What Is an Agency Management System (AMS) for Life & Health Insurance? (2024)

What's the Difference?

An Agency Management System vs. a Generic CRM: What's the Difference?

When comparing an insurance agency management system (AMS) with a generic CRM, there are three significant differences: who specifically it's built for, what features it includes, and how productive it makes you and your team.

Generic CRMs are built in a way that businesses of all sizes and industries can often utilize them. There are generic CRMs that are more geared for sizes of businesses, like small business, mid market, and large enterprises.

However, for insurance agencies to use CRMs effectively, they often need to build extensive customizations that can cost a significant amount of time and money. Many agencies have to seek out a developer or third party to assist in these customizations. Alternatively, an insurance-specific AMS includes important CRM capabilities, but is built for the specific needs of insurance agencies and includes specific field types (coverage types, policy details, etc.), policy management, contact type distinction (individuals vs. groups), sales and compliance management, and more.

Key Features of an Insurance Agency Management System

Industry-Specific CRM

Track and manage your prospects, clients, and policiesusing a system intuitively built for health, benefits, and senior market insurance agencies.

Sales Management

Seamlessly manage your leads, sales opportunities, appointments, and prospect communicationto improve your sales efforts.

Commissions Processing

Streamline commissions processing by using one system to track both your prospect, client, and policy data alongsideyour commissions.

Workflow Automation

Create processes and automate your daily, repetitive tasks to create efficiencies and consistency throughout your agency.

Dashboard Analytics

Monitor real-time analytics to keep a pulse on your agency and address situations before they become problems.

Custom Reporting

Pull insightful reports that are helpful and useful in making more informed decisions for the future.

Policy Management

Manage policies in the same place as your prospects and clients to streamline business processes and provide more value to your clients.

Cloud-Based Access

Access your book of business from anywhere with a cloud-based AMS.

Cross-Selling

Grow your book of business from within by quickly identifying and acting upon cross-sell opportunities.

Tour an Industry-Specific AMS

Questions to Ask Agency Management System Vendors

One of the first steps to take when selecting an AMS is to define your needs, wants, and goals.Aneedis what you must have to function at your current level.Awantis something that you would like to have to improve upon current operations.

The next step is knowing what to ask AMS vendors—which can be challenging. Here are three areas to focus on:

What does data migration to an AMS entail?
Data migration is the act of bringing all of your data points (contacts, attachments, notes, commissions, to-dos, etc.) over from your current system to your new AMS. The migration itself can vary widely from vendor to vendor, so be sure to ask these questions.
How secure is the AMS?
No matter which AMS you choose, knowing the level of security around the system is crucial. They’ll be storing all of your and your client’s sensitive data, so make sure to ask these critical questions.
Who is the AMS vendor?
Your AMS should be more than just software. It should be your partner. A tool that you can use to help you reach your goals. Look beyond the product to ensure the vendor aligns with your goals and your brand.

5 Steps to Choosing the Right AMS

You want to ensure you're making the right decision for your agency when choosing a new agency management system (AMS). Take your time and follow these 5 steps to help you find the right technology partner:

Identify Your Pain Points & Goals
Identify Your Needs & Wants
Research Your Vendors
Make a Decision
Manage the Change

Learn more in our infographic:Select the Right Agency Management System for Your Agency in 5 Steps.

Agency Solutions

AgencyBloc's Plus Suite: An Unparalleled Agency Management Platform

With a range of insurance-specific agency management and CRM tools, plus our industry-leadingtraining and support, we've got you covered.

AMS+

AgencyBloc’s AMS+, is an all-encompassing, industry-specific sales and servicing management solution designed to help your team be more efficient, increase sales, and improve client retention. Features include:

Insurance-specific CRM to streamline customer service
Comprehensive policy management
Built-in retention-focused workflow automation
Integrated insurance VoIP and click-to-call
Customizable electronic compliance management

Learn more about AMS+

Commissions+

AgencyBloc’s Commissions+ solution streamlines commissions processing and management, saves your team serious time, and can help you uncover thousands of dollars in missing compensation. Features include:

Streamlined commissions processing with customizable payout structures
Missed or inaccurate commission payment identification
Agent statement generator
In-depth reporting and data analysis

Learn more about Commissions+

Quote+

Quote+, an AgencyBloc solution, is an all-in-one quoting and proposal tool group benefits brokers can use to streamline client servicing and retention. Features include:

Medically underwritten, community rated, and ancillary product quoting
Employer and employee data tracking
Medical health questionnaire tools
Customizable employer-ready benefit proposals

Learn more about Quote+