Crystal Ball Blog
When Was the Last Time You Asked ‘Why’?
by Kitty Ambers, CIC, CPIA, CISR, Chief Growth Officer at AVYST If you have children, you likely remember the phase when they asked, “Why?” constantly. Everything you asked them to do and every experience they encountered, the question was always, “But why?” Somewhere along the way those questions stopped. What a sad thing. We know…
Read MoreInsurtech & Insurance: Perfect Together
You can’t tell the players in insurtech without a scorecard. Here’s one for reference: Crunchbase’s website lists 642 insurtech firms. Their combined total equity funding is $6.1 billion. Their average founding date is April 2011. They have cool names like Pie Insurance, TheGuarantors, Premonition, and Descartes Underwriting. Investor types include accelerator, incubator, angel group, venture…
Read MoreWondering if That Upgrade is Really Worth It? Try these 3 Steps to Launching New Technology
In a recent blog, we explored the common reasons people and companies resist change. Some of the biggest barriers are the initial loss of productivity, the busy schedules already in place and fear of confusion or failure. One of the most common changes many people regularly resist is updating the technology needed to do their…
Read MoreCan You Change the Inertia of Your Insurance Practice?
Whether your insurance agency, brokerage or other firm has inertia (like the Rams in the Super Bowl) or momentum (like the Patriots), I want to point out that neither inertia nor momentum will last forever. Sooner or later inertia will die out. If I coast my golf cart down a steep fairway, I might roll…
Read MoreMomentum or Inertia: Which Did the Super Bowl Teams Each Have?
Was the Rams-Patriots Super Bowl LIII a game of momentum or inertia? Inertia: “property of matter by which it retains its state of rest or its velocity along a straight line so long as it is not acted upon by an external force” The L.A. Rams had a lot of inertia. Things kept going the…
Read MoreYou Can Have Results — or Excuses. But Seldom Both
What if you had the opportunity for improvement, without the pain of change? At work, it would be so much easier to revise processes, upgrade technology or develop new policies. But chasing opportunity without some degree of change is nearly impossible. So if we want opportunity and growth (and who doesn’t), why are we still…
Read MoreReal Meaning of ‘Underinsured’ Gets Personal
Insurance folks I’ve met over the years may know the story of my daughter Jenna’s car accident. It’s a painful, very personal story. But by sharing it, I hope to help other people avoid this situation. Jenna’s story actually starts before she was born. I was told I could never have children. So that is…
Read MoreWhy Carriers Need to Rethink their Approach to Technology
October 23, 2018 by Linda Dodson Most carriers recognized long ago that making it easier for agents to do business with them has competitive advantages. Companies have made an effort to simplify the submission and underwriting process, and they’ve created online systems for personal and small commercial lines. For the most part, this has been a…
Read MoreHow Insurtechs are Actually Boosting Brokers
Insurance Business America September 26, 2018 Funding for insurtechs isn’t slowing down, with $2.3 billion invested in 2017, a 36% increase from 2016, and, so far in 2018, insurtech funding transactions in Q2 have reached an all-time high, according to Willis Towers Watson. At the same time, the benefits that insurance companies stand to…
Read MoreTechnology to Attract Younger Employees
Upgrade Your Technology to Upgrade Your Appeal Here’s the truth: entering the same details about a client’s account again and again into different forms is killing your opportunity for some of the best and brightest employees out there. That’s why it’s time for agencies to embrace technology – not only as a tool to save…
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