's resolution?

Bolton: Have you heard of Inbox Zero? I'm going to unsubscribe from a bunch of newsletters and finally get my email more controlled this year.

Interviewer Bruce Westman is the Sagitta Product Manager at Vertafore. You can reach him at [email protected].

See also:

3 insurance technology trends for building customer relationships

Customer expectations: 4 digital technology implications for insurers