Vertafore Insurance Podcast

Is AI evil?

Jamie Peers, VP of Business Development at Synatic, guides us through the unknown as he peels back the layers of AI’s real impact on insurance. Fluent in data architecture and connectivity through his work at a leading API insurtech, Jamie’s outlook on the future of AI is intriguing. Ultimately, he wants to help you answer the question…for yourself.

Meet Jamie and learn:

• Who is Jamie Peers (and why you should know him)
• A 30,000 foot view on how AI works
• The unknown cost of AI in insurance
• AI challenges you should be aware of
• Where will insurance AI be in 3, 5 and 10 years?

The First Ever Artificial Intelligence Insurance Agent

The Vega-Sanz brothers started out as two frustrated and car-less college students trying to get to a local pizzeria. Now? They have been featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 for building the first ever AI-powered insurance agent. This is a company to watch in 2024. Not just because of their innovative tech, but because of their endless ability to pivot.

Meet Matthew Vega-Sanz & Roberto Salinas and learn:

• The unbelievable (and at-times-humorous) story behind how Gail started
• What an AI-powered Insurance Agent can do in an agency today
• How Gail (aka, the AI) works
• Why agencies should see AI as a competitive advantage
• How Gail empowers (not replaces) the insurance agency team

Putting Your Tech Stack to work

Casey Nelson, founder and Ceo of Stakwise, is the Insurance tech stack guru and someone to count on to question the status quo and make you change the way you think about the technology in your agency. He  is a former agency principal and has spent his entire career developing processes and procedures to increase efficiencies. Early in his career he saw technology as the answer to so much of the efficiency that he was seeking. and enhanced the processes he was implementing.... 

Meet Casey and hear:

• How he began his career in the Insurance industry. 
• How to use the tech you have right now in your agency to improve efficiency.
• What he calls the "trinity of your technology" Stack
• What he thinks is crucial to your client's Experience at your agency.
• How to get staff buy in and early adoption of new technology. 
• Casey define the difference in a CRM and AMS

The Secret sauce to this agency’s impressive growth.

When Sarah Zambrano, the operations director, of Colorado Insurance, started with the agency there were only 4 people on staff including the agency principal, fast forwarding to today there are over 100 people on staff and over 100 million in production.  Sarah credits much of the agency's success to the relentless pursuit of consistent process and procedures.  The procedures that were set up when they were a small agency are still in use today and are still incredibly valuable to the growth of the agency. 

Meet Sarah and hear:

• How She got started with Colorado Insurance. 
• What fundamental decision help set them up for success.
• How having consistent agency standards helps the agency be intentional in their growth
• Why the customer journey is so important and the processes and procedures they use to maintain consistency in that journey. 
• How to prepare your agency for success beyond sales and service. 

 

The State of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Insurance

Elisa Stampf, CEO of Insure Equality, shares how she is working to make insurance a more welcome place for everyone. Through her non-profit, she has created an actionable framework to help any agency or company achieve a more open, authentic and, ultimately, collaborative culture. It all starts with one, honest conversation.

Meet Elisa and hear:

• Why she chose to make DEI for insurance her mission
• Defining Diversity, Equity & Inclusion; why is it important?
• Real-world examples of agencies & companies championing change
• How Insure Equality can help your business 
• A sneak peek at Insure Equality's 2024 annual event

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Success, Driven by your Tech Stack

Drew Kinney is the co- owner of Kinney Insurance Agency, and someone you can always count on for a collaboration session.  He is always open to sharing his ideas and his success stories with anyone in the industry. Drew is actively involved  with the daily agency operations including: process management, agency data analytics, business intelligence reporting, and marketing. 

Meet Drew and hear:

• How he got started in the industry
• What is like working so closely with family and how they make it work
• How they built their tech stack out. 
• Step by step walk through how they set up their Agency zoom. 
• How to operate your agency with the right tech stack

Click Here watch.

The Service Superpower KPI.

Episode 33 of the VIP Podcast is now LIVE!

Seth Zaremba, Founder of b atomic!, shares how he bootstrapped an insurance startup that's changing the analytics game. This isn't your standard, run-of-the-mill KPI conversation about total premium, retention and monthly sales targets. Seth is introducing new KPIs that the industry has never seen. And it all starts with three little words: cost per transaction.

Meet Seth and hear:

• From agency startup to insurtech startup
• Do agencies really own their data?
• Why current analytics don't give us a competitive edge
• The cost per transaction: what it is and why it matters
• How to begin leveraging data in your agency

He’s building a sales world without duplicate entry.

Tolga Tezel, Founder & CEO of Canopy Connect, is solving for a massive problem in insurance: moving sales data WITHOUT human hands. In any other industry, data is supportive to the product being sold. In insurance, the data IS the product being sold...which means, there's a lot of it. And moving it between systems? Whew. Pretty sure sales teams are already tearing up reading this. But dry up those eyes. Tolga and crew have an exciting solution.

Meet Tolga and hear:
- How he ended up in insurtech of all things
- Why he has bootstrapped his company from the ground up
- How much time sales teams waste being data janitors
- An innovative solution for moving hundreds of data fields in just a few clicks
- Where Canopy Connect is going next

Marketing yourself on TikTok

Episode 31 of the VIP Podcast is now LIVE!

Elijah Goodman, Producer at Goodman Family Insurance, was looking for a creative way to gain attention and write more business. He and his buddies created a video that went quickly went viral and Elijah saw his sales increase and his Tik Tok fame rise in the process. Goodman Family Insurance is a family-owned independent insurance agency. Elijah's unique marketing efforts made this local agency a household name and now writes in multiple states outside of his home state of Wisconsin. 

Meet Elijah and hear:

• How he got his start in the agency.
• The origin story of his viral Tik Tok Videos 
• Elijah Goodman's marketing advice for Indie Agents
• The rise and fall of Elijah's Tik Tok Channel. 
• What is next for Elijah Goodman and Goodman Family Insurance

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The First Ever Digital M&A Platform

Adam Bowe, Founder of Cake, has created a Carvana-like insurance marketplace where you can buy or sell your book of business. Today, the only way to buy or sell is...know the right person. With cake, that changes to...know the right platform. Not only are they democratizing the M&A space, they're also making it possible to exchange groups of accounts (known as "slices"), instead of the whole cake (aka, book of business). Believe us, this is one you don't want to miss.

Meet Adam and hear:

• How Cake works
• The *free Value Your Agency tool available on haveyourcake.com
• Why this platform makes the M&A space available to anyone and everyone
• The "trust" challenge Cake must overcome - and how they're doing it
• Where this platform is headed in 2024+