Brokerfest 2020: What does the future hold for brokers?

We are on the verge of a new decade, with sweeping changes expected to infiltrate all industries with the turn of the new year.

For example, the century-old insurance broking sector, which used to be one of the most paper-heavy industries, is now headed towards automation and chatbots. But are brokers prepared for these unprecedented changes and can they successfully reinvent their role in a digital-only world?

Digitalisation will not only affect internal processes, but every aspect of how brokers work, such as workforce functions and customer expectations. In that sense, it is vital that brokers evolve their business operations to successfully adopt technology in all areas.

The broker landscape is set to continue changing due to price comparison websites proliferating the market as well as big tech firms not hiding their ambitions in the insurance arena. While in 2018, 60% of brokers said they were “somewhat confident” that they were able to compete against online aggregators, this year that number has reduced to 38%. It is yet to be seen if this trend will continue and how it will affect the position of brokers in the years to come.

Future challenges

According to Insurance Times Digital Broker Report, brokers are on track to catch up with the technological wave. More than two-thirds (68%) of the surveyed brokers said they are evolving their communication and marketing to be more digital while 64% said they were building security and privacy into their websites and devices.

But, what are the challenges posed to brokers by these rapid technological and societal changes? The top three risks remain the market conditions, customer retention and remaining competitive.

It is also still difficult to estimate the effects of automation on the workforce. If a lot of roles are replaced with automation, what new roles will appear and how can the workforce be prepared? These questions remain to be answered in the 2020s.

Other external factors, like the Lloyd’s market cutting rates and Brexit, will certainly have a huge impact on the way brokers conduct business in the upcoming decade. Despite Lloyd’s announcing an increase in rates, pressure remains to further increase them due to the reduction of market capacity and other factors. The outcome of Brexit is still unknown, despite the Conservative’s major victory at the general election in December 2019. Until a deal is passed and the future trading relationship between the European Union (EU) and UK is agreed, there will be uncertainty not just for brokers but for the whole of the insurance industry.

The future of brokering is just one of the issues that will be explored at BrokerFest on 11 February 2020. Taking place at etc.venues County Hall, in central London, BrokerFest is a one day event designed to help brokers do better business. A limited number of free delegate places are available for brokers. Find out more here.