Our previous post talked about integrations in underwriting and insurance product building. This time, we’ll take a look at how integrations can help Brokers, Insurers, and MGAs in insurance product distribution.
Insurance distribution can mean selling products directly to end customers or using intermediaries. Either way, it requires the capability to deliver insurance products through a sales platform, set it up, provide quotes, deliver policy documentation, accept payments for policies, handle customer relations, etc.
Brokers, Insurers, and MGAs don’t have to build the necessary infrastructure for this themselves. Insurance software providers offer various integrations to facilitate insurance product distribution.
Integrations for Brokers, Insurers, and MGAs
Integrations can remarkably simplify insurance product distribution and support Brokers, Insurers, and MGAs in delivering their products. Many of these integrations are also available on Insly’s insurance software. Integrations can bring value in insurance product distribution in the following areas:
- smooth payments;
- web sales front end;
- Broker sales systems;
- white-label insurance products for Brokers;
- customer relationship management;
- Broker and customer communication.
Smooth Payments
Building your own payments software shouldn’t be and probably isn’t at the top of any Insurer’s or MGA’s to-do list. It’s much more convenient to use integrations into existing payment gateways for accepting payments for your insurance products or services online.
There are payment gateways for various payment methods such as credit card payments, direct debit, SEPA, and many others, and we are happy to help you choose the best option for your type of product or market. We just want to make sure your finances run smoothly and you get your premiums on time. That’s why Insly provide the capability to easily integrate your payment gateway of choice, e.g. Acordpay, Braintree, Neopay, Stripe, etc.
Web Sales Front End
If Brokers or MGAs decide to build their own website or app through which they sell insurance, they still need a system that provides rating, policy creation and documentation. Integrations can easily help deliver these functionalities.
This is exactly what Insly built for OneClickCover to provide simple home insurance for their customers in the UK. They have created a website where customers can get a quote within a click, but API calls run in the background to Insly’s system to issue the quote, save policy documentation to their database, and deliver the documentation to the customer by e-mail. Integration into a payment gateway enables OneClickCover to accept instant payments.
Broker Portal vs Direct Broker Integration
Typically, there are two ways for insurance sales through Broker systems:
- the Broker uses an MGA’s Broker Portal. MGAs can assign roles and rights for Brokers to have access only to the relevant information for selling insurance, show or hide products, make variations of certain products for specific brokers, etc.
- the Broker integrates into an MGA’s system. The Broker can use Insly APIs to query the MGA’s product rules and effectively sell using its own software without having to log in to the MGA’s portal.
White-Label Insurance Products for Brokers
Some Brokers might want to sell insurance products online under their own brand. Insly can offer an integration for a white-label solution where Brokers can build and use their own website for insurance sales, but the product accessed is one from an MGA using Insly (similarly to point 2 in the previous paragraph). Quotes, policies, and policy documentation are generated using Insly product engine, but the interface which the consumer interacts with and the related user experience is left in Brokers’ hands.
Customer Relationship Management
To have a better overview of customer relationships, marketing and sales efforts, Brokers, Insurers, and MGAs can connect their insurance software to a CRM tool. This allows insurance businesses to manage relationships with their customers and track interactions based on the latest portfolio data.
Depending on what CRM you use, be it Salesforce, HubSpot, or Pipedrive, Insly can help with integrations to create a frictionless flow for customer management.
Broker and Customer Communication
MGAs can use e-mail client integrations for improved Broker and customer communication. For example, if they keep policy documentation and history on their insurance platform, they can easily sync all customer or Broker communication from their preferred e-mail client, e.g. Outlook or Gmail. Insly can provide this integration for communication to run smoothly.
In our following post, we’ll talk about how integrations help Insurers and MGAs in accounting and reporting.
To find out more, check out our Case Studies and get in touch with the team.
