Apollo Exchange Platform Enables Brokers To Instantly Transact Insurance Online

A 2020 ICTA nomination

Toronto, ON (Jan. 13, 2020) – Apollo has built proprietary technology — a digital Exchange that allows brokers to place multiple, diverse insurance coverage lines from several different insurance carriers. Every product is immediate quote, immediate bind, and immediate policy issuance, online and in real time, without brokers and clients having to wait for an underwriter. To accomplish this, Apollo has partnered with several insurance carriers to supply product, and works with them to translate traditional applications to a digital format.

Development of the Exchange began in late 2018, and officially launched in June 2019.

We believe in the role of the broker in transacting insurance business, but that necessary advice and counsel they provide should be augmented by a fast, easy to use digital interface. Apollo continues to add carrier partners, digital insurance products, and broker partners.

Brokers are able to use the Exchange in two ways: Marketplace, and eCommerce plugins. Through Marketplace, brokers log in to the Exchange and browse insurance products, currently for over 600 classes of small business. Through Apollo’s eCommerce plugins, brokers can offer those insurance products directly from their website, 24/7. In either Marketplace or the eCommerce plugins, clients are able to purchase the policy online immediately, using their credit card, with the option of monthly pay. The policy documents are sent directly to their email inbox.

When it comes to building digital insurance products, we value the feedback we get from our broker partners. We know we will only be successful by adding the products to the Exchange that brokers are looking for. We engage with our stakeholders at all levels, collecting feedback in a systematic and disciplined way, before we deploy resources to digitize new products.

Once those products are built, we continue to iterate them. We use the extensive data that we collect to continually reassess our technology and the insurance products, analyzing it and then acting on those insights to eliminate pain points and accelerate efficiencies. Those insights have resulted in We also work hard to educate brokers on how to use the Exchange. We know that brokers’ time is limited, and just because the Exchange exists to simplify their manual processes and ultimately save them time, doesn’t mean they’re necessarily going to use it. Our Broker Success team works hard to create educational content including videos, webinars, a digital Help Centre, and are available through livechat, email, and telephone, making it as easy as possible for brokers to find the answers to their questions.

Other efforts the Apollo team has undertaken include:

  • Apollo CEO Jeff McCann has spoken at several high profile industry events, including the Insurance-Canada.ca Executive Forum, where the topic was adapting to the changing expectations of consumers and employees. He was also a guest speaker at a Young Insurance Professionals of Toronto event.
  • Our Broker Success Team produces a Feature of the Week video that walks users through a particular feature of the Exchange. In addition, they create video tutorials to answer frequently asked questions, in an effort to educate and inform users. The Broker Success Team also uses Livechat to provide immediate answers to brokers about products and the platform.
  • The Apollo Exchange blog content is centred around educating brokers on how to use digital tools — not just the Exchange, but social media, email marketing, improving search engine optimization, and more. This series is called “One Small Step,” and email updates go out to a readership of over a thousand. Apollo also produces a completely digital business magazine whose goal is to tell success stories, profile entrepreneurs, and inspire business owners in the digital age.
  • In an effort to change the way commercial insurance is perceived by the general public, Apollo introduced the concept of a monthly SMB insurance subscription. The Exchange allows the consumer to purchase their annual policy in 12 equal monthly payments, directly off their business credit card, making it more accessible to small business owners.
  • Apollo has been mentioned in over 100 press mentions. Insurance industry publications include Insurance Journal, Insurance Business Magazine (Both Canada and US), Canadian Underwriter, AM Best News, and Insurance-Canada.ca. Apollo has additionally been featured in mainstream Journal for our proprietary technology, fundraising efforts, and expansion to the U.S. market. Apollo CEO Jeff McCann has been profiled by BC Business Magazine. Cumulatively this has resulted in 8 million impressions.
  • Apollo is a finalist in two categories at this year’s Insurance Business Canada Awards: Jeff McCann for CEO of the Year, and Apollofor Digital Innovator of the Year.

Business Impact

APOLLO is a completely original business model, built with proprietary technology. We are supporting the broker channel by providing technology that enables brokers to offer their clients faster, digitally enhanced service and product variety in one expansive insurance Exchange.

In the first six months live, Apollo has:

  • Partnered with over 100 brokerages that use the Apollo Exchange, with over 800 individual broker users
  • Added over 700 classes of business to the Exchange that are eligible for immediate quote, immediate bind, and immediate policy issuance
  • Partnered with 9 insurance carriers and MGAs to offer digital products to APOLLO Exchange brokers
  • Processed over 8,000 applications digitally in support of our broker partners

The Exchange tallies application starts, through to purchase of insurance policies and digital delivery of insurance policy documents, and knows where in the application the user has dropped out or abandoned the form. The Apollo Exchange has quoted thousands of applications without a single underwriter on staff, which enables our Broker Success team to exclusively focus on engagement and broker education.

The digitization process enables the Exchange to give carriers a valuable lens on their products, and informs them about where to adapt to market demand, underwriting friction points, and opportunities for optimization. This results in increased conversions and better alignment of underwriting appetite with lead generation activities. From April to August of 2019, there was a 61% increase in quote to bind ratio on the Exchange, a direct result of insights gained from digital data collection and analysis.

Apollo Exchange quote to bind conversion rates April to August, 2019:

  • April – 28%
  • May – 31%
  • June – 39%
  • July – 43%
  • August – 45%

About the Apollo Exchange

The APOLLO Exchange (legal name “Apollo Insurance Solutions Ltd.”) is Canada’s largest online insurance marketplace. Apollo empowers brokers to instantly quote, bind, and issue policy documents for hundreds of classes of small business in real time, or white label the Exchange to sell directly from their website. Brokerages integrated with the Exchange are able to respond to the changing expectations of buyers and forward-thinking employees.

Co-founded by Jeff McCann, David Dyck, Justin Hamade, and Drew Green, Apollo was created to empower brokers to better serve their clients. Following the completion of Beta testing in April 2019, Apollo successfully closed its angel round of funding, raising $1 million CAD with the support of notable investors, including Drew Green, Matias Marquez, Kim Kaplan, and Caliber Ventures. Acting members of Apollo’s Board of Directors are leading industry and entrepreneurial figures Drew Green, Steve Albiani, Tim Gamble, and Jeff McCann. In June 2019, the company launched a first of its kind: digital, monthly subscription insurance. For more information, visit apollocover.com.

Source: Apollo Insurance Solutions Ltd.

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