In this episode of the
Power Producers Podcast, host
David Carothers sits down
with Jeff Harris, the CEO and co-founder of
Appulate, widely considered the original
Insurtech (founded in 2005).
Jeff shares
Appulate’s journey from solving the “abysmal” problem of supplemental form generation to becoming an
all-in-one AI solution for agencies. They discuss the critical gap between insurance and technology, how
AI is reshaping the industry, and why
Appulate is taking a conservative and reliable approach to its implementation. The conversation also covers the dangers of agents using public
AI tools with client PII and how technology is the “great equalizer” for small agencies.
Key Highlights:
The Evolution of the Oldest Insurtech
Jeff Harris details
Appulate’s nearly 20-year history, which began by solving the pain of manual supplemental forms. Today, their
Producer Connect platform serves as a “bolt-on” to an agency’s AMS, acting as a broad marketing platform that saves time on data entry, obtains loss runs, and integrates with thousands of carrier portals to eliminate redundant work.
AI’s Role: A Conservative and Reliable Approach
While
AI is changing the industry,
Jeff emphasizes that it must be reliable and consistent. He compares it to Tesla’s autonomous driving—it had to be perfected before users could trust it.
Appulate currently uses
AI where it excels, such as parsing data from loss runs and deck pages, but avoids areas where the industry (like carrier portals) isn’t ready for full AI integration, which could cause more problems than it solves.
The Danger of “Lazy” AI Implementation
David and
Jeff discuss the significant E&O and cyber risk of “fundamentally lazy” agents uploading policies with
Personally Identifiable Information (PII) into public
Chat-GPT.
Jeff stresses the importance of using secure, vendor-provided
AI solutions rather than unvetted public tools, highlighting that
AI is already being effectively used in areas like fraud detection.
AI as the “Great Equalizer” for Agencies
Jeff explains that
AI is a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” for small and mid-sized agencies to compete with the 100-pound gorillas. By automating manual, time-consuming tasks,
AI reduces burnout and turnover, helps retain younger tech-savvy talent, and allows smaller agencies to achieve the same level of output and efficiency as their largest competitors without massive investments in headcount.
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