Since 2017, NU Property & Casualty has partnered with the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) to develop insights from the perspective of independent Property & Casualty insurance agents and brokers throughout the U.S. This year's "Voice of the Agent" analysis, conducted by the experts at ALM Intelligence (a division of our parent company ALM Media, LLC), focused specifically on the issues independent agents face in managing technology in their agencies. NUPC and PIA have heard, anecdotally, that technology is a significant pain point, and we wanted to have a better understanding of what those concerns are. We also wanted to understand how much disruption the agents face as they implement new technology and as they compete with online sellers.

Time and money

Most interesting to technology companies should be the answer to this question: What challenges does your agency face when it comes to adopting new technologies? Agents were given the opportunity to provide specific responses as well as choosing from a set list. Several respondents said that time to manage technology is a major concern, including "time to absorb what's needed to make changes," "time to rewrite workflows," and "time to implement." Some agents mentioned the time needed to investigate new software or systems. One noted that the agency owner "has no time to look at new technologies." But what happens to an agency when the owner doesn't carve out time to deal with technology issues? Is the agency likely to fall farther behind its competitors? Is the agency going to be ripe for acquisition sooner rather than later? Agents also pointed out the increasing cost of incompatible systems, for example, the difficulty and cost of converting data from one management system to another. Another respondent told us that "management system expense is too high." Another respondent said, "Too many varied platforms equal IT headaches and take time away from sales." One of the most interesting answers: It "doesn't work with our clients but we adopt what works."

Issues with carriers

This year again, respondents mentioned competition from the internet and carriers themselves. One agent said that the agency struggles with carrier access and "carriers competing with me via their online portal." Another agent said "carriers stealing clients" was a problem. Perhaps the most hard-hitting comment was this one: "I don't trust carriers at all to look out for my interests as an independent agent." When asked about issues with digital delivery of insurance products, respondents mentioned a criticism that we've heard before. They struggle with consistency among carriers and the lack of standardization. They also cited "carrier systems that are unable or unwilling to allow true integration in real time." Commissions — particularly reduced commissions — remain a concern as well as difficulty in obtaining carrier appointments. As one agent said, "Every time there is new automation the carriers want to reduce commissions since our job is 'easier and we can now write more business.'"

Talent gap continues

The survey also asked respondents to tell us what the biggest challenge overall that the agency was facing. It was not surprising to have so many agents write in that the talent gap continues to loom large. One respondent said that "finding employees is impossible," while another reported difficulty in finding and keeping young talent. They were also concerned about overloading experienced employees and not managing inexperienced staff correctly. Refreshingly, one respondent said that there is a critical need to attract tech-savvy (likely but not necessarily young) talent to the agency. This is a recognition that good employees for the industry can come from veterans, people with disabilities, or those changing careers. New employees don't have to be right out of college. In the charts published here and in subsequent survey coverage, you'll see what our respondents had to say. Do you agree? Disagree? For more information about the survey itself, please contact Steve Kovalan, senior director of research for ALM Intelligence, at [email protected]. Related:

• Navigating our strange new world
• 2020 Agent Survey: Today's insurance agent demographics
• 2020 Agent Survey: How technology drives competition