Angela Alaniz, Chief Digital Officer, CRC Group

Garrett Koehn, Co-President of Brokerage, CRC Group

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The growth of insurtech as an industry has skyrocketed in recent years, revolutionizing the insurance industry. Insurtechs continue to attract investors and foster a thriving ecosystem, fueling productive collaboration among insurance carriers, retail agents, wholesale brokers, and technology firms.

Utilized well, insurtechs have the power to transform insurance through data-driven approaches that improve accuracy, efficiency, analysis, communication, and collaboration, resulting in insurance offerings that support a more competitive marketplace.

Wholesale brokerages like CRC Group play a vital role in this startup ecosystem partly due to our unique positioning and scale. Sitting as a neutral distributor between tens of thousands of retail agencies and 650+ insurance carriers, MGAs, Lloyd's brokers, and reinsurance brokers, CRC is uniquely positioned to help startup companies with both distribution and capacity strategy.

Additionally, and importantly, since launching our data and analytics strategy in 2016, we've adopted a successful build/buy approach to provide a full suite of unmatched tools that help CRC Group, retail brokers, and insurance carriers outperform competitors.

While we've built many proprietary technology tools ourselves, we've also partnered with innumerable insurtechs in product development through POCs (proofs of concept). From risk management tools, policy comparisons, algorithmic underwriting, parametric innovations, and even our unsurpassed API connectivity, our cutting-edge tools enable Team CRC to deliver all of the value clients expect from CRC producers offline, in the online environment, all at the click of a button.

Our building approach has armed CRC producers with actionable tools like the REDY Index and Go To Market capabilities that align with the insurtechs we're using to power our Quick Quotes (instant quoting) platform. The insurtechs we've partnered with play a key role in helping us deliver results to our clients and build efficiency into each interaction so that we can better connect and collaborate with carrier and retail partners.

A few examples:

• Trustlayer (BTV 2020) provides CRC document compliance services that would have been difficult to scale in its absence.

• Relativity6 (BTV 2021) does a great job of providing industry classification data. This information helps us quickly determine the nature of operations and provides increased comfort with account data.

• Leveraging API connectivity via Herald API adds efficiency, brings value, and allows us to provide quick access to needed products for our brokers and retail partners through our Quick Quotes platform.

What's next?

BrokerTech Ventures is a material source when looking for promising startups and partnerships with startups completing a POC. It's also a collaborative spot for insurance retailers from a technology standpoint. Not all apply to wholesalers like CRC Group, but some certainly do, and staying aware of emerging technology ignites our imagination about possibilities for the future.

From the beginning, CRC has taken a value-driven approach to data and analytics, thoughtfully refining our strategy to prove our value by generating better client outcomes. We're excited to continue leading innovation in the space and rely on insurtechs to build new digital capabilities that enhance the customer experience.

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