Keeping The Pace

Published On: April 17, 2019

How can smaller firms keep up with the technological pace set by larger businesses?

It’s no secret that over the last decade the use of technology in businesses has grown exponentially.   Increasingly, being seen as “technology focussed” is a key component to success. Looking at Aviva’s new personal lines “Driver App”, it’s clear large businesses in the insurance space are looking to push their tech development into the marketplace.

This raises the question; how can smaller firms possibly keep up?

Worryingly, statistics show that more than half of smaller firms haven’t set aside any resource to invest in tech next year (2019), compared to only 14% of medium sized and 8 % of large firms. In a world dominated by ensuring customer satisfaction & winning new business, this is understandable, but it does raise concern about the competitiveness of smaller firms.

So, what can be done to help smaller firms keep up with the technological pace set by larger businesses?

Utilizing the inherent benefits of being a smaller firm is key.  What are their strengths and how do they maximise them?

Key is really listening to your customers’ needs when investing in tech. Being nimble and able to change direction is useful and so is really knowing and understanding your customers. Large companies will potentially lose huge sums of money investing in technology nobody has actually asked for, and subsequently don’t use. By seeing the problems that your customers have, you’ll be able to provide tech solutions that solve their actual problems.

Too many large firms look at technology and how they can use it to save money, eg an insurer creating a broker portal that means the broker has to rekey information – this helps the insurer but it doesn’t help the broker!  Target the technology spend so that the customer wins, the broker wins and the insurer wins.

Customers feel valued when you’ve invested in something which makes their life easier, so retention goes up too.

Look at investing in technology that spreads the development costs.  By pooling buying power a group of smaller brokers can obtain technology that individually they can’t afford.

When it comes to tech, choose wisely, invest smartly and reap the rewards.  You are never too small to win.