This article is part of a series of interviews with InsurTech Executives involved in the distribution of property/casualty insurance about their missions, how they are changing the industry, and the implications for carriers.
View All InterviewsFounded 36 years ago, before InsurTech was a popular term, Insurance Technologies Corporation (ITC) “primarily sold computers to insurance agents with some rating software” back in 1983, according to the company’s website. “After a couple years, we switched our focus from hardware to software.”
After announcing its most recent acquisition—SmartHarbor, a provider of digital technology solutions to insurance agents—in August 2019, Carrier Management invited CEO Laird Rixford to answer questions for our InsurTechs to Watch feature. Rixford provided these updates on ITC’s business.
1. Describe your company and its mission. What does the company do?
Laird Rixford, CEO, Insurance Technologies Corporation“Commercial insurance distribution will experience a revolution of technology and not the steady evolution that other P/C lines went through.”
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Laird Rixford, CEO, ITC: ITC provides websites, marketing, rating and agency management software to the insurance industry, including independent agents and insurance carriers. We are the largest provider of insurance agency websites in the United States and power more than 2 million auto and home quotes monthly through our comparative rating system TurboRater.
2. Who does your technology serve? (Agents and brokers only; Agents, brokers and carriers; customers directly, etc.)
Rixford (ITC): ITC serves more than 225 insurance companies and more than 7,000 agencies.
3. Who pays for the technology you offer? Is the cost considered commission income or a service fee?
Rixford (ITC): Agents and carriers pay for our technology. It is a subscription fee.
4. Are you disrupting (replacing) or empowering traditional distribution?
Rixford (ITC): We empower traditional distribution through technology that is disrupting how things have always been.
5. What should P/C insurance carriers know about you?
Rixford (ITC): We understand the needs of the carrier and the agency and use that understanding in our multidimensional approach to software products and services. We help both carriers and agencies become more efficient and productive. While we provide emphasis on the products agents represent, we do not compromise the carriers’ values and needs. We also provide data and an analytics portal to carriers who want to make data-based decisions and don’t have the people or time to devote to it.
6. Bonus Question: What does the future of commercial insurance distribution look like?
Rixford (ITC): Commercial insurance distribution will experience a revolution of technology and not the steady evolution that other P/C lines went through. Carriers will move from agents and brokers submitting “paper” apps through fax or email, directly into a model where carriers can bypass agents and brokers by creating consumer direct commercial quoting and issuing for simple GL and BOP policies. This same technology will enable agents and brokers to navigate more complex commercial quoting and issuance.