Key Takeaways
90% of insurance agents have reduced business with a carrier because of workflow friction.
Agents now rank simple quoting over commission as a placement driver, nearly 2-to-1.
Commercial submission automation is the top agent ask for a second straight year, at 79%.
Risk appetite inside the agency management system (AMS) and consistent policy download are now baseline expectations.
People, pricing and products have always mattered when agents choose where to place business. But this year's data in our 2026 Carrier-Agency Connection Report indicates a fourth factor carriers can't afford to overlook: process. In our survey, 90% of the 700+ agents we heard from said they've reduced business with a carrier due to workflow friction. When we asked what drives their placement decisions, a simple quoting process outranked commission by nearly 2-to-1.
Every re-key, every inconsistent underwriting question, every extra log in is a moment where carriers are asking their agency partners to do more work than necessary. Fixing that starts with listening to what they told us this year. Let's dive in.
Finding the friction
Re-keying, inconsistent underwriting questions, slow portals and multiple logins rose to the top as frustrations impacting our respondents' carrier choices. More than a third of our agent respondents navigate slow portals, and almost the same number manage multiple logins to complete a transaction that starts and ends in their AMS.
| Top Agent Workflow Pain Point | % Citing |
|---|---|
| Re-keying | 74% |
| Inconsistent underwriting questions | 42% |
| Slow portals | 38% |
| Multiple logins | 37% |
Three key investments that distinguish growing carriers
When agents pull information without re-entering it, verify availability and eligibility before submissions, and move through underwriting without delay, a connected insurance workflow is doing its job. Successful carriers are prioritizing that kind of consistency.
Let's look at three ways you can stand out to agents based on our survey responses:
Consistent policy download
Agents juggling multiple carrier partnerships are especially sensitive to any inconsistencies in policy downloads. And this year, 94% of agents ranked policy download as important or very important, and it ranked number one among the digital capabilities that create the most operational value. With tech like Ivans Download™, you can work in a single, open exchange to eliminate multiple solutions and policy information is synced in real time.
Integrate appetite into AMS workflows
Real-time appetite visibility ranked third in digital capabilities that have the most impact on sales and revenue. And while agent respondents didn't list appetite as a top-of-mind factor in operational impact, the data shows it plays a real role in placement decisions (where it rose to third). Tools like Ask Kodiak® give agents real-time risk appetite directly to their rating workflows.
Automate commercial submissions
When we asked where agents want more automation from carriers, 79% of our respondents selected commercial submission automation as their answer. Cytora's risk digitization turns unstructured submission data into actionable transactions, removing the manual intake bottlenecks that slow carriers down.
Ready to win more placements?
Agents want data that arrives pre-filled. Carriers want submissions that arrive ready to underwrite, not buried in manual review. Closing that gap is on us, on both ends of the same workflow: Ivans® connects the agency side, delivering appetite and policy data directly into the systems 38,000+ agencies already use. Cytora™, now part of Applied Systems®, digitizes what arrives on the carrier side into a decision-ready transaction before an underwriter opens the file. Download your copy of the 2026 Carrier-Agency Connection Report for full insights.
Author
Zaheer Hooda
Zaheer brings over 20 years of experience consulting and working across insurance and technology industries. With a focus on adoption of digital solutions, data, and process optimization technologies, he has a breadth of experience across digital transformation. Prior to his role at Applied Systems, he was the GM for North America at Cytora. Prior to that, he was the SVP of Data and Digital Enablement for Hiscox USA, where he drove strategic and operational transformations through the use of Data, Analytics, and Automation technologies. Previously, he worked at McKinsey and Company, leading multiple projects focused on service operations and technology.
