Known for specialized expertise and the ability to innovate in niche markets, Managing General Agents (MGAs) are perfectly positioned to seize a wealth of new opportunities. With the latest advancements in technology, growth potential has never been more promising. Scalable technology sits at the center of this transformation, empowering MGAs to accelerate growth while keeping costs low and control high.
In this blog, we’ll explore the dynamic MGA landscape and uncover how embracing modern, agile platforms isn’t just an option—it’s the gateway to a future that demands speed and flexibility.
Technology-Enabled MGAs are Leading the Way
Across the insurance industry, MGAs are redefining what’s possible. By blending deep knowledge with modern technology, forward-thinking MGAs are unlocking outcomes that were once out of reach. With hyper-automation and artificial intelligence now streamlining operations and enhancing underwriting, MGAs are achieving agility and responsiveness at remarkable scale.
Consider the progress made over the past decade. Many MGAs have shifted away from slow, outdated systems and manually intensive processes. Today’s technology-first MGAs are able to rapidly launch products while accessing real-time insights that empower smarter decisions. Farmsure Underwriters, for example, achieved a 50% surge in Gross Written Premium (GWP) within only eight months by modernizing a complex farm insurance product with scalable technology.
This is not just an industry trend—it’s a redefinition of the MGA business model. Private equity and venture capital are investing in MGAs that demonstrate robust analytics, exceptional underwriting capabilities, and efficient distribution. The message is clear: technology-enabled MGAs are primed for extraordinary growth.
Harnessing Modern Technology for Growth
Modern, cloud-native platforms enable MGAs to scale with confidence, streamline the onboarding process, and respond rapidly to market shifts. Niche MGAs can secure first-mover advantage in entirely new markets, and established MGAs can amplify their reach with unprecedented speed.
Imagine being able to design and launch a new specialty insurance product across multiple states or countries within weeks. This is the sort of accelerated speed to market that is fast becoming the benchmark for MGAs with high growth ambitions.
Crucially, today’s platforms help MGAs achieve industry-leading efficiency. By aligning technology investment to as little as 1% of GWP, MGAs can boost profitability while delivering exceptional value to their brokers and policyholders.
Scaling Up: How New Platforms Accelerate MGA Success
Unlocking opportunity is all about removing barriers and maximizing resources. Scalable, agile platforms like INSTANDA enable MGAs to deliver scalable market-leading products and customer experiences.
Launching a new product in under six weeks or developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) in just four weeks gives MGAs enormous flexibility to test ideas, attract investors, and deliver value quickly. Lessening engineering dependencies means business teams can innovate directly, creating a culture where experimentation and adaptation is seamless.
Savvi’s rapid success in launching a comprehensive homeowners insurance product is a testament to the power of scalable technology. In just 18 months, Savvi went from concept to market, leveraging INSTANDA’s no-code platform to build a 10-point smart home kit, an AI-powered self-inspection app, and an agent portal that enables policies to be quoted and bound in under five minutes. Agents can quote and bind policies in under five minutes, with 95% of application data pre-filled. Since launch, Savvi has doubled its premium month-over-month and expanded into three states, with plans to reach five more in the coming months. By focusing on risk prevention and customer engagement, Savvi has set a new standard for service-driven insurance.
Smarter, More Effective Underwriting
Imagine automating 80% of underwriting tasks so your underwriters can focus where they add the most value. INSTANDA embeds logic directly into systems and provide unified access to data, streamlining even the most complex portfolios. Take Great Plains Casualty, for example. They built a “no-touch” process for its commercial trucking product, leading to a rapid expansion, powered by straight-through processing. Within four months of going live, Great Plains Casualty expanded into 19 new states, setting themselves up for 8x revenue growth, transforming operational challenges into a launchpad for nationwide success.
Expanding Distribution and Deepening Broker Relationships
Rapid growth requires strong distribution capability. Modern technology solutions like INSTANDA enable MGAs to empower brokers with self-service options, personalize branding, and accelerate every stage from quote to bind.
Take Flow Flood Insurance as an example. They wanted to make quoting simple and fast for agents, but that meant navigating multiple platforms and complex regulations. For Flow Flood, the old way of doing things was too slow. Flow Flood had a vision for something far better: a unified digital marketplace where agents could quote, bind and renew policies in minutes. By launching their innovative platform (on INSTANDA), they didn't just simplify a process; they reinvented it. Their agent base tripled in four months, and they expanded into 18 states.
The results speak for themselves. Flow Flood Insurance was able to create a digital flood marketplace, reduce agent onboarding time from days to minutes, and triple its agent base in just four months.
Future-Ready for the Decade Ahead
MGAs adopting scalable and cloud-based technology are setting themselves up for sustainable success. The coming years will bring even more powerful solutions, highly personalized customer experiences, and seamless integrations. Whether it’s launching in new countries, evolving product lines, or integrating with third-party providers, modern platforms make it easy to stay flexible and competitive—today and tomorrow.
As technology continues to reshape the insurance industry, the most ambitious, future-focused MGAs will be the ones setting the pace. The best advice? Choose your technology partners wisely and unlock a brighter, bigger future for your business.
Want to see how leading MGAs are scaling with confidence? Get your copy of the MGA ROI Playbook, “1% Tech Spend. 100% Control,” for actionable strategies and real-world insights.
