Vertafore Insurance Podcast

Vertafore’s NEW Data Delivery Strategy

We live in a data economy. Agency owners need better access to the gold in their backyard. They need to see a wholistic view of their team, clients and business. They need open architecture to power a tech stack without duplicate entry. They need insurance-specific AI-powered Next Best Action predictive intelligence. August Butterbrodt, Sr. Director of Product Management, explains how his data science team at Vertafore is tackling these challenges head-on.  

 
Tune in to meet August and walk away with: 

• What has been Vertafore’s data delivery strategy in the past 
• 2023 data challenges for every size agency 
• Why data is your jet fuel 
• How Vertafore is solving for agency data challenges 
• What to expect in 2023 

Did Vertafore make the right bet on Amazon?

Just over a year ago, big bets were made on modernization. Legacy tech debt was limiting faster and smarter innovation from happening within the walls of insurtech leaders. It was time to invest in the future. We saw partnerships in the headlines with big names that brought with them big promises. Today, the question is: now that bets have been placed, who is leading the race for modernization? 

I’m joined by Jace Hopper, VP of Product Management; August Butterbrodt, Sr. Director of Product Management; Ralph Severini, Global Leader of Insurance Alliances for Amazon Web Services. 

 
Together, we tackle: 

• What does “platforming” actually mean 
• What is Vertafore’s plan of attack for platforming 
• How is Vertafore re-engineering our data strategy
• Why did we choose Amazon as our digital transformation partner?
• What makes our partnership with Amazon unique? 
• What should agencies expect in 2023? 

chatGPT EXPLAINED for insurance

Mariah Gates, founder of Gates Insurance, loves being on the bleeding edge of technology. Time and again, she has experimented with success, even when she couldn’t at first see the true impact. Today, she defends her title yet again for Most Innovative Agent by dipping her toes into chatGPT’s waters.   

 
Tune in to meet Mariah and walk away with: 

• How to overcome the challenges of being a female agency owner in a male dominated industry 
• How she gets buy-in from her team for new tech (it’s spicy) 
• How to measure service performance (and profitability) for the first time 
• What is chatGPT
• 6 crazy examples of bad actors using this tool nefariously
• How Gates Insurance is eliminating low-value tasks with chatGPT 
• How Gates Insurance is supporting high-value tasks with chatGPT 

This agent has over 1 million Tik Tok followers

In 2008, Daniel Seong, founder of Great Park Insurance, lost everything. He and his wife had to shut down their business and, for a short period of time, live off food stamps with their 4 kids. It was during this time that Great Park Insurance was created. Today, 15 years later, the story of Great Park Insurance is one for the history books. And it’s one you don’t want to miss.  

 
Tune in to meet Daniel and walk away with: 

• What is the makeup of a true entrepreneur
• Do you have to have an ego to be an entrepreneur
• Is success the result of fate or (free) will 
• The tech suite that powers 13 months of personalized communication in 1 month 
• How he saves his sales team 45 min during discovery/qualification 
• The secret to his 1 million Tik Tok followers 

Should you sell your agency in 2023?

They say: “timing is everything.” Is that true when it comes to selling your agency? Mark Crites, Partner at Reagan Consulting, tackles the ins and outs of this question. We take a hard look at buyer health in 2023 and help you understand how to identify which buyers are the best for you.  
 
Tune in to meet Mark and walk away with:

• New performance data points the Best Practices Study reviews in 2023+ 
• Proof that niches still lead to riches 
• Is the fear of M&A activity killing main street America a ghost fear? 
• Should you sell your agency in 2023? 
• Who is the best buyer for you: private equity, public brokers or someone else? 
• (Just because) Some thoughts on Silicon Valley Bank  

The CEO retires. What’s next for The Big I?

This week Bob Rusbuldt, CEO at The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, joins us to share why he's retiring and a peek at the future of the national association. If you’re a history buff, you’ll love this one. You’ll walk away learning: 

• The #1 challenge indie agencies faced in 1986 
• Why Bob chose to become the Big I CEO instead of a fighter pilot 
• His first week as the CEO (PSA: he was in the white house bunker) 
• How the best leaders balance optimism with realism 
• The genesis of Trusted Choice 
• What's changed between 1986 and now for the indie agent 
• What's next for The Big I 

Your onboarding experience is missing THIS.

This week Krystal Buller, Learning & Development Specialist at Vertafore, joins us to talk about how to increase employee AND client retention through a great onboarding experience. 
 
Tune in to meet Krystal, plus: 

• Why Krystal ended up in the Learning & Development field 
• How she's increased Vertafore's employee retention through a great onboarding experience 
• Onboarding Best Practices for insurance agencies to consider 
• The biggest "miss" when it comes to creating an amazing onboarding experience

Why Rating, Download & Zapier “connectivity” isn’t enough in insurance

The independent model couldn’t survive without connectivity. When carriers and agencies must work closely together for the sake of the customer...and do so quickly...the health of our connectivity is unavoidable. When agencies are forced to weaponize speed as a competitive edge in their experience and operations, the quality of connectivity within their tech suites and into partners’ tech must be held to a high standard.  Jamie Peers, VP of Business Development at Synatic, walks us through the death and rebirth of connectivity in insurance. You’ll walk away learning: 

• Why a South African insurtech launched in the U.S. 
• Why Zapier isn’t enough 
• The two fundamental tech “lies” you’re probably telling yourself 
• Not all API’s are equal; how do you know which ones should make the cut? 
• The difference between “Policy Download” and APIs 
• How “tech debt” holds us back from modern connectivity 
• Your data management matters – garbage in, garbage out 
• Getting the right data to the right person at the right time 

How Ascend turns agency bill into direct bill

Andrew Wynn, Founder of Ascend, started his professional career as an entry-level Levi Strauss employee. Today, he owns an insurtech startup looking to resolve the payment processing controversy in the independent channel. By the way, that startup just received a $30 million Series A. You’ll walk away from this episode learning more about Andrew and why he decided to take on this challenge, in addition to: 

• Why he swims the length of Lake Tahoe (12 miles!)
• His early days at instacart (before it was suburban moms’ favorite app) 
• How to deal with imposter syndrome, the curse of every entrepreneur  
• Why his first...and second...startups were both in insurance 
• The Industry Problem Ascend solves 
• How Ascend turns direct bill into agency bill 

Jess Butler: The New Face of Commercial Rating

Jess Butler, VP of Product Management and Owner of Commercial Submissions, is taking over for the infamous Dave Acker, long-time champion of connectivity products here at Vertafore. Dave has been looking to retire, but needed to find the right person to whom he could pass the torch. That begs the question: Why Jess Butler? You’ll walk away from this episode learning more about Jess and why she said yes to leading Vertafore’s connectivity mission: 

• How Jess got started in insurance over 20 years ago 

• How she guided Travelers’ business strategy during rater adoption 
• Her decision-matrix for prioritizing the fewest questions during rating 
• Why she started a data analytics company in the mutual space 
• A discussion on whether Vertafore “made sense” as the right next step  
• A debate on whether the term “market connectivity” is outdated