2023 Tech Summit Recap

Last week we held the 2023 IIANC Tech Summit at the Sheraton Imperial in Research Triangle Park. It was an amazing gathering of independent insurance agents and technology vendors, all coming together to learn, share ideas, and find new ways to improve their businesses. This year's theme was centered around how independent agencies should be utilizing today's top tech tools to run their agencies more efficiently, provide better service to clients, and increase their agency’s value. 

This event is a must attend, and helps our members keep a pulse on what’s happening in the InsurTech space so they can stay relevant and on top of their game.  

“Technology is changing so rapidly that we must take advantage of these chances that we get to spend time with each other to learn and talk because we could easily miss the next thing that would make a difference in our agencies.”  

-- Karl Sherrill  

The event gave attendees the opportunity to do just as Karl explained. It provided participants with the opportunity to hear from industry experts like Aubie Knight and Steve Anderson, allowed them to share their personal successes and challenges in roundtable discussions, and network with like-minded individuals and company sponsors who can provide solutions for their tech-related problems.  

Below, key attendees will share their major takeaways from the day and reflect on what they’re taking back to their agency. Whether you were able to attend the event or not, this will give you a recap of the most important moments of the day, offering you a high-level view of what happened and what you need to know. 

“My biggest takeaway from the 2023 Tech Summit was Chat GTP, an AI program that will build out documents, policies, and procedures, write articles, answer questions, and basically acts as a scribe for you in a matter of seconds. It can help you create all types of content which can be used in marketing pieces all throughout the year.” 

-- Michael Betters 

"I was very excited to attend the conference today. What I got the most out of the event was the breakout sessions, and the opportunity to share best practices. Specifically, I attended the Google Reviews table and there was a lot that was shared there, hearing what was successful for some and what may have not worked well for others was very helpful for me. I'm definitely going to go back and implement Google Reviews into my business by starting small and just saying “Hey how are we doing, we would love for you to rate us,” and I'm very excited about that! I was a little leery of Google Reviews coming into today, but I’m ready to go now.” 

-- Paulette Fairfax  

“My biggest takeaway was that technology is the tool that allows us to give ourselves superpowers as an agency so that we can scale with margin. I also took away that agencies that embrace tech tend to grow on average about 15 to 20% compared to traditional agencies that are more like 4 to 7%. We should reframe the way we think about technology so that it's considered a profit center and not an expense item.”  

-- Jessica Yarbrough 

“My biggest takeaway from IAINC’s 2023 Tech Summit was during the roundtable discussion with Jason Sabo who is an excellent resource at IIANC. We were talking about how we can utilize virtual assistants in our agency, and I learned about a program called Tango that allows you to record your screen to create step-by-step directions so that you can provide clear instructions easily with either virtual assistants or with an existing team member.” 

-- Joshua Lipstone 

We also had a couple of students from the Brantley Risk & Insurance Center at Appalachian State University in attendance. They offered a fresh and young perspective on technology among the attendees.  

“My biggest takeaway from IIANC’s 2023 Tech Summit was all the different ways that Chat GPT can be used, from sending emails to writing job descriptions, and even writing and reviewing resumes or cover letters. It just kind of made me think “why will I ever have to send an e-mail myself in the future?” It's an exciting new frontier.” 

-- Mark Pruitt 

"My biggest takeaway from the IIANC Tech Summit was the impact of LinkedIn and Google Reviews and how they can provide some insight to your customers and be used as a recruitment tool. They are both a big deal and more people should be utilizing them.” 

-- Luke Moore 

“My biggest takeaway from the 2023 Tech Summit was Chat GPT. We talked about all it's different applications of it and how it could even be used to assist with complex tasks like creating a program in the future. You can create a poker game within just the chat itself or create a 3D immersive video game. Really impressive stuff!” 

-- Jack Ziernniak