AI is changing how agencies work—
but trusted expertise still leads the way
By David Kallman
The need for insurance hasn’t changed. But how insurance agencies work, how they grow, and how they serve clients—that’s evolving fast, as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes an everyday tool for clients and agents alike.
As we look at 2026 and beyond, independent agencies are entering a new era of growth strategy where success will be defined by how well they balance human expertise with smart, responsible technology adoption.
To succeed in this environment, agencies must lean into their unique qualities and skills.
Lean into the role of risk advisor
With AI-enabled search and ChatGPT at their fingertips, insurance clients are showing up to conversations armed with more information. And not all that information is correct or current. That’s where the value of an agent’s experience really matters.
Every agency needs to invest in knowledge infrastructure in order to ensure accuracy and consistency.
Think about what’s happening in medicine. Patients come in with a ChatGPT diagnosis. But doctors bring their professional training and their knowledge of a patient’s history and personal circumstances to recommend the right treatment.
In our complex and highly regulated industry, it takes expertise to evaluate risks and guide clients to the right coverage. That means agents need to be ready with meaningful insights that go beyond what clients can find on their own.
Forward-looking agencies are responding by up-skilling their agents on advising and industry knowledge. Their growth plans include additional investment in insurance-specific knowledge databases to make sure that their teams have access to the most up-to-date information—giving agents (especially new ones) a boost in confidence and accuracy. The most advanced tools are also layering in natural language AI search capabilities so that agents can quickly find relevant, vetted answers without needing to sift through hundreds of pages of material.
Diversification matters more than ever
Here’s an uncomfortable truth: AI may change how clients buy coverage for simpler risks. More sophisticated chatbots, AI-assisted search, and embedded insurance options will make it easy and fast for clients to find coverage for uncomplicated insurance needs.
Diversification is not optional if agencies want to stay competitive as AI simplifies personal lines. One of the most strategic shifts we’re seeing? Agencies are rethinking their book of business.
Some are expanding into new lines—life, health, employee benefits, cyber, and specialty commercial—as a hedge against commoditization in personal lines. Others are going deep, developing hyper-specialized expertise in industries where their guidance can’t be easily replaced by AI or a direct quote.
Agencies that are finding new paths to growth
in the AI era aren’t chasing trends. They’re keeping
an eye on how AI is reshaping what clients expect
and making deliberate decisions about how AI fits into their business.
And AI features in insurance-specific tools are lowering the barrier to entry for agencies. From digital life insurance platforms to agent-friendly MGA portals, it’s getting easier to sell new products without reinventing the wheel. But here’s the key: Agents who make the move to new lines of business will need a stronger, more reliable knowledge base to support credibility.
That’s where risk advisory tools and AI-powered research can help producers build credibility fast in new lines of business. Agents who make the move will also need a stronger, more reliable knowledge base to support credibility. The future favors those who combine curiosity, commitment, and access to the right knowledge.
Let AI handle the busywork
Deeper advising and diversification are possible only when agents have the time to invest in them. For years, our industry has talked about streamlining manual work to free up time for more growth-focused activities, like deeper account rounding and better producer development. AI is finally making that shift real.
Today, AI can assist with document comparison, quoting workflows, intake forms, and more, to reduce hours of back-office legwork into seconds. And this isn’t just theoretical. Agencies are already using embedded AI in their management systems to automatically surface client data, verify application info, and flag gaps before they become E&O risks.
By automating low-value tasks, agencies unlock capacity for the high-value work that unlocks sustainable, long-term growth: advising clients, developing staff, and building relationships. The AI-equipped agency isn’t buried in paperwork; it’s able to focus on impact.
Analytics that drive action
Data insights are table stakes for agency growth in the age of AI. To lead the game, agencies need tools that guide smart action, not just show data.
Modern analytics tools—especially those that are deeply integrated with an agency’s core management system and tech stack—can quickly surface actionable growth opportunities, like retention risks, cross-sell opportunities, and profitable new products or markets.
For example, if a client changes ZIP codes, analytics, paired with agency data, should be able to look at information from similar clients in that region and guide the agent to provide coverage advice tailored to their new part of town.
This is where we’re seeing AI-backed data analysis really shine. It can go beyond surfacing information to spotting meaningful trends and suggesting timely, business-moving actions. That might mean prompting a renewal conversation, identifying needed coverage based on peer benchmarks, or alerting the team to cross-sell potential within a household.
But data alone isn’t enough. Clients expect more than insight. They expect relevance. That’s where personalization takes center stage.
Personalization takes relationships to the next level
Several years ago, our industry was buzzing about providing an “Amazon experience.” The goal was to match the speed, ease, and tailored service that consumers had come to expect from e-commerce. In response, agencies pushed themselves to raise the bar on their client experience, and they saw higher retention rates and more connected clients as a result.
Today, personalization has evolved much, much further. It’s not just about preferences or buying histories. Consumers are used to a “for you” experience in their social media feeds and highly tailored content in every app. They now expect the same from their insurance experience.
With AI, agencies can once again evolve their client experience. Far from dehumanizing our industry, AI-enabled communications enable agents to provide personalized content and advising at scale. From customized renewal reminders to timely advice based on life changes or local risk trends, even small agencies can now deliver tailored communications across their client base without a full marketing department.
Most important, with tech-assisted personalization, agencies don’t have to choose between efficiency and building relationships. Personalization isn’t meant to replace relationships but, rather, to enable them at a higher standard. AI-powered tools can get the right information to the right clients at the right time—delivering on the promise of service that sets independent agents apart.
A preview of what’s possible
Agencies are on the cusp of a new frontier: AI agents customized for their individual business. These purpose-built tools can quickly query internal systems, analyze client histories, and spot trends and patterns in an agency’s book of business. And when those internal agents connect with AI agents in trusted industry knowledge databases, they can generate personalized insights that are backed by the most current industry information.
Imagine this: A CSR sits down and asks, “Which clients in this ZIP code have homeowners policies, and what other coverages are common for similar households?”
The AI agent answers instantly by pulling information from the agency’s own pool of related clients and the latest publications from carriers and industry analysts.
These assistant-style agents are already being prototyped. Some agencies are building their own. Others will connect to emerging tools from their technology providers. What they share is the ability to act as both a memory bank and a strategic advisor, fusing the agency’s institutional knowledge with the insurance industry’s collective intelligence.
We’re not far from seeing this become a daily part of agency workflows. It’s a future that puts tailored insights at an agent’s fingertips and makes every conversation more impactful.
How agencies grow next depends on what they do now
Agencies that are finding new paths to growth in the AI era aren’t chasing trends. They’re keeping an eye on how AI is reshaping what clients expect and making deliberate decisions about how AI fits into their business. And above all, they’re keeping the “human” in the loop.
Growth in the AI era won’t come from flashy tools or one-time campaigns. It will come from building a culture that embraces change, prioritizes impact, and never stops learning.
The agencies that win in the next decade will be the ones that stay grounded in their purpose while evolving how they deliver on it.
The author
David Kallman, vice president of product management, is the product leader shaping Vertafore’s ReferenceConnect solution and its next-generation AI search capabilities. Drawing on deep insurtech domain knowledge and prior go-to-market leadership, he blends respect for proven industry practices with forward-looking strategy to help carriers and agencies navigate complexity and achieve lasting operational clarity.
