Brokers face mounting pressure from admin overload, compliance, fragmented systems, rigid products, and competitive pressures, leaving little room for high-value advisory work. Digital tools can reclaim the broker’s edge by automating admin, connecting systems, enabling flexible products, and amplifying the advisory role clients truly value. Success depends on collaboration between brokers, carriers, and tech providers to build interoperable systems that free brokers to focus on advice, trust, and long-term client relationships.
A broker's role
Brokers sit at the heart of insurance.
In the UK, for example, brokers continue to write around 80% of all commercial insurance premiums, a dominance that has barely shifted despite waves of digital disruption. It’s a similar story in South Africa, particularly in corporate and commercial lines where clients depend on trusted intermediaries to navigate complex regulatory and market dynamics.
At their best, brokers interpret risk, contextualise cover, and stand beside clients when claims test the relationship.
Yet the daily reality looks very different. Brokers are shackled by transactional tasks like re-keying data, chasing paperwork and navigating compliance rather than focusing on advisory and relationship-driven work that differentiates them.
The challenge is clear - how can digital tools strip away the transactional load so brokers can amplify the value that clients depend on?
The pressures brokers face
Commercial clients have grown used to instant quotes, real-time tracking, and digital transparency in every other part of their digital lives.
Insurance rarely keeps up.
Brokers are caught in the middle, facing friction on every side:
- Admin overload - Workflows are dominated by emails, PDFs, spreadsheets, and manually drafted advice records.
- Compliance weight - In South Africa, FAIS obligations, CPD tracking, and Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) audits add layers of admin. In the UK, brokers grapple with FCA reporting, Consumer Duty and fair value assessments.
- Fragmented systems - CRMs, quoting tools, and policy admin rarely connect, forcing duplication of data, reports and workflows.
- Capacity constraints - In hard markets, finding appetite, negotiating terms and explaining rising premiums stretch broker resources thin.
- Product rigidity - Carrier-driven products don’t always match client realities, leaving brokers to bridge gaps without the right tools.
- Competitive squeeze - Clients expect faster quotes, clearer advice and proactive insights, while price-driven competitors keep eroding differentiation.
In hard market conditions with premiums rising, capacity tightening and coverage terms narrowing, brokers spend more time firefighting than advising, leaving little room to focus on higher-value client conversations.
Reclaiming the broker’s edge with digital
Strip away the admin, and the true role of the broker comes into focus:
- Advising clients on risk prevention and smarter retention strategies.
- Navigating capacity constraints and complex market terms.
- Standing besides clients with claims, when trust is tested.
This is the work that clients value most and where digital tools can make the biggest difference. Not by replacing brokers, but by amplifying their edge
Imagine if:
- Meeting notes or client calls can be transcribed into advice records, with FAIS/FCA compliance automatically logged.
- CRMs, quoting platforms, and policy admin tools can connect into a single workflow, eliminating duplication and delays.
- Structured risk data allows carriers to respond faster, shrinking quote cycles from days to hours.
- Digital product engines let brokers tweak coverage or terms to match client needs, rather than forcing clients into rigid templates.
- Client-facing reports clearly capture broker recommendations highlighting value beyond price, reinforcing the advisory role.
These tools are already in the market. The challenge is adoption, and the willingness of brokers, carriers, and tech providers to collaborate at scale.
Why the broker-provider-technology relationship matters
For all the talk of innovation, the reality is that brokers rarely control their own tech destiny.
Much of the digital infrastructure they rely on is dictated by carriers and product providers.
This creates three recurring challenges:
- Claims communication gaps: Surveys show a majority of brokers still see providers failing to use technology to streamline claims, leaving brokers to bridge communication breakdowns with clients and the very moment trust is most at risk.
- System mandates: Brokers and UMA/MGAs affiliated with certain carriers are often required to use the carrier’s designated system. While these platforms may be integrated with the providers operations, they rarely flex to fit the brokers workflows or the clients needs.
- Fragmented adoption: With each carrier running its own portal, brokers juggle multiple logins, inconsistent data requirements, and rigid product templates, draining efficiency and service.
The implication is that a broker’s digital adoption strategy can’t be built in isolation. To unlock real efficiency, brokers must leverage and influence provider relationships across the policy lifecycle, from placement to claims. Where brokers push for interoperability and shared standards, the entire value chain benefits.
A future worth building
The brokers who thrive in the next decade won’t be defined by the forms they process or the binders they file. Those tasks are already being commoditised by automation.
Instead, the true measure of a brokerage will be its return to core purpose: delivering quality advice, navigating market complexity, and building enduring client trust.
Digital tools won’t replace brokers; they will clear the clutter, speed up routine work, and put the spotlight back on the client relationship.
In both South Africa and the UK, the broker’s role has never been more vital.
And with the right use of technology, it has never had more potential to grow.
