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[00:00:04] Paul Lucas: 
Hello everyone and welcome to Insurance Business TV as we celebrate one of our 5-Star technology and software providers. Yes, every year we gather the opinions of the insurance industry across the nation to find out which tech and software providers are actually delivering for them. Among this year's winners was Vertafore and in this edition we're joined by its Chief Product Officer James Thom to find out more about its solutions, what's next and of course AI. James, welcome to Insurance Business TV. 

[00:00:31] James Thom: 
Thanks for having me, Paul. 

[00:00:33] Paul Lucas: 
So James, congratulations on being named a 2025 Global 5-Star Technology and Software Provider. What does this recognition mean for Vertafore and the insurance community that you serve? 

[00:00:43] James Thom: 
Yeah, it's our fourth year running, I think, having achieved the 5-Star Technology Provider Award. And it's a recognition that reflects the trust that the insurance industry places in Vertafore in our role in shaping technology and our role in understanding insurance distribution and how to drive it forward. And Vertafore is a company that has many years of experience in insurance distribution, serving retail agencies, MGAs, wholesalers, program administrators, carriers, the whole gamut, delivering solutions that help drive each of them forward and help connect that entire distribution channel. And one of our founding principles in serving those customers is that customer success is our success. And awards like this validate that we're delivering on that promise, simplifying and automating the work that those clients do in the insurance lifecycle and allowing them to focus on their clients and growing their businesses. So incredibly important award for Vertafore as we think about driving the insurance distribution channel forward. 

[00:01:46] Paul Lucas: 
Well, let's delve a little bit more into that experience, if we can, that you referenced there. Of course, you said four years in a row with this award, but Vertafore has been part of the insurance ecosystem for more than 55 years. So how has that history shaped your ability to anticipate and indeed to meet the industry's evolving needs? 

[00:02:05] James Thom: 
Yeah, it's an incredible history here at Vertafore. Like you said, more than 55 years serving the insurance distribution channel. Insurance is regulated. It's got a lot of specialized areas. It's complex. And that history builds a lot of experience in understanding how our agencies, insurers, MGAs, and regulators operate in the insurance distribution channel and helps us build trusted partnerships with those clients so that we can work with them going forward. So that nuanced view that we get out of all that history partnered with bringing in people who understand new technologies like artificial intelligence and how we can drive everything forward is incredibly important. You know, we've built decades of success in areas like personal lines, comparative rating, tying the different parts of the industry together around connecting in the commercial line spaces, carriers and agents, and solving some of these really complex challenges. We partner that with bringing in new acquisitions like the Surefire acquisition we did last year to bring new AI technologies to bear. And it allows us really to push the industry forward. So that combination of expertise and history along with new technologies, is a great differentiator for Vertafore and helps us drive our customer success. 

[00:03:26] Paul Lucas: 
And on the subject of differentiators, of course, your solutions span the full independent insurance distribution lifecycle from agencies to carriers to regulators. So how does that breadth of perspective help you to drive innovation and to create that long-term value? 

[00:03:44] James Thom: 
Yeah. So, you know, as mentioned, we service that entire gamut of the insurance distribution channel. And that gives us a really privileged position to play in to solve complex multi-party problems. You know, when agents are talking about efficiency and how they get more efficient, a lot of it is in the basis of how do I reduce the amount of duplicate data entry that I need to do to get my job done, to service my clients better. And we're able to bring things like the quoting process into a more streamlined format by working with all the parties in the distribution channel to reduce the complexity and the amount of duplicate data entry that exists. And so because we serve that full lifecycle of customers, we're in a unique position. Nobody else serves as many agencies, as many MGAs, as many carriers as Vertafore, and it helps us break down those silos across the insurance distribution channel and help everybody be easier to do business with, help them grow faster and be more efficient. So it's a very special place for Vertafore to be. 

[00:04:46] Paul Lucas: 
Well, you mentioned that key word, the efficiency, which brings me neatly to the words AI, or rather the letters AI. It is becoming, of course, such a critical force in technology. So how are you approaching AI to strengthen relationships and indeed to simplify the insurance lifecycle? 

[00:05:04] James Thom: 
Yeah, you know, we view artificial intelligence as a real partner to the insurance distribution channel. It's not something that will fully replace insurance professionals anytime soon, but it will unlock a lot of their ability to do the things that really matter, help them focus on clients, help them focus on expertise, help them focus on relationships. And so our approach to artificial intelligence is really grounded in that. How do we use AI to drive more efficiency in the share and distribution channel. And we started investing here at Vertafore in artificial intelligence many years ago, back before we even really started using the word AI back in 2017, building out our data science and machine learning capabilities such that we can be doing things like predictive intelligence, which becomes part of artificial intelligence and driving the industry forward. And we continue to invest with acquisitions like the Surefire acquisition that we did last year. And so we find ways to use AI to drive efficiency, workflow efficiency for our customers. Think about how do I reduce the amount of manual data input that I have to do inside of my system? So taking unstructured information from policy documents, a summary of benefits and coverage in the employee benefits space, and being able to upload that automatically into the system and structure all the data into the platform that takes minutes away from users having to slam away at a keyboard and enter that information into the system and gives better quality data to the agency, to the MGA, to the carrier to use in their own operations. We're using AI to help predict things like retention risks so that as our customers are going through a renewal process, they can focus their attention on those customers that are likely to churn, the policies that they're likely to lose and where do they potentially need to spend more time in the renewals process, remarketing, thinking about opportunities for how to better service that client. At the same time, using AI to identify areas where that client is maybe underserved. They don't have the coverages that they need in order to reduce their risk as a business and help prompt the account manager or the producer to have conversations around additional lines of business that may need to sell. And so all of that really helps the insurance channel be more efficient to cross-sell more, to grow faster. And that's a really important role that we see artificial intelligence playing with our users, our customers. 

[00:07:34] Paul Lucas: 
Clearly, you're very much in the forefront of artificial intelligence. But looking ahead, what's next for Vertafore? How do you see the company continuing to be that sort of partner for the future? An industry, of course, that is being reshaped by technology and indeed by customer expectations as well. 

[00:07:50] James Thom: 
Yeah, I mean, a lot of that has to do with artificial intelligence and where we see artificial intelligence playing a role in the future for our users. Think about the opportunity for us to use natural language capabilities inside of our applications to reduce the amount of time that our users and customers have to spend learning the product. I want to be able to run an endorsement transaction through a natural language engagement with the system rather than having to click through a complicated workflow and really understand it. How can the system support you in a natural language way and doing more. And so we have a lot of investment going into these areas of modernizing the interface to take advantage of these AI capabilities along the way. You know, we're investing a lot at Vertafore in supporting the infrastructure for our clients to help them innovate with AI. So we've been investing in what we call our Agency One platform, which brings a simplified user experience to our users, but brings a platform experience to our agency clients so that they can get the access to the data that they need to power their own artificial intelligence strategies, the APIs that they need to connect the AgencyOne platform into the rest of their ecosystem and drive their own growth forward. And then we've been investing in optimizing distribution for carriers. How do we support them through our CIRCON connected network to deliver a more comprehensive distribution management platform? Leveraging the power of compliance with compensation management, with producer onboarding to make that more streamlined and making ourselves easier to do business with and make our clients easier to do business. And then investing a lot in our MGA technology stack, investing to help them with more automation in the underwriting process and the ability to create digitized submission workflows and AI-based submission intake into the MGA and speed up the way that they do business and get their products to market faster. So the big picture is that at Vertafore, we're really looking ahead to say, how is AI going to transform user experiences inside of our solutions? And we're building the infrastructure to make sure that we can support our clients now and into the long term. 

[00:10:08] Paul Lucas: 
Yeah, with that much innovation, James, it looks like you might have an eye on a fifth straight title. But huge thanks for your time today and congratulations again to Vertafore on being named among this year's five-star technology and software providers. Clearly exciting things in the works for Vertafore and hopefully more excitement coming to you as well. Just keep it right here at Insurance Business TV.