New Insurance Industry Study Reveals Heavy Technology Usage Correlates with Greater Revenue and Productivity
Study Finds Larger and Direct-to-Consumer Agencies Are Heavier Users of Technology and Plan to Invest More, Suggesting a Widening Technology Gap
LOS ANGELES and CARROLLTON, Texas, June 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Velocify, the market leader in cloud-based intelligent sales automation software, and Insurance Technologies Corporation (ITC), a leading provider of marketing, rating and management software and services, today announced the results of a new joint study "The State of Techsurance 2015," which examined trends in technology usage and benefits to insurance agencies.
The study revealed that larger, more successful agencies tend to be more frequent users of sales and marketing technology. Additionally, their investment in these tools is likely to grow, compared to smaller agencies and to those whose revenues are stagnant or shrinking. The results point to a technology-related performance gap in the insurance industry, which will only continue to grow, according to the investment plans of the agencies surveyed.
However, the report also found that many of the most effective sales and marketing technologies are still underutilized by agencies of all sizes, creating an opening for industry laggards to leap to the forefront. The survey of more than 1,000 insurance agencies includes the following key findings:
Revenue and Productivity Gains
- Agencies that rely heavily on sales and marketing technology tend to have greater revenue growth and sell more insurance policies per producer (up to 43 percent more) and per household (up to 13 percent more).
- Heavy users of technology are two times more likely than non-users to have better sales processes.
Widening Technology Gap
- Agencies with significant revenue growth were 34 percent more likely to report plans to increase technology investments than agencies with declining revenues.
- Direct-to-consumer agencies were 26 percent more likely to than independent agencies to report plans to increase their technology investments.
- Agencies with 100 or more employees are 93 percent more likely, on average, than those with 10 or fewer employees to use each technology.
"Technology has transformed the insurance industry for both buyers and sellers. Our goal with this study was to uncover the technologies that will help agencies effectively grow and compete in this evolving marketplace," said Velocify CEO and President Nick Hedges. "We are deeply invested in the success of our clients in the insurance industry, and we want to continue to offer new ways for them to rise above the competition."
"The results of this survey have confirmed what we see in the industry every day," said Laird Rixford, president of ITC. "Agencies who commit themselves to adopt and then actually use technology are successful. Consumers have high expectations of the companies they do business with. For an agency to have success today and continued success in the future, they need to invest in technology throughout their organization."
Opportunity to Capitalize on Technology Open to All Agencies
Despite the widening technology gap, opportunities still exist for smaller captive and independent agencies to compete, if they pay attention to what works and invest wisely. The study showed strong correlation between heavy technology use and increasing revenue and productivity in four main technology categories - automated dialers, marketing automation, lead management software and CRM software.
- Agencies that used lead management software sold 43 percent more insurance policies per producer and 13 percent more per household.
- Agencies that used automated dialers sold 43 percent more policies per producer, and 7 percent more per household.
- Agencies using CRM software saw a smaller uptick of 15 percent in policies sold per producer, but sold 11 percent more policies per household, second only to lead management software.
- Similar to CRM software, marketing automation had a greater impact on policies sold per household – driving a 10 percent increase.
Despite these benefits, usage of lead management software, automated dialers, marketing automation and CRM software remained relatively low in terms of usage across all types and sizes of insurance agencies. For example, among direct-to-consumer carriers, insurance carriers that use captive agents for selling, and independent agencies, more than 70 percent in each group did not use automated dialers at all. While lead management software saw somewhat higher use across the board, only about 70 percent of agencies with more than 100 employees used this technology.
Methodology
The results of the study were derived from a comprehensive 20-question survey completed by more than 1,000 insurance agencies. The survey focused on the use of six major sales and marketing technologies: marketing automation, lead management software, CRM software, automated dialers, comparative raters/rating engines and agency management systems. To find out more, download the full report from Velocify's website by following this link.
About ITC
Insurance Technologies Corporation (ITC), founded in 1983, is a leading provider of agency marketing, rating and management software and services to the insurance industry, including independent agents and insurance carriers. Headquartered in Carrollton, Texas, ITC helps its customers across the United States grow their businesses and become more efficient through the philosophy of providing quality software and services. Currently, ITC serves more than 200 insurance companies and more than 6,000 agencies. For more information, visit ITC online at GetITC.com or follow the company on Twitter.
About Velocify
Velocify is a market-leading provider of cloud-based intelligent sales software, designed for high-velocity sales environments. Velocify helps sales teams keep pace with the speed of opportunity and increase revenue by driving rapid lead response, increased selling discipline, improved productivity, and actionable selling insights. The company has helped more than 1,500 companies across a variety of industries improve customer acquisition practices and sales performance. Velocify was recently recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in North America by Deloitte and a Best Place to Work by the Los Angeles Business Journal.
For more information about Velocify or its technology, please visit the company's website and blog, or follow the company on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or YouTube.
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SOURCE Velocify
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