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Automating your agency’s financial operations

Escaping the hidden costs of manual financial processes

By Chris Peabody | Director of Partnerships, Ascend

Today, insurance agencies of all sizes struggle to balance growth with operational efficiency due to outdated financial processes. For many, spreadsheets remain the backbone of accounting systems, requiring ongoing data entry, reconciliation, and oversight. This manual process can quickly become a bottleneck as the business scales—not only are they slowing agencies down, but approximately 94%  of spreadsheets used in business decision-making contain errors. As the industry faces a projected 400,000 worker shortage, insurance companies cannot afford to waste time and resources on spreadsheets and other manual processes.

Consider direct bill reconciliation — one of the most time-consuming financial tasks agencies face. Even with tools like Ivans to automate statement downloads, discrepancies often exist between downloaded statements and expected revenue, forcing staff to manually verify and correct financial data. For agencies still receiving statements by mail, teams are spending hours entering details into their agency management system and chasing down missing information.

Automation isn’t just a nice-to-have anymore, but a necessity for agencies looking to scale efficiently, improve accuracy, and attract talent expecting higher-level, value driven work. The question for agencies today no longer is if they should implement technology, but rather which partner best fits their needs.

5 tips to choosing the right automation tool

     1. Audit current processes

Before adopting new technology, evaluate your existing workflows. Technology should solve real problems, not just be another tool added to the mix. Identify where inefficiencies slow your team down and look for specific pain points that create bottlenecks. For example, if your team spends excessive time tracking commissions across multiple carrier platforms, find solutions that solve that specific task and the surrounding dependencies, so it reduces overall time and number of steps in the entire process.

     2. Consider the benefits of AI

After learning more about your existing workflows, identify where AI can enhance accuracy and increase team efficiency. Legacy processes that require human review of spreadsheets or printed reports are ideal areas where AI can add significant value to businesses today. AI is a powerful resource to automate repetitive tasks like reconciliations—a critical but manual and time-intensive responsibility teams are inundated with—with high accuracy.

     3. Consult with industry peers

Leverage your professional network to learn from others who have already implemented automation. What tools have they found effective? What benefits — such as cost savings — have they experienced?

It can also be helpful to ask what challenges they faced during implementation. Real-world insights can provide a more accurate picture of what to expect and help you avoid common pitfalls. You might discover that a solution looks great on paper but falls short in practice.

     4. Understand integration and implementation

When you’re ready to meet with vendors, we encourage you to ask the tough questions. Bring all of your stakeholders to the table — finance, operations, and IT — so everyone can visualize the integration and implementation timelines.

Questions to ask include:

• How does the tool integrate with your existing systems?

• What specific financial tasks does the automation tool handle?

• What extent of manual intervention would still be required?

• How does your technology adapt to changes in process?

• What is the implementation process?

• What ongoing support do you provide to ensure our long-term success with the tool?

      5. Focus on results

The most important factor to consider when evaluating financial technology is whether the tool truly solves your agency’s accounting challenges. Many automation systems boast advanced capabilities, but if they only cover a portion of your needs or require extensive manual intervention, you will still face the same inefficiencies. Look for a solution that provides tangible value and is not just impressive during a demo.

Chris Peabody is leader of partnership efforts at Ascend, an industry-leading financial operations platform.

To learn more about how Ascend’s AI automation solutions can increase your financial accuracy and give valuable time back to your team, please visit useascend.com.