Solving Insurance Back Office Bottlenecks: How Automation and Compliance Tools Empower Agencies and MGAs

The insurance industry is undergoing a quiet transformation. While headlines often focus on the flashy front-end tools and direct-to-consumer disruption, the real revolution is happening behind the scenes — in the back office. From agency onboarding delays to outdated compliance workflows and manual licensing tasks, these friction points cost MGAs, carriers, and agencies valuable time, revenue, and relationships.

In a recent Power Producers Podcast episode, we sat down with founder Doug Ver Mulm to explore how back-office automation is poised to make agencies more competitive, more scalable, and ultimately more human.

Why the Insurance Back Office Needs a Reboot

Ask any agency owner or operations manager what frustrates them most, and you’ll hear the same answers: endless emails, outdated PDFs, broken onboarding processes, and inefficient licensing workflows. Whether you’re an MGA trying to grow your distribution or a retail agency trying to get appointed, the back office often feels like an obstacle course.

These inefficiencies lead to serious problems: delayed revenue recognition, dropped submission opportunities, compliance exposure, and ultimately, broken trust between agencies and their carrier partners. The irony? Much of this chaos stems not from complex strategy but from poor execution — from systems that don’t talk to each other and people stuck managing tasks that should be automated.

The TurrisFI Approach to Modernizing Insurance Operations

Doug Ver Mulm knows this pain firsthand. As a former attorney and MGA founder, he saw the bottlenecks up close. “We were trying to run lean, competing against Progressive and GEICO, and everything broke down when it came to onboarding agents and managing licensing,” he recalled.

TurrisFI was born from that frustration. The platform now works with MGAs, carriers, and wholesalers to remove friction from their agency relationships. Rather than replacing agents, Turris focuses on empowering them — by giving their upstream partners the ability to onboard faster, verify compliance instantly, and eliminate manual tasks that slow everyone down.

With TurrisFI, onboarding a new agency no longer takes weeks of back-and-forth. It takes a few mouse clicks and an NPN number. Licensing checks, E&O verification, cyber liability confirmation — all done in seconds. The result? Agencies can place business more quickly, and carriers can scale without drowning in operational overhead.

Compliance Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated

For years, insurance compliance has been a headache. Managing E&O renewals, state license expirations, and appointment paperwork has been a manual, labor-intensive task. Worse, it’s usually distributed across inboxes, spreadsheets, and file cabinets.

TurrisFI brings all of this into one platform. It centralizes compliance documentation and automates licensing processes across 45+ states, often completing transactions in under a day. The system tracks expirations, flags missing documents, and prevents agencies from submitting business they aren’t licensed to write.

The payoff? No more scrambling for updated declarations pages or fumbling through NIPR for license data. Agencies can focus on selling. MGAs can focus on supporting their partners. Everyone wins.

Empowering Agents Through Technology, Not Replacing Them

Much of the early InsurTech buzz centered on disintermediation — the idea that technology would replace agents. That narrative has proven wrong, especially in commercial insurance. In fact, agents are more essential than ever in educating policyholders, building trust, and explaining the nuances of coverage.

As Doug puts it, “Agents aren’t going away. If anything, they’re becoming more valuable. But the way we support them has to evolve.”

Technology should augment agent expertise, not erase it. When agencies are bogged down by inefficient processes, they spend less time advising clients and more time chasing paperwork. Platforms like TurrisFI flip that dynamic, giving agents back their time and enabling them to compete at a higher level.

Frictionless Onboarding Means Faster Revenue

Every day that an agency waits to get appointed is a day they’re not selling. In competitive markets, that delay can be fatal. Doug recalls MGAs telling agents, “We’d love to work with you, but it’s too expensive and time-consuming to onboard you right now.”

TurrisFI removes that excuse. By turning onboarding into a quick digital interaction, it opens the door to more markets, more submissions, and more revenue — especially for agencies looking to grow into new states or product lines.

Frictionless onboarding isn’t just about saving time; it’s about speed-to-revenue. For growth-focused agencies and capacity-hungry MGAs, that’s a competitive edge worth investing in.

The Hidden Costs of Inaction

Too many agencies take a “wait and see” approach to technology — often because they’re afraid of the investment or unsure of the ROI. But standing still is its own risk.

David Carothers shared a vivid example: a church that refused to implement a return-to-work program, costing themselves $22,000 over three years instead of paying $650 upfront to avoid an indemnity hit. “You’ve shown me the credit terms you’re willing to operate under,” he told them. “I’d rather be your lender than your insurance agent.”

The same logic applies to operational tech. Yes, there’s a cost to implementing automation. But the cost of not doing it — lost time, lost revenue, lost efficiency — is far higher. Especially in a hard market, agencies need every margin advantage they can get.

Tech as a Team Member: A Mindset Shift for Agency Leaders

One of the strongest ideas in the podcast came from David’s observation that technology should be treated like a team member. Not just a tool, but a contributor to the business — something that earns its keep by driving efficiency, scalability, and better client experiences.

Too often, agency owners hesitate to invest in tech because it doesn’t feel tangible. But the truth is, platforms like TurrisFI often outperform new hires in speed, cost, and reliability. They reduce the need for data entry, follow-up, and manual oversight. And when paired with strong producers, they become a force multiplier.

The takeaway? Don’t wait for the perfect solution. Start experimenting. The agencies winning in five years are the ones testing tools like ChatGPT, CRM automation, and licensing tech today.

The Future of Insurance Payments and Commission Smoothing

Beyond licensing and compliance, TurrisFI is exploring how to solve another operational headache: payment infrastructure. From expensive ACH fees to delayed commissions, the financial backend of insurance is ripe for disruption.

Doug explained how agencies often wait 60+ days for commissions — a major cash flow issue for producers trying to grow. One idea in development is smoothing out income by paying commissions upfront (at a small discount), similar to premium financing but for agents.

Even credit card payments — often plagued by 3.5% fees — are due for improvement. Turris is working to commoditize insurance payments and offer lower-cost options that benefit both agencies and policyholders. In today’s rate environment, even 1% savings can have meaningful impact.

Building Relationships That Scale: From Wholesalers to Aggregators

TurrisFI isn’t just for MGAs and agencies — it’s designed to scale across entire distribution ecosystems. From national wholesalers to agency networks and aggregators, the platform makes document sharing, compliance tracking, and appointment management seamless.

An aggregator recently approached the team with a pain point: duplicate document requests across 15 markets. With Turris, they can upload once and distribute everywhere, eliminating inbox fatigue and streamlining operations for both producers and market partners.

The vision? A compliance hub where licensing, E&O, cyber liability, and key data live in one place — accessible by everyone who needs it, without duplication.

Final Thoughts: Tech-Enabled, Human-Centered Insurance Distribution

At its core, TurrisFI is solving for simplicity. The platform doesn’t aim to replace humans — it’s designed to amplify relationships by removing the barriers that prevent them from growing. Agents still sell. Carriers still underwrite. But the back-office friction that slows everyone down? That’s where tech shines.

The call to action here is simple: don’t wait for the industry to catch up. Whether you’re a scratch agency owner or a regional MGA, automation tools like TurrisFI can give you a head start. And if the platform isn’t doing everything you want yet? Doug wants to hear about it. His team thrives on agent feedback — not just bug reports, but ideas.

After all, the future of insurance isn’t about man versus machine. It’s about humans using machines to create better outcomes for everyone.

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