Happy New Year! I think we can safely say that 2020 was a year like no other!
The pandemic forced the insurance industry, and many others, to embrace changes in how they interacted within agencies, with carriers, and insureds. These changes validated the importance of several of our 2020 roadmap initiatives, which continued the charge in leading the industry forward through new technology, with a focus on customer self-service and automation to bring digital connectivity. We saw EZLynx agencies quickly shift to embrace products like EZLynx Client Center, Eva (the EzLynx Virtual Agent who can respond to simple text message requests and create follow-up tasks), and the new EZLynx Connect Marketplace. Though last year proved challenging, joining forces with Applied will help us continue to deliver products that help agencies increase profitability and drive the industry forward.
Agency Partners
We recognize that our agency partners believe in us and trust us as their vendor of choice because we know that technology and innovation can change the industry for the better, and we spend day and night looking for ways to make agencies more productive, more profitable, and fortified for the future.
Our customer’s faith in that partnership, and their decision to choose us, means everything to us. I want to thank you for that trust. Our partnership with Applied expands our ability to use our passion, creativity, and innovative spirit to solve agency problems and bring transformation to the industry.
Looking Ahead
Both EZLynx and Applied have a deep conviction that technology innovation is the only way forward for the industry. Our vision to equip independent agents with the tools to help them sell, service, and grow through technology remains unwavering.
Connect
We believe that digital connectivity is paramount to helping the independent agency channel remain competitive. Our agent partners are forward-thinking and ready to embrace technology to improve all areas of their business. Our vision of the Connect Marketplace is an interconnected digital ecosystem that enables agents to choose from the best solutions available. It is like the glue that holds multiple systems and vendors together seamlessly. Our focus in 2021 is to aggressively increase the available vendors and their interconnectivity into all areas of the customer lifecycle.
Automate
Part of the EZLynx 5 vision is a fully automated and connected system to help drive agency productivity, freeing agents to focus on their customer relationships. We plan to continue the effort to expand this automation across our products and vendor partners to help agencies increase scale and remain competitive.
Service
Agency servicing remains an important focus area in 2021. We truly believe there is tremendous opportunity to help our agencies scale. We’ve invested greatly in the commercial space over the past several years. The full commercial policy lifecycle process in our industry is disjointed. The bulk of insuretech investments ignore the independent commercial agency. We believe this is an area with tremendous potential for automation, vendor partnerships, and advancements in the consumer experience. Our goal is to deliver insurance solutions for forward-thinking agents and the engaged consumer through increased digital connectivity and improved experience.
Change can be scary, but it is part of transformation. We are thankful for our customers’ unwavering belief in our vision to keep moving forward. The entire EZLynx Team is looking forward to joining forces with Applied Systems to continue bringing our vision to the industry on an even greater scale.
Don’t Forget…
Our upcoming January episode of EZLynx Live will include a pre-recorded Q&A with EZLynx CEO Nag Rao and Applied CEO Taylor Rhodes about this strategic acquisition, so be sure to tune in here on Thursday, January 28th at 12 PM Central Time.
And while you wait, you can also check out our December episode, which includes a walkthrough of many of the enhancements we rolled out over the past year.