Kathy Bova, Vice President of Operations at ASNOA

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1. As someone who has worked in the independent agency space for years, what are some of the biggest changes you’ve seen in the industry over the years?

Not to date myself, (lol) but the innovations I’ve seen in the insurance industry have been mind-blowing! Moving data to the Cloud was one of the biggest changes to the industry offering us opportunities to access data anywhere–no longer were we tied to an office. Additionally, VOIP phone systems made remote work seamless for many of us in the industry. Interface communication between carriers and AMS systems continues revolutionize the policy and claims data transferred. Client facing mobile apps now offer customer service 24/7, comparative raters for Personal lines became the game changer (from manually quoting) and now we have commercial lines raters, like BOLD Penguin creating cost savings efficiencies.

Believe it or not with all the changes, we still have a ways to go! Independent Agents need to continually plan how innovations will change the way they plan their business in the future.

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2. You’ve seen a lot of great success stories in your work with independent agents. Can you share one or two examples that really stood out to you and why?

I’ve witnessed an agency launch from the ground floor who took advantage of implementing best practices for their teams by maximizing the capabilities of their AMS, being paperless, focused on specific industries. They became the SME and trusted advisor for those industries, implemented a great referral program, had consistent growth year over year, and took advantage of resources all with a perpetuation plan in mind of either retiring and obtaining the top dollar for their agency.

Another success story was an Independent Agent who embraced the changes in technology. They wrote down their business plan for the Infinite future, had a “Have a Plan Work your Plan” mentality. They believed in educating their team either by requiring each member to be specific insurance designations or take specific insurance training courses. They were transparent with their overall goals with their entire team, so they were all rowing in the same direction and I witnessed this agency flourish by breaking revenue records year or year! 

Giving our Affiliates/Independent Agents MORE carrier access, MORE resources, MORE expert support and MORE Education I believe puts our Independent Agents on a path of success!

These are true success stories and why I show up to work each and every day!

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3. Tell us about your Dynamic Women of Insurance Group and what inspired you to start it? How do you think this group can help support and elevate women in the industry?

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Dynamic Women of Insurance, originally “Women helping Women”, has been a long-term goal of mine! It was inspired by a few of us talking and sharing stories as to how we can support women in this industry. Our initial plan was to do an in-person or quarterly gathering. Then COVID hit, and it was put on the back burner. It’s 2023 and time to put our plan into action!

The goals are to create a mentorship by helping to educate Women on experiences we’ve each already endured, provide resources that would help grow a profitable agency, talk about protecting the Women of the family; how it is just as important, if not more so, than the Man of the family, and work life balance. My inspiration is a personal one, and I’ve wanted to share what I’ve learned along the way, leaving no stone unturned on these tough topics.  

Dynamic Women of Insurance was formed by several of us leaders in the industry. The more we talked, the more we learned we had a lot to share and many Women who thirst for knowledge. It excites me to know that we can be pleasantly surprised by what can come of a group of Women all together in one room. Our only agenda is to help educate and support each other!   

We’re excited to announce that we’ll be launching Dynamic Women of Insurance this month on LinkedIn and Facebook. We’ve met many Women leaders in the industry that are excited to share their stories and experiences and help in any way they can. We’ll be inviting them as featured guests each quarter!

Join Dynamic Women of Insurance on Linkedin or Facebook.