The Hard Market Boosts E&S Growth, But What Happens When The Market Turns?

The hard market has had several implications for the insurance industry. Rising premiums means more remarketing as one example. The hard market is also affecting already risky policies. As standard carriers protect their portfolios with the increased #remarketing, many withdraw from certain risk classes.

This opens the door for E&S carriers who have the flexibility to take on these riskier or unconventional policies.

According to the US Surplus Lines Service and Stamping Offices, E&S carriers are reaping these benefits, with a 14.6% increase in premiums in 2023 compared to 2022, following a record-breaking 24.1% year-over-year growth the year before.

While E&S carriers are seeing significant growth due to the hard market, they are also fielding demands from their agent and MGA partners for digital connectivity. They aren’t alone though!

Standard carriers have been hearing these demands for years. Fortunately for the industry, many have responded with digital transformation. Unfortunately, though, this creates inconsistent experiences for agents and MGAs when connecting to their standard carriers and then to their E&S carriers.

You might be asking, why invest the time and expense into delivering digital connectivity if the E&S market is growing so quickly? Here’s the hard truth (pun intended): the hard market isn’t going to last forever. And when the market turns, it will be the carriers who have created easy agent and MGA experiences who continue to grow.

We know digital transformation is a lofty word. And we don’t expect carriers to jump in head-first. Neither do your agent and MGA partners, by the way. So we asked the agents in our Ivans network to rank their top four digital needs from carriers. Here’s what they said:?

1.???? Policy Download

With 76% of agents saying in our most recent Ivans Connectivity Survey that they save at least two hours per day per employee when they can download, it makes sense why agents would choose to work with a carrier that provides policy download over one that does not.

And it doesn’t just provide time-savings for agents, offering policy download to your agents and MGA partners also provides digital means to search by policy number, assess and resend policy data, and give agents a clearer view of transaction details.

2.???? Digital Document Delivery

Not only does download save time for all stakeholders, but it protects the security of all those involved. Sixty-one percent of data breaches of less than 500 employees involve paper records according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. And that number climbs higher each year.

With the amount of sensitive data agents, MGAs and carriers handle, it is critical to mitigate any risk of breach.

3.???? Digital Direct Bill Commission Statements

Manually inputting data from thousands of transactions to reconcile direct bill commissions can take hours, even days.

Agents don’t have that kind of time, especially in a hard market, so they will always choose the carrier who can help them reduce data entry and focus their time on clients.

4.???? Digital Claims Communication

When an agent is supporting a client with a time-sensitive claim, relying on traditional communications methods from a carrier’s Claims department can significantly impact customer experience.

Agents need claim details quickly – in real time actually – so they can take care of clients in their time of need. And we see agents’ loyalty to carriers that do. In fact, 65% of carriers said in our 2021 Ivans Connectivity Survey that ease of doing business and stronger partnerships with agents are main benefits of automating information exchange with agency partners via Claims download.

Want more information on how you can answer agent and MGA demands for digital connectivity? Join us in the Ivans network ??