Managing agent licensing is a business-critical function for insurers and agencies. But as insurers and agencies look to grow, they face increasing complexity in the compliance practice. Increasing M&A, territorial expansion, and changing regulations make it difficult for insurers to react quickly and meet the needs of a rapidly scaling agency population.

While the traditional way of handling licensing has been insourcing the process with a team of specialists, advanced licensing technology, which is focused on license management, can provide tools to optimize this process. Outsourcing this process is another tactic that a growing number of insurers, agencies, and call center operations are embracing.

The decision to insource using an agency licensing system to enable in-house operations, or outsource to an expert licensing managed services provider, is based on many factors, which this paper will explore, including the distribution channel type.

Savvy players are looking for new techniques to improve licensing operations while reducing costs. Some will look for fit-for-purpose technology. Others will look to outsource the process altogether. A variety of factors weigh into that decision.

We’ll look at the different challenges faced by insurers, agencies, and call centers in the compliance process. And we’ll lay out some of the factors to consider when deciding whether to purchase technology designed specifically to manage the compliance process — or whether to consider managed services.