Risk and insurance developments will change how consumers find counsel and policy services. Insurance companies are reducing commission payouts, incentivizing decreased quality and quantity of experienced agents and brokers. Insurance companies will develop policies with eligibility and premiums based on your behaviors, making more of your insurance costs related to you and less to the consumer category you’ve been put into, but not necessarily making the rationale more transparent. The supply of insurance is shrinking (often replaced by E&S solutions), increasing the costs and complexities of insuring risk exposures.
These will lead to consumers finding their future insurance experiences bifurcated between learning what they should do and getting it done. To help address the question of what to do, some current insurance brokers will turn their knowledge and experience into consulting practices, assisting consumers in designing their insurance needs, preventing losses, and advocating when claims and problems arise. Wealth management firms that already have a fiduciary service model in place will develop in-house risk management services. Consumers expecting concierge advice will seek one of these intimate relationships.
Commissioned agents will continue to dominate how consumers buy, service, and manage the intricacies and moving pieces of their insurance portfolio. Agents and brokers will replace advising with attentiveness, perfecting proprietary relationship-communication tools and predictive CRMs to translate insurance company data into actionable behaviors that improve the quality of the consumer experience. Chatbots, online portals, app notifications, and instant processing will improve the speed and quality of insurance service to align with modern expectations. Consumers expecting concierge service will seek a progressive and technology-focused broker.
We can’t wait.
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