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What is growth readiness and what does it mean to be growth ready? We define growth readiness as, “The ability to accommodate a meaningful increase in workload, smoothly and gracefully.” Of course, this applies to every aspect of an agency’s business operations. In this post however, we’ll focus exclusively on the needs of insurance licensing operations: we’ll explain what being growth ready is, explore what it takes to be growth ready and identify practical steps you can take to make sure your licensing operation is ready for expansion.
What Does it Mean to be Growth Ready?
Since we define growth-readiness as the ability to accommodate a meaningful increase in workload, smoothly and gracefully, it’s wise to ask, what defines, “a meaningful increase in workload?” Well, unsurprisingly, a meaningful increase in workload is relative: 50 new producers is a small increase for a large agency, and large increase for a small agency. So, in some respects, “meaningful,” like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
Regardless of what specifically defines meaningful for you, a meaningful increase in workload is usually tied to a significant business event. Examples of a significant business events can include things such as an acquisition or your agency dramatically expanding its geographic footprint.
Significant business events overwhelm the unprepared. Nerves get frayed, days become stressful, and management gets grumpy. But when your licensing operation is growth ready, not only are you ready for a significant business event, but every day is smoother, easier, less stressful, and more pleasant.
The Importance of Operational Efficiency to Growth Readiness
The key to being growth ready is operational efficiency. And operational efficiency comes from the following:
- Improving workflows
- Reducing waste
- Minimizing errors
- Eliminating redundancies
One of the easiest ways to achieve operational efficiency is by investing in technology and leveraging automation.
From onboarding new producers with the help of a web portal, to keeping data up to date through nightly PDB updates, technology and automation deliver the operational efficiency you need to absorb a meaningful increase in workload, smoothly and gracefully.
How to Leverage Technology & Automation to Become Growth Ready
For insurance licensing managers a high-quality insurance licensing software solution is fundamental to operational efficiency and growth readiness. It centralizes all the information that’s relevant to producer and entity licensing, creating “one version of the truth,” minimizing errors (and time spent correcting errors!) and reducing the time spent chasing information. It also reduces the time spent toggling between systems, moving data back and forth between systems, and reconciling the accuracy of information within multiple systems.
Outlined below are 5 areas we’ve identified where technology and automation can super-charge your operational efficiency and ensure you are growth ready. As you read and think about these, keep in mind that you may not need certain features and functionality today, but having them now is what makes you growth ready.
1. Producer Licensing & Management
Look for a system that puts all your producer licensing and management tasks at your fingertips, with just a few clicks, including tracking associated entities, CE, background information and more.
2. Entity Licensing & Management
Verify that you can manage multiple entities, support the launch of TPAs, MGAs and MGUs, maintain cybersecurity filings and more, in addition to standard features such as DRP and DBA filings.
3. Back Office Efficiencies
Agency expansion can create new requirements, including a need for roles-based permissions for information access, support for single sign on, and customizable reporting capabilities. Look for a system that won’t become obsolete if you suddenly find yourself needing enhanced back-office capabilities.
4. Data Integrity
Insist on a solution that provides daily and on-demand PDB updates. As you add producers you will find that chasing down accurate data can become a real time-sink.
5. Workflow Efficiencies
A well-designed licensing system will help you get more done in less time. Customizable dashboards, easy drill-down into data and centralized file storage can unlock productivity in surprising ways.
For a deeper dive into the details of growth readiness, technology and automation, I encourage you to download our free Guide to Becoming Growth Ready. It’s a very practical and shareable resource for licensing professionals looking to stay ahead of the curve.
Some Final Thoughts on Growth Readiness
It would be fair to wonder how we know so much about growth readiness for insurance licensing operations. We’re happy to shed some light on this.
At 3H Corporate Services we have provided insurance license management services to a significant number of insurance agencies for over 20 years, onboarding multiple new clients every month. Sometimes it’s several small clients at a time. Sometimes it’s one very large client. Either way, our business – which is renowned for delivering the absolute highest levels of customer service – must be able to absorb new producers and entities without skipping a beat.
We use Creative Compliance Hub from our sister company, Creative Compliance Software Solutions, to manage licenses on behalf of our clients. It’s purposefully and meticulously crafted to optimize efficiency, improve productivity, minimize errors, and eliminate redundancies.
We depend on Creative Compliance Hub to keep us growth ready. Our clients choose Creative Compliance Hub to keep them growth ready. And you can too.
When you’re ready, we invite you to schedule a demo of Creative Compliance Hub and see for yourself what a growth ready insurance licensing platform can do for you.