Re-Keying And Workflow Friction Are Costing Carriers Placement, Ivans Survey Finds

Independent insurance agents are steering business away from carriers not because of price or product, but because of workflow friction that slows down quoting and submissions, according to Ivans, which surveyed more than 700 agents for its 2026 Agency-Carrier Connection Report.

Re-keying data ranks as the top workflow pain point for 74% of agents, and 90% of respondents said they have reduced business with a carrier due to friction. When agents weighed what drives their placement decisions, a simple quoting process outranked commission paid by nearly 2 to 1, with 65% citing superior product offerings and 60% citing simple quoting, compared with 32% for commission, Ivans found.

Policy Download Tops the Wish List

Policy download ranked as the single most valued digital capability, with 94% of agents rating it a priority, according to the report. Beyond download, 93% of agents said ease of use with carrier technology matters most, defining it through outcomes rather than features: 86% pointed to easy quoting and submission, and 75% cited speed to bind or issue. Ivans said 76% of agents consider digital ease a bigger placement driver than commission, reinforcing that carriers who simplify the basics of quoting and binding are positioned to capture more business.

Commercial Lines Agents Face Sharper Friction

Agents who write more than 75% of their book in commercial lines, representing about 10% of the survey sample, reported re-keying data more than 70% of the time, compared with 62% overall, according to Ivans. These agents still rely heavily on manual methods to collect data: 49% use email and just 7% use dedicated submission capture software.

Ivans reported that this group submits to an average of five carriers per mid-market risk, compared with four carriers overall, and that 54% of agents lose commercial deals every month because they cannot reach the right markets fast enough. Forty-three percent said they reduced business with at least one carrier in the past month after the process broke down before a quote could be delivered.

Beyond re-keying, agents cited inconsistent underwriting questions (42%), slow portals (38%) and multiple logins (37%) as recurring friction points, the report said. When asked what would change their behavior, 79% of agents pointed to commercial submission automation, followed by real-time agency management system data upload at 60%.

Agents Show Appetite for AI, but Views Diverge by Segment

Automated data prefill was the top AI request, cited by 51% of agents, followed by faster submission review via AI at 16% and real-time appetite matching within the AMS at 14%, according to Ivans.

Interest in AI varies sharply by agency type: personal lines-focused shops showed the highest resistance, with 22% saying they do not want to use AI, while 94% of commercial lines agents said they are open to AI involvement in submissions, and just 6% of that group reported resistance.

Ivans linked the agent-side demand for automated data to a corresponding challenge on the carrier side, citing McKinsey & Company estimates that underwriters spend 30% to 40% of their time reading and interpreting submission data before reaching a decision.

Tiffany Bangma, vice president of enterprise applications at Acrisure, said in the report: “Year over year, digital experience is overtaking the relationship as a placement driver. Agents are telling us the tools matter as much as the people.”

The report noted that commercial submission automation has ranked as the top capability agents say would change their placement behavior immediately for the second consecutive year.

Obtain the full report here. &