ePayPolicy announced the release of Payables Connect, the newest innovation in their suite of insurance payment and reconciliation products. Leveraging ePay’s existing integrations and machine learning technology, Payables Connect completely automates the reconciliation, creation, and payment of due payables.
Case Study: MGA is First to Launch Automated Check Reconciliation
Bailey Specialty Risks, Inc. (BSR) recently launched CheckMate, our machine learning powered check reconciliation solution, becoming the first customer to utilize every ePayPolicy service.
As a wholesale insurance MGA that offers professional lines, their journey with us has been unique, and it continues to broaden and deepen.
An indirect route to digital payments
BSR has been offering digital payments since 2017. Vickie Harmon, Vice President & CFO, says, “Our customers were not coming to us saying ‘Oh, I wish I could pay online.’ They were saying ‘I wish you would offer direct bill.’ She categorically could not. She also wondered if offering electronic payment to her agents would meet with resistance. But she checked out ePayPolicy and some other payment processors.Milan Malkani, ePayPolicy Co-founder, convinced Vickie to try it. He promised that If she liked it, we could go deeper and customize it for BSR. Vickie picked a few agents she knew were tech savvy and had the type of business that would benefit from digital payment. She had some good response, although there was some pushback at first about who pays the ACH and credit card fees. Because of ePay’s ability to pass fees or absorb them, they have found a solution that works for them and their partners.
Integration with AMS
BSR uses Vertafore’s AIM, and integrated ePayPolicy fairly early on. Fast forward to 2022. Vickie says, “I was on the hunt for a new agency management system. AIM is not an ideal fit for our specialty business.”At a conference she found herself at dinner with an amiable payment processor rep. She says: “I agreed to view a demo, and at every step asked questions like” ‘Who pays the fees? What about integration? What about dunning notices? We can pay our carriers as outgoing payables?’” She reports: “They had nothing, and they’ve been in business almost as long as ePayPolicy! No one else in the marketplace is offering the breadth of services you do.”
In the end, she stayed with ePayPolicy, and also decided to keep AIM. Vickie talked about a deposit reconciliation problem she encountered shortly after the integration. Suffice to say it got resolved once she brought it to our attention and ePayPolicy introduced Batch Deposits. Another milestone in our relationship was when Milan suggested ePayPolicy could send out Notifications of payment due.
Automated check processing
Most recently, BSR became our first customer to use CheckMate, our automated check processing service that consolidates check payments and digital payments in a single dashboard. Vickie says, “We have to create the payment in AIM regardless. Before CheckMate we would create the check in AIM and go through several extra steps to mail it. Now I export it to ePayPolicy and it goes to a safe digital lockbox, and I don’t have to think about it.” She loves having the same process in CheckMate as she has for electronic payments. She only wishes more carriers would sign up for a recipient account to be paid via ACH.
Biggest business benefit to BSR
Vickie credits ePayPolicy with creating an “incredible efficiency.” The accounting people get notified and they can stay on top of payables. “ePayPolicy makes it easier for those in our agencies to pay us timely. Operations people like us. They say, ‘they are so easy to work with. I can pay them in no time.’ Vickie says anything that gets people talking positively about BSR is a good thing.
Advice to others on the fence about digital payment
“Just try it,” she advises. “There’s a really low barrier to entry. It’s a whole other way of doing business. Automated payments free up your time. Even if it’s five minutes, that’s five minutes you can spend on other things that aren’t not payment related.”
About BSR
Bailey Specialty Risks is a specialty insurance wholesale broker located in Hendersonville, Tennessee. BRS offers coverages that include Professional Liability, Management Liability, and Privacy & Security/Cyber Liability. All business is written with licensed/contracted Retail Insurance Agencies throughout the United States
The Differences Between Independent and Captive Insurance Agents
Regardless of whether you’re a newcomer or a seasoned insurance professional, it’s important to understand the terms often used in the industry. Within the insurance space, there are two distinct types of agents: independent and captive. Each operates in different ways and have their own perks and drawbacks. In this blog, we will discuss their key differences and provide clarity as to how each type of agent operates.
Independent Agents
Independent agents work for themselves and are responsible for building their own book of business. They typically have more flexibility in their operations than captive agents, who are bound by the rules and regulations of the insurance company they represent. Independent agents have more control over their client relationships and can provide unbiased advice as they are not beholden to any one insurance company. These agents typically work more based on commission than salary.
Captive Agents
Captive agents work for a specific insurance company and are typically considered to be employees of that company. They are trained on the products that their company offers and are incentivized to sell those products to clients. They tend to have less control over their client relationships and are more restricted in their operations than independent agents. Many times captive agents are paid on a salary basis because they don’t have ownership in the book of business they are building, and they act as an agency manager rather than the agency owner.
Key Differences
One of the key differences between independent and captive agents is the range of products that they can offer. Independent agents have access to a wider range of products, as they are not limited to the offerings of a single insurance company. They can offer their clients a variety of options, and can work with clients to find a solution that meets their specific needs. Captive agents, on the other hand, are limited to the products offered by their specific insurance company. While they may be able to offer a wide range of products within that company, many times cannot offer products from other companies.
Another important difference between independent and captive agents is the level of control that they have over their pricing. Independent agents have more control over the pricing of the products that they offer, as they are able to negotiate with multiple insurance companies to find the best rates for their clients. Captive agents have less control over pricing because they are bound by the pricing policies of their specific insurance company.
Customer Service
In terms of customer service, independent agents may be able to provide a more personalized experience for their clients. They are not tied to the rules and regulations of a single insurance company, and can, therefore, work with clients to find a solution that meets their specific needs. Captive agents, on the other hand, may be more limited in their ability to provide personalized service, as they must follow the guidelines set by their specific insurance company.
In conclusion, there are a few reasons why someone might choose captive vs independent or vice versa. Independent agents offer a wider range of products, have more control over pricing, and can provide more personalized service. Captive agents have a more in-depth knowledge of the products offered by their specific insurance company, but are limited in their ability to provide a personalized experience for clients.
Here’s a quick table to summarize the differences between the two types of agents:
Independent Insurance Agents | Captive Insurance Agents |
Affiliated with multiple insurance companies | Affiliated with a specific insurance company |
Provides a variety of options | Limited to the products offered by their specific insurance company |
Provides unbiased advice | May be incentivized to push certain products |
Has more experience and knowledge of the insurance market | Has more in-depth knowledge of the products offered by their specific insurance company |
Has more flexibility to obtain better rates | Limited negotiating power |
Provides personalized service | May have to follow specific guidelines set by their insurance company |
7 Insurance Industry Predictions for 2023
For the insurance industry, 2022 was a mixture of positive and negative events. On one side, premiums increased for both personal and business insurance, largely due to rising interest rates, geopolitical crises, and natural disasters.
On the other hand, many insurance organizations made innovative changes to differentiate themselves and stay ahead of the curve. “We saw insurtech solutions disrupt, automate and enhance process efficiency and increase overall production across all channels of insurance,” said William Trainer, with ePayPolicy. “Organizations leveraged the power of data and analytics to better their forecasting and business modeling.”
We spoke with industry experts and leaders to see what they’re expecting and hoping to see in 2023. Here’s the best of what they said:
1. Social Inflation
Of course, inflation impacted the insurance industry in 2022 and it will probably continue to do so. Michael Fusco, CEO of Fusco Orsini & Associates, predicts that the most significant impact in the industry this year will revolve around social inflation which refers to the rising cost of insurance claims, particularly in the areas of liability and workers’ compensation.
“We will now see pricing increases in liability insurance across all lines. Specifically to litigation costs (litigation funding), increased jury awards (anti-corporate sentiment and nuclear verdicts), broad policy form interpretation, and tort reform,” said Fusco.
2. Carrier Rates Will Increase
Some experts are predicting a substantial increase in carrier rates this year. Because of the Covid pandemic and inflation, many carriers took very minimal increases in the past three years to help out customers.
Nicole Gonzalez, Enterprise Sales Executive at ePayPolicy, says carriers are taking a 10%+ rate increase in 2023. She believes carriers will try to grow by mirroring large insurance companies like Geico and Nationwide. “Call center [models] can pump in a ton of leads and write new business, with less overhead than a brick and mortar location.”
David Carothers, Principal at Florida Risk Partners, predicts, “we will continue to see more and more carriers require full financial underwriting to look at the viability of businesses moving forward.” They will look more closely at their financials and in many cases, “require collateralization against any deductibles/SIR,” says Carothers.
3. Consumers Will Shop Around More
The ongoing pressures of inflation, the possibility of rising unemployment, and dwindling savings may cause consumers to be more price-conscious in 2023. Robert Hartwig, President of Risk Management and Insurance at the University of South Carolina, believes “this will likely result in more shopping around for insurance given that this is a ‘big ticket’ purchase for many households.”
Nicole Gonzalez also predicts customers will be shopping for their insurance more due to the rising carrier rates.
4. Investing in Customer Relationships
The industry experts we spoke to mentioned the need to focus investments for the year in customer relationships and customer retention. Michael Fusco believes that “the technology that continues to evolve and enhance the client experience” will have the biggest impact on the market. When investing in ‘disruptive’ technology, Fusco considers that client experience “should remain the goal for all.”
William Trainer directed our attention to the importance of digital payment processing for customer retention as well as business process improvements. “The payments automation functionality will not only shorten the time to collect outstanding receivables and reconciliation time, but also can automate and track payables, and promptly adjust your ledger immediately,” says Trainer.
5. AI Will Become More Mainstream
As cost of operations increase, insurance companies are looking for ways to automate manual, labor-intensive processes. Mark Engels, CEO of ePayPolicy, predicts AI implementation will be seen “across the entire customer engagement lifecycle, from underwriting to onboarding, policy servicing and payment collection and claims disbursement.”
David Carothers also believes machine learning will be big this year. “With the further development of bots to handle normal service tasks, we may be getting ready to see the single biggest threat to underperformers in our industry,” says Principal of Florida Risk Partners.
6. Leveraging Partnerships
As the Enterprise Partnerships Representative at ePayPolicy, William Trainer spoke to us about the importance of strategic partnerships during these times. They allow companies to “collaborate and develop better customer-centric insurance solutions, much more quickly, and more cost effectively.”
Partners do not only improve the customer journey, but also make it easier for insurance companies to grow and expand their market reach. Ryan Bosworth, CSO of XDimensional Technologies, believes that in 2023 roles will merge between agencies, MGAs, carriers, and other organizations in the hybrid world of insurance. “Retail agencies are opening wholesale divisions, and growing wholesalers have been given complete underwriting authority by their carrier partners. In addition, we’ve seen carriers investing in revenue streams via in-house MGAs or retail agencies,” says Bosworth.
7. Resilience in the Industry
Economic challenges present difficulties to the insurance industry just like they do to other industries. However, Robert Hartwig explains that “insurers are organized and regulated in a way that ensures they can continue to function normally even under the most stressful of economic circumstances.”
In the previous years, insurers were quick to deploy technologies that allowed them to service customers in the best way possible despite the rapidly changing economic and political environment. Hartwig believes that the “continued resilience and disciplined operational approach” of the insurance industry continues to prove itself, “just like it did during 9/11, the financial crisis, and other challenging periods.”
“I have every confidence that [this] resilience will remain intact despite a recession that most forecasters believe will occur in the second half of the year. Growth in the industry will slow as a result but longer-term trends in the innovation and deployment of technologies will continue,” says Professor Hartwig.
How Libke Insurance Stays Ahead of the Digital Curve
The agency had been using Simply Easier Payments for about 3 years when they switched over to ePayPolicy in 2017. ePayPolicy had a more professional look, especially because they were able to use their branding on their payment page.
How to Tell Your Insurance Agency Story
The U.S. is now experiencing soaring inflation, supply chain disruptions and geopolitical crises — indicators that the economy is heading for a recession. What can insurance companies do to prepare?
4 Ways Insurance Companies Can Prepare for a Recession
The U.S. is now experiencing soaring inflation, supply chain disruptions and geopolitical crises — indicators that the economy is heading for a recession. What can insurance companies do to prepare?
Digitize Payments to Increase Customer Satisfaction…and More
The trend is clear. People today prefer to pay digitally. That includes everything from Amazon purchases to their monthly utility bill – and yes, their insurance premiums! While there are still a few diehard check writers out there, digital transformation is here to stay.
The Many Benefits of Digital Payments
Customer convenience is often cited as the main reason businesses offer digital payments. And statistics bear that out. In a survey of billing executives, 97 percent reported higher customer satisfaction as a benefit of digitizing payments. The report, called “The Digital Edge”, also found other key business benefits, such as: reduced collection times (86.5%), increased operational efficiency (90.8%), cost reductions (81.6%) and gaining a competitive edge (92.3%).
Who wouldn’t want to collect payments faster and more efficiently, at less cost, and gain a competitive edge?
Do Your Research
As you know, the insurance industry has historically not been an early adopter of technology and innovation. However, that is changing. ePayPolicy has customers that have been using our digital payment solution for five or more years.
The pandemic also created a spike in insurtech adoption, as the industry turned to technology for remote team communication, customer relationship management and more. Customers and accounting teams needed no-touch payment options not only because of the risk of Covid, but also because checks being delivered to an empty office was of no use. Many of the habits left by the Covid pandemic are here to stay.
Where to look and what to look for
Which payment system is right for your organization? Read reviews, ask your state association rep (or look on their website for preferred partners), talk to your IMS provider. Which payment processor do they recommend? You want a system that streamlines internal processes, expedites receivables and integrates well with other systems already in place (or planned).
Because of the fiduciary nature of collecting insurance payments, a generic payment system built for retail transactions is likely not the best choice. You will want to focus your search on solutions designed specifically for the insurance industry. This will give way to insurance-specific features like management system integrations, and you can also rest assured that customer support will understand your specific problems when needed.
Try Before You Buy
Compare apples to apples. Understand what your payment processing vendor charges for setup, as well as their monthly subscription fee. Do they offer a free trial? Do you have to sign a multi-year contract? What kind of training/support do they provide?
At ePayPolicy, we offer 60 days free to new users, no contract or set-up fees.
Customer Adoption is Key
According to The Digital Edge survey, one of the biggest hurdles to digitization is employees with insufficient technical skills (59.6%). Be sure to choose a digital payment system that’s easy for your employees to use. After all, they will be the ones behind customer adoption.
Encourage everyone to advocate for digital payments. Announce proudly to customers (and prospects) that you now take payments online. Promote it across your website, newsletters, press releases, ads and social media. This will be welcome news! But don’t count on customers to remember from one payment to the next.
Put a “Pay Now” link on your invoices, in your emails, and a big, can’t-miss button on your website. Show customers how simple it is to pay their premiums through your digital payment portal. Increased loyalty is definitely part of customer satisfaction!
With so many business benefits and literally no downside, isn’t it time to prioritize digital payments?
InsurTech Tools for Every Business Category
The last decade has brought major technology changes for the insurance industry, and behaviors have changed in an industry that was previously labeled “old-fashioned.”
Insurance companies are investing in tools to stay efficient, competitive, and modern. In this blog, we’re outlining four categories that have seen an increase in investment, with examples of popular insurtech tools in each category.
Data Analytics
Good data is an essential part of any business, as it helps improve operations, give customer insight and build reports. Accurate data analysis is key to uncovering both growth and savings opportunities, which is why many insurtechs have made investments to gain visibility of customer and operational data.
EOX Vantage offers insurance-specific products that help improve operational efficiencies through analytics. Mike Fieseler, VP of Business Development, explains that by looking at data, insurance organizations can find out:
- “Where are they successful? Where are they not?”
- “What type of potential customers are out there?”
- “Why has the organization not been successful in certain areas?”
Analytics help bring smart visualizations to make the data easier to understand and act on. And tools like EOX Vantage often have these visuals pre-formatted, meaning you don’t need an extensive expert background in data science to organize the information.
Sales
Modern sales solutions make it easier to manage prospects, qualify leads, and pursue new clients. And very often, they integrate with a customer relationship management (CRM) tool, or act as one on their own. Many independent agencies attempt using a generic sales automation/CRM and try to make it work for writing and renewing policies. This often ends up being both tedious and costly.
AgencyZoom is a insurance-specific sales software that provides tools for producers and agents focused on automating the creation of new leads and opportunities and following that through to the servicing of the account once the policyholder becomes a customer.
“What AgencyZoom brings to the independent agent is a purpose-built sales automation tool that was designed just for their needs”, said Doug Mohr, Vice President Industry Relations & Partnerships for Vertafore. “For the agency that does not have a large IT staff to build customization into a generic CRM tool, AgencyZoom provides an out of the box solution for the producer to manage their book and track new leads.”
Effective sales tools create efficiency in following the prospecting process from lead all the way to a renewing policyholder.
Marketing Automation
While there are many large, well-known tools for marketing available, few are specific to the needs of an insurance business. They’re also typically too expensive and complex for smaller agencies, where there’s often no full-time dedicated marketing manager.
Your website is an integral part of your marketing strategy. It’s your digital storefront and a key part of your local marketing presence. According to Agency Revolution evangelist Joel Zwicker, “when someone visits your website, they should know what you do, how you’re different, and how to contact you, all within 5 seconds.”
To do so, you need to invest time in a good website, and make updates consistently. Agency Revolution’s FUSE automation tool is made for insurance agencies, and helps make those actions easier. It includes pre-written content and templates, and is affordable for agencies of all sizes.
Once your website is ready, you can turn your attention to other marketing tools for social media, digital advertising, and email automation.
Customer-Facing Tools
Once you acquire a customer, it should be easy for them to do business with you, and easy for them to pay – especially if we’re talking about insurance. At ePay, we believe getting paid should be the easiest thing you do.
Many people don’t even have checkbooks. Your customers should have payment options based on what’s convenient for them. We offer an array of features that go the extra mile in terms of customer experience, like automatic payments, invoice notifications, and the ability to save payment information.
One of our integration partners, Pathway, created an insurance-centric portal that consolidates the documents, payments, quotes and other things your customers might need to access on a daily basis. Investing in your client’s experience allows you to build stronger relationships and retain loyal customers.
Make the Change
For many years, it seemed like the industry was change-resistant. The pandemic forced many companies to adopt more tech-forward solutions, and now more and more companies are asking “why didn’t we do this sooner?”
Change can be scary, but getting left behind the curve while your competitors and customers seek out easier ways to do business should scare you more. The reality is that insurance organizations are investing in technology and employes and customers will move with the current. Do your research, shop around, and start investing in the tools that will make your organization thrive.
Tech-savvy Alpha Direct Agency Gets Digital Payment Processing Right
Alpha Direct Agency doesn’t just embrace InsurTech. Technology is one of their core values: “Driven to Win with Technology”.
The 17-year-old agency even offers (among other specialty lines) technology services insurance and drone liability. Licensed in 17 states, Alpha Direct Agency has offices in New York City, Raleigh and Miami, plus international presence in the Dominican Republic and soon in Ecuador. Clearly, technology is critical to the agency’s revenue, as well as connecting its producers to each other and to the flagship office in upper Manhattan.
Asked about his agency’s use of InsurTech solutions, Principal Emmanuel Osuyah chuckles. “We are the earliest of adopters! People look to me before they buy new software. They know if I’ve used it and recommend it, it’s going to work.”
It’s not surprising, then, that Alpha Direct Agency started offering digital payment processing way back in 2006. Notwithstanding his agency’s international footprint, Emmanuel describes his agency as locally focused. “Customers would literally take the elevator up with baby carriage in tow to find our suite.” Most paid in cash or by money order. But carrying large amounts of cash around is a hassle. And, says Emmanuel, “the cashless world has forced change on all of us.” About the decision to offer online payment, he notes: “There was a time when if you could process ACH (check) payments, you were king. We had to go there.” As for credit cards, Alpha Direct Agency is “all plastic all day long.”
He tried out a series of payment processors over the years before becoming an early adopter of ePayPolicy (which he fondly refers to as “ePay3”). As one of ePayPolicy’s first clients, Emmanuel is clear about why he made the move: batching and fees.
None of his previous vendors had the capability to separate transaction fees as ePayPolicy does. He had to reconcile their fees monthly, decidedly “batch unfriendly.”
Prior to Insurance, Emmanuel worked as a banker, where he had to triple count cash for verification (those were the days before the desktop teller machines). When he founded his agency, he was no stranger to triple counting cash late into the night; and that’s when he knew there had to be a better way. With other merchant services vendors, he would take a month-and-a-half to reconcile credit card payments. Some vendors have two separate portals for credit cards and ACH transactions; which necessitates two different logins. In contrast, with ePayPolicy, mid-month and at the end of the month, his bookkeeper would run the reports, and “the transactions are right there. Both credit cards and ACH in the same transaction summary. With another click you hop into the batches. It’s so smooth, with easily searchable fields, which gives us more time in the month to focus on other things.”
Agent Reaction to ePayPolicy
His agents like the payment portal also. He says, “I lean on my 15 employees for feedback. My people were complaining about the old platform.” The Agents particularly like that refunds to customers are easy with ePayPolicy. Confirmation of the refund can be sent to the customer from the platform within minutes of processing, saving them from having to take follow-up calls about the refund’s status.
The ePayPolicy Experience
The transition from the previous payment processor vendor was smooth. ePayPolicy integrated easily with Alpha Direct Agency’s website. Emmanuel shares that, “right off the bat, I was impressed with the seamlessness of it all. My logo was in the portal, access to reports was painless and payments were hitting my bank account in the expected time frames.”
Emmanuel also gives thumbs up for:
- Ease of payment (a big plus in redirecting customers away from cash payments)
- Speed of payment (frees up agents to spend more time on sales)
- Web 2.0 friendly (it offers a clean look without a lot of “gibberish” on the screen)
Alpha Direct Agency hasn’t had to lean on ePayPolicy’s Customer Service often, but they’ve been very responsive when called or emailed. He cites this example: “Our customers know immediately when a transaction fee shows up in their account. Disputes are rare. But one customer contested a fee, even though he knew he was in the wrong. ePayPolicy shut it right down once we provided supporting documents.”
The “fees” theme continued throughout the interview. Emmanuel finds ePayPolicy’s flat fees for ACH transactions ($3 per) a major benefit. He recently had another vendor pitch him, but they charge a percentage of the ACH transaction. Needless to say, that company will not be getting the Emmanuel Osuyah stamp of approval.
Next Steps for Alpha Direct
Alpha Direct does not currently use the invoicing function, but Emmanuel looks forward to implementing it. In addition, he’s excited to know that ePayPolicy’s platform has plans to integrate with his agency management system (Hawksoft).
Advice to Other Insurance Agencies
To any agencies out there researching digital payment processors or dissatisfied with their current vendor, Emmanuel Osuyah does not mince words:
“Sign up with ePayPolicy. Go straight to where the future’s at.”
