Which Digital Strategy Is Best for Insurance Brokers?

We know that brokers who embrace digital transformation now will be well-positioned for success in the future. But we also know that implementing a digital strategy isn’t something to be rushed into, especially for smaller brokerages or those without prior experience in insurance technology.

In the 2025 Digital Adoption Report, produced in collaboration with Insurance Times, many of the 240 brokers questioned reported they were not investing in enhancing digital strategies or customer-facing technology.

In this blog post, we examine these findings and discuss why investing in insurance technology that aligns with business goals gives brokers a competitive edge. We’ll also explore how brokers keep up with the pace of technological transformation and whether ‘digital skills’ are really a barrier to tech adoption in the insurance industry.

How Does Digital Adoption Impact the Insurance Industry?

In 2023, more than 70% of the brokers who took part in the Insurance Times Digital Adoption Survey said they had a digital strategy in place, up from 63% in 2022.

However, findings from the latest Digital Adoption Report show that 46% of respondents don’t have a digital strategy in place.

This could seem like a backward trend in the industry. Is the appetite for digital transformation waning in the face of other external pressures, such as changes in legislation or economic uncertainty? Is it because brokers who had a digital strategy in 2024 don’t know their plan for 2025?

A closer analysis of the respondent profile highlights that the majority of respondents to this question were from small-to-medium-sized brokerages. With that in mind, let’s dive deeper into the findings.

How Can Brokers Keep Up with Digital Transformation?

It’s possible that some brokerages regard digital as a ‘tick-box’ exercise and perceive implementing a digital strategy as a one-time event. At Applied, we know that the technology landscape is a field of innovation and evolution that doesn’t stay still. Adopting insurance broker technology isn’t something that can be marked as ‘complete, never to be revisited’.

As much as it’s about using tech to solve immediate business challenges to help your brokerage work more effectively in the short term, it’s also about reviewing progress and evolving to enable more growth and innovation in the future. As your business develops, your technology requirements may well become more sophisticated. This is why it’s important to choose a broker management system that has an open and scalable architecture that is flexible enough to be readily customised through integration with open APIs in the future.

This may seem daunting, but fortunately, a partnership with Applied Systems will ensure you don’t get left behind. We always strive to transform our technology services to simplify the insurance business for brokers. When we look at other industries, it’s clear that the possibilities for innovation are endless, from using Apple Pay to purchase groceries online to talking to an AI chatbot to fill in a form.

How Can Brokers Successfully Partner with Insurtechs?

At Applied Systems, we think that being customer-led and aligning digital goals with business goals is the cornerstone of a successful strategy. Meeting customers where they are and identifying how to add value to their business through simple and effective technology is our cornerstone.

The Digital Adoption Report showed that 47% of respondents aren’t integrating digital goals into their business objectives, and this is a missed opportunity. Brokers can effectively shape their digital technology strategy and their business goals and work closely with their technology partners. Together, they can easily shape their digital technology strategy through guided expertise.

Matthew Collins, Founder and Managing Director of Ascend Broking in Chelmsford, said:

“I must admit we didn’t exactly have a digital strategy in place when I set up Ascend in 2017. In retrospect, we should have, and my advice to everyone else is to get one in place ASAP. Embracing technology was always part of the plan, however, as we wanted to be different, to be brave and to always put our clients first.”

Kelly Ogley, CEO of Consumer and Local Commercial at Howden Insurance Brokers in Endsleigh, said:

“What’s great about our relationship with Applied is the strategic partnership. Applied took the time to understand our business, and they understand the marketplace. They have worked with us closely to help deliver our growth strategy. So, it's that real partnership with a laser-like focus on solutions.”

How Can Insurance Brokers Develop Better Digital Skills?

In the 2025 Digital Adoption Report, 35% of respondents said that a lack of digital skills is a barrier to scaling and accelerating digital transformation.

At Applied Systems, we believe brokers must be able to use the technology they have at their disposal, but they don’t necessarily need their staff to be digital experts. Realising the value of digital technology and working with a technology partner who can facilitate a meaningful digital transformation is key.

Our software is built specifically for brokers and is intuitively designed to minimise the need for advanced technology skills. Our simple, user-friendly technology allows you to manage all policy and servicing workflows, online customer interactions, and eTrading connectivity without the need for advanced technology skills.

Whilst Applied can provide effective ‘out-of-the-box’ BMS solutions, we know that going live is only the beginning. As your trusted technology partner, we want to understand the long-term value you want from your system, and to work with you to build on its capabilities to keep driving relevant outcomes as your business transforms.

Our open architecture provides a different, more flexible approach to software development. This allows more choice and easier access to quickly integrate both Applied and third-party applications, so you can be in control of your own tech destiny. Public cloud technology via Google Cloud provides increased scalability and performance when your business needs it.

How Can Brokers Confidently Compete Online?

Confidence comes from having a plan and acting on it. When you don’t have a digital plan in place, it is difficult to have confidence in success. Take the time to evaluate business challenges and goals, find a software provider that will help you find the technology that will address those, and ensure that technology will be able to scale as your business grows.

At Applied Systems, we continuously invest in research and development to enhance our platforms, while also equipping our employees with digital skills and expertise so our broker customers don’t have to. We're here to guide you on your digital strategy no matter what stage of the technology journey you’re at, allowing you to focus efforts on growing your business and delighting customers.

We encourage our clients to help us innovate by asking us for the solutions that would benefit their customers most. This doesn’t require digital skills per se; it simply requires brokers to continue to be customer-focused and work on their core skills of being great brokers.

Read the 2025 Digital Adoption Report