Combining face-to-face and digital interactions.

Remember the Six Million Dollar Man? He was a US astronaut, USAF Colonel Steve Austin a man who was rebuilt after an accident with bionic implants that gave him superhuman strength, speed, and vision. He was employed as a US secret agent to beat the bad guys.

If you have grey hair, you may remember watching him on your TV back in the 1970s. Hard to believe it was that long ago!

Almost as unbelievable is that since that time, the London insurance market has remained largely unchanged, despite countless transformation projects, from the wound-down London Market TOM, to Lloyds latest push for change, the Future of Lloyds strategy, and Blue Print Two.

PPL, and Whitespace, have started the e-trading process, but todays London Market brokers still do business with stamp and paper, and most offices are piled high with documents. Part of the problem is not just legacy tech, its legacy thinking. And all of this despite the rest of the world embracing digital technologies that have made life easier, faster, and more efficient.

The good news is that the Bionic Broker does exist today, with nextgen implants that supercharge their ability to give a vital edge over the competition.

The Bionic Broker
While other brokers toil away for hours rekeying data, checking errors, and carrying around paper files, the Bionic Broker is boosting customer service and streamlining admin, smashing new business targets with instant access to data to cross- and up-sell to clients, and trading online from anywhere anytime using cloud-based technology.

Clients and underwriters love the Bionic Broker, but what about the old school, legacy brokers? Sadly, they are going the way of the dinosaurs as the number of M&As continues to rise. Times were good, but its time to move on, and those that dont embrace new technology are going to be left behind.

Forward-thinking brokers, such as Marsh, HIBL, Howden, and SRG, are embracing change and going bionic. With support from Novidea, these brokers, MGAs, coverholders, US agents, and insurers too, are leveraging technology to win new business, deliver better client service, and drive down operational costs.

The technology inside the Bionic Broker
Novideas born-in-the-cloud, data-driven insurance platform is what makes the Bionic Broker possible, enabling them to manage the entire customer insurance journey, end-to-end, and drive growth across the entire insurance distribution lifecycle.

AI technology provides a 360-degree view of the customer and other stakeholders, enabling full integration between customer-facing policy front-office transactions and the middle- and back-office with straight through processing. This means that brokers can extract more value from their customer and policy data with actionable intelligence from any device, anywhere.

Todays Bionic Brokers also love the fact that Novideas platform enables them to turn data into insights, enabling better-informed decisions and delivering greater value through the selling of new products and services tailored to each customers individual needs.

The human connection will always win
In insurance, human interaction is still the lifeblood of business. Even as technology evolves further, face-to-face connections will continue to be the vital element to seal the deal, especially for large and complex risks just the way it should be. And thats why this hybrid Bionic model is the future for broking.

Earlier this year, PropertyCasualty360 published an independent survey, which found that independent agents, despite recognising the importance of technology, overwhelmingly rely on relationships (84.5%) and great service (83.1%) to differentiate themselves from the competition.

Further, in EYs 2022 Global Insurance Outlook: Growing with people, purpose and tech, they stated that In the age of AI and automation, human capital is a differentiating source of value for insurers with the right talent.

Steve Austin wasnt a cold-hearted robot he was a human with enhanced abilities who won the day and outpaced anyone who tried to keep up. With todays technology, thats what you can do too only for lot less than six million dollars!