Agent Portal: The Future of Insurance Sales and Service

Just a decade ago, the role of an insurance agent was often associated with carrying stacks of paper documents, manually filling out forms, and running back and forth between clients and the insurance company’s office. Today, that image is rapidly becoming outdated. Customers demand fast service, personalized offers, instant quotes, and seamless policy issuance – ideally online or, at the very least, supported by modern digital tools.

According to McKinsey’s “Insurance 2030” report, a staggering 80% of sales interactions in the insurance industry will take place through digital or hybrid channels by the end of this decade. Agents will remain a critical part of the sales and customer service ecosystem, but they will increasingly become digital advisors, not merely salespeople.

In Poland and across Europe, one example of such a solution is Decerto’s Agent Portal, successfully implemented by several large insurance companies seeking to enhance their sales networks and improve customer service efficiency.

Why an Agent Portal is Becoming Essential

Being an insurance agent today involves far more than just selling policies. Agents must:

• Create tailored insurance offers for clients,

• Generate real-time premium quotes,

• Handle claims reporting or policy changes,

• Check payment statuses and settlements,

• Track their own sales performance, commissions, and targets,

• Meet compliance requirements, including regulatory disclosures to clients.

This leads to frustration, errors, and, most importantly, slows down customer service. Capgemini research shows that, across Europe, agents spend as much as 30-40% of their time on administrative tasks rather than focusing on sales and advising customers.

The Agent Portal solves this problem by integrating everything into a single platform.

What Can an Agent Portal Do? Key Features

A modern Agent Portal is the mission control center for an insurance agent. Decerto’s Agent Portal, deployed at several major insurers in Poland, offers a range of features that completely transform the agent’s experience – whether working from the office, remotely, or in the field.

1. Real-Time Premium Calculations

Agents can generate customer quotes within minutes. Decerto’s Agent Portal supports multiple lines of business (life, property, health, auto) and allows quick comparisons between insurance products. It’s a huge leap forward from the days when agents had to fill out forms manually, send them to the head office, and wait for calculations.

2. Online Policy Issuance

With Agent Portal, agents can not only prepare offers but also sign policies entirely digitally, using electronic signatures or one-time SMS codes. This reduces transaction times to just a few minutes and eliminates the need for physical meetings, especially important in a post-COVID world where customers expect digital convenience.

3. Post-Sale Service

Through the portal, agents can:

• Submit claims on behalf of clients,

• Process policy changes (e.g., updating personal details, expanding coverage),

• Check claim payout statuses,

• Generate certificates and documents for clients.

According to Accenture, 72% of insurance customers now expect easy, ongoing communication with their agent for post-sale services. Agent Portal makes this seamless.

4. Sales and Performance Dashboard

Agents gain access to dashboards displaying:

• Sales results,

• Commission earnings,

• Target progress,

• Portfolio structure across insurance products.

This isn’t just a motivational tool – it’s strategic. Agents can pinpoint where they excel and where to increase activity.

5. Integration with Core Systems

Decerto’s solution fully integrates with core insurance systems, CRM tools, payment systems, and data warehouses. This means all data is up to date, and agents have a unified customer view across all products and historical interactions.

Decerto’s Agent Portal – Real-World Implementations

Decerto has been delivering IT solutions to the insurance sector for years. Their Agent Portal has been rolled out at several large insurers in Poland (company names are confidential due to contractual obligations). The primary goals in each deployment were:

• Reducing policy issuance time to just a few minutes,

• Enabling agents to work anywhere – in the office, at home, or in client meetings,

• Minimizing the number of systems agents need to use,

• Ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements, including those from financial authorities and GDPR.

In one major implementation, the average time an agent needed to prepare a quote and issue a policy dropped from 2–3 days to just 15–20 minutes after adopting Decerto’s Agent Portal. That’s not just time saved – it’s also a significant boost in conversion rates, since customers are far less likely to abandon a purchase when they can get a quote and sign a policy on the spot.

The Digital Agent: Still Human, but Powered by Technology

Despite the growth of online channels, insurance agents are not going away. Data from the Polish Insurance Association shows that agents still mediate over 50% of all insurance contracts in the country, even those purchased online.

However, the agent’s role is evolving. They are becoming:

• Advisors, not just sellers,

• Partners in solving client problems (like claims handling),

• Guides through the complex world of insurance products.

Technology like the Agent Portal frees agents from tedious administrative tasks, letting them focus on what matters most – building relationships and providing expert advice.

Agent Portal is an Investment in the Future

Moving to a digital model in agency operations is no longer optional – it’s a necessity. Insurance companies that want to stay competitive must provide their sales networks with modern, integrated tools. Otherwise, they risk losing agents to more innovative competitors.

Solutions like Decerto’s Agent Portal demonstrate that technology doesn’t replace people – it empowers them. It’s a perfect example of how digitalization can boost efficiency, improve customer experience, and simultaneously strengthen the agent’s role as an essential link in the insurance value chain.

In an era where customers expect speed, simplicity, and personalization, the Agent Portal is no longer just a work tool – it’s a strategic asset for competitive advantage.