Where We’re Going: LegacyShield Founder Q&A [Part 2]

[This is part two of a two-part Q&A blog series about LegacyShield. Click here to read part one.]

The life insurance industry hasn’t kept pace with other financial and insurance sectors when it comes to adopting digital technology. But with more people wanting to find and buy life insurance online, digital transformation is here to stay for the industry.

Since 2014, LegacyShield has been a leader in providing insurtech solutions to advisors, distributors, and carriers. The key to the company’s success has been looking ahead and continually evolving to meet the changing needs of advisors and their clients.

“We’re always adding new features to the platform designed to make the advisor’s job easier,” said LegacyShield Founder Dan Pierson. “As we look to the future, LegacyShield has some exciting new functionality coming to the platform that will help advisors shine even more in front of their clients.”

Read more from this recent interview with Pierson, in which he discusses where the life insurance industry and LegacyShield are going in this new era of digital transformation.

Q. Why has the life insurance industry lagged in terms of technology?

A. A primary reason the life insurance industry has been slower to adapt is that it’s such a highly complex and regulated field. As a result, technology adoption has been piecemeal so far. Advisors may represent multiple carriers, each with different digital tools and rules, and they lack a consistent digital platform driving value.

The other major factor is that you don’t have a lot of young blood in the life insurance field. We aren’t seeing people coming in right from college, like what happens in the financial and investment fields, and bringing fresh new ideas to the industry. I know many firms are now striving to show younger generations why selling life insurance is a great career opportunity.

Q. Are you seeing a change in technology adoption among advisors?

A. The tides are definitely changing. We’re starting to see a much broader adoption of digital tools among advisors, especially in recent months with the pandemic shifting how many of us work. Advisors realize there is a major demand among clients to communicate and collaborate online. And emails don’t provide the security or flexibility needed for two-way client communication.

The world has changed, and advisors need to as well. At LegacyShield, we’re excited that we can help life insurance advisors adapt to the digital era by providing a better way to collaborate with clients and conduct business.

Q. What are the most significant challenges or opportunities that advisors face?

A. I think the biggest challenge insurance advisors face is the likelihood of becoming displaced by direct-to-consumer insurance products. There has been a significant amount of investment into this field, and advisors who can’t match these insurtech competitors will lose out on business.

On the other side of it, the most significant opportunity is that you have a massive wave of people aging, and they need a whole new way of managing money. For many Baby Boomers, it’s no longer about accumulating wealth but preserving it and distributing it to their children and grandchildren. This “Great Wealth Transfer” will be a significant opportunity for advisors and will help them acquire multigenerational business.

Q. How will LegacyShield help advisors meet these new challenges and opportunities?

A. With LegacyShield, advisors can retain and grow their business by offering clients the best of both worlds: a powerful, easy-to-use insurtech platform and the expertise and collaboration that only an advisor can provide.

LegacyShield fuels growth for advisors not only by increasing the number of referrals but also by expanding work with the clients they already have. The platform acts as a virtual workspace between an advisor and client, strengthening client relationships, communication, and collaboration. The more clients work within their LegacyShield platform, the more advisors understand clients’ financial situation and can make recommendations based on that. This builds the client-advisor relationship and often results in the client doing more business with their advisor.

Q. Where is LegacyShield headed, in both the short and long term?

A. LegacyShield will be launching a brand-new, advisor-rich platform in the coming weeks. It will include even more robust advisor tools and increased connectivity. Our team is thrilled about this latest version and will be sharing more information as the launch date approaches.

Looking further into the future, LegacyShield will continue to do what we do best: provide a collaborative insurtech platform that helps advisors build their business and enhance the client experience. Our goal is to keep expanding LegacyShield’s capabilities so that it serves as a hub for advisors to conduct all their business in a safe, secure, and smart way.

To learn more about LegacyShield and its benefits, read part one of this series, “Who We Are: Q&A with Founder of LegacyShield.”