Our Managing Director, Vivek Banga, recently shared his thoughts with Insurance Times on the role of software houses in shaping the future of eTrading, explaining how they differ from insurer extranets and the dilemma insurers face in balancing the two.
Banga explained: “If I’m a broker sitting here in my office, I can go to an insurer extranet, but what I will get on the insurer extranet is only that insurer’s product. If I am using a software house and I work through my own software platform, I can get access to the panel, and the panel will mean multiple insurers and MGAs. So, a lot of brokers, not surprisingly, would say, ‘why not just enter data once in my own system and get access to the panel.’”
He acknowledged that insurer extranets might offer a more streamlined process, saying: “On the extranet, the insurer might have a slightly shorter process because it’s just dedicated to them and not to the market.”
Banga highlighted the “interesting dilemma” insurers face: they want to grow their extranets, which they have heavily invested in, but must also recognise the popularity of software houses. “The advantage of a broker coming to [an insurer’s] extranet is that it is only their product which is there, and they can also give them more marketing messages. Clearly, it is in their interest if brokers keep coming to their extranet, and they have all invested in them, so why would they not want to continue building that route? But they also can’t ignore how traffic is growing through the panel route. Especially with large brokers, that route has become quite popular, so they are also adding their products to the panel.”
For insurers, Banga observed, “It is a case of spreading their investments across both routes.”
Banga also emphasised the importance of education in eTrading. Insurers educate software houses on their products, and in turn, software houses inform brokers through newsletters, workshops, and other forms of communication. “They educate the software house, the software house educates the broker in turn. It’s about creating that awareness. The software house is in touch with brokers on a regular basis through their technology. It might be a simple marketing message, it might be a newsletter, it might just be creating awareness, [or] it might be a workshop. All of that helps because it makes the broker more well informed about the choice that is available to them.”
This dynamic is reflected in the Insurance Times’ 2024 Five Star Rating Report: ETrading, which shows that brokers increasingly appreciate the flexibility and market access software houses provide. While extranets remain valuable, software houses are expected to continue gaining popularity as brokers prefer the ability to compare multiple products efficiently.
Read the full interview on Insurance Times here.
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