Insurance Broker: the Evolution of the Role

Who is an insurance broker and what does he do?

The insurance broker, or insurance intermediary, is a liaison figure between customers and insurance companies. In practice, it puts insurance companies in contact with potential customers interested in the policy, then providing assistance to the latter. The broker carries out various tasks and can also intervene in the finalization and execution phase, as well as in the management of the contract. This is an intermediary and independent figure, who really acts only in the interests of the client.

Faced with a growing exposure of businesses and individuals to new risks, even those not directly linked to material damage, including the pandemic, geopolitical instability, cyber risk, business interruption, brokers are increasingly called upon to offer personalized consultancy services with a high level of technological integration.
In carrying out your role:

• Provides information on the different insurance products available;
• Helps customers understand and compare different warranties;
• Interfaces with insurance companies;
• Customize or create new insurance packages for customers;
• Calculate plans, payment methods and rewards.

A broker, therefore, offers consultancy and intermediation services to help people find the insurance coverage best suited to their needs, capable of protecting the insured in a wide variety of situations: accidents, illnesses, injuries, property damage, cyber attacks and other unexpected events.
It should be underlined, in fact, that the insurance intermediary does not represent a particular insurance company, but works independently. Relying on a broker therefore means having the guarantee that a complex coverage plan will be created, studying and choosing the best insurance company to provide the best service to its customers, and consequently also the most economically advantageous policy.

The evolution of the insurance sector

With the development of new technologies, working as an insurance intermediary also means interfacing with customers in a different way, but without changing the purpose of the profession: to protect people and businesses from different types of risk.
The financial and macroeconomic context has changed profoundly, bringing to light issues such as digitalisation and sustainability, which have been accelerated by the pandemic. In the last period, these trends have been accompanied by high inflation and the structural changes taking place in our country.

To remain competitive in the market, the insurance ecosystem must also constantly evolve and this is why today we are increasingly talking about insurtech and digital brokers. The insurance of the future will have to be increasingly clear, simple and transparent, as well as increasingly digital and personalized.
Insurtech represents the new paradigm which, by fusing «insurance» and «technology», identifies everything that is technology-driven innovation in the insurance sector. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) for predictive analytics are technologies that are changing the way insurance companies manage risk.

Thanks also to membership of Open Insurance ecosystems, the future of the insurance industry is increasingly configured as an open model, based on interoperability, made possible by the reorganization of company platforms around APIs and micro-services to allow secure and fluid connections between partners. A new push towards collaborative and open models that makes the sector more competitive, also broadening the user base and offering «tailor-made» policies for each individual user.