mBroker for Powerplace fits customers’ phones and tablet screens
Open GI has launched a mobile version of its software that enables brokers to quote and sell micro SME cover on their own sites.
The launch of mBroker for PowerPlace comes as research shows a dramatic rise in the proportion of web users who buy insurance from a phone or tablet. Confused.com reported that web traffic from mobile devices shot up from 6% in Q1 2012 to 15% this year.
“There’s a huge amount of business moving towards being quoted on the internet, even if not bought on internet,” group chief executive Chris Guillaume said. “We’re ensuring the broker can tap into that demand.”
“If a plumber is happy to buy van insurance over the internet, why wouldn’t they also buy liability insurance? Particularly if the premium is the same, if not less.”
The launch of mBroker for PowerPlace follows June’s launch of eBroker. It is targeted at micro SMEs with fewer than 10 members of staff. Micro SMEs make up 99% of the SME market, and account for £4bn of the £10bn of premium SMEs place each year.
Brokers can use PowerPlace’s technology on their own websites to offer quotes from a panel of insurers. It is up to the broker how many insurer quotes are returned, whether they sell the policy online or speak to the customer first.
eBroker and mBroker also give brokers “a series of tools to price themselves in and out of different styles and risks”, said Guillaume.
“If they’re quoting the same panel, which all of them are, they need to vary the price to the end consumer to differentiate [themselves]. The broker has to have control over what price they sell at.”
After returning the quotes, the platform can show a comparison of the different cover levels as well as price.
mBroker is launching with commercial property and tradesmen cover, which account for 90% of micro SME cover.
More than 100 personal lines brokers currently use Open GI’s technology to sell online, and the first major personal lines broker for which it developed a mobile optimised platform saw a 112% increase in sales within three months, said Guillaume.
Fifteen brokers have signed up to use eBroker so far, with the first expected to go live within two weeks. “I’d be very surprised if we’re not online and trading in double digits by the end of the year,” said sales and marketing director Simon Hughes.
Providing quotes online would give renewal customers the convenience of buying outside normal working hours, while widening the potential business area of a regional broker with an online “national shop window”. It could also make it easier to create affinity schemes with non-insurance brands such as trade associations, added Guillaume.
Open GI does not charge brokers for eBroker and mBroker if they place £75,000 of annual premium with PowerPlace.
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