As new technology solutions come to the forefront for independent insurance agencies, some of the biggest hurdles agency leaders face today involve extracting the full potential from these technology partners. Yet, in the rush to find solutions to top-of-mind problems, integration often gets overlooked. 

Technology can spark innovation within your agency, but without careful planning the transition can disrupt workflows, overwhelm your team, and lead to a frustrating and delayed integration timeline. 

Here are three practical tips to ensure a smooth integration: 

1) Map out current processes. First and foremost, understand your current workflow. Identify bottlenecks, redundancies, and opportunities for improvement. Ad hoc workarounds, custom workflows and legacy knowledge needs to be documented and accounted for. 

In addition to the ideal workflow, map out the worst-case scenarios. Engage with staff, across front and back office as well as junior members to executive leaders, to get a holistic view of your agency's processes. 

Create a process map of your key workflows, such as client onboarding or claims processing. Highlight areas where the new system could add value, like automating repetitive tasks or improving data accessibility. 

2) Get team buy-in. If you can involve your team during the vetting process, it will increase adoption from the team. When employees feel like their input is heard and included, they are much more likely to embrace new processes and, even more importantly, identify any improvements needed along the way. 

Depending on your agency, forming a smaller implementation team to create a pilot testing group will ensure a smooth rollout. This group can work out any kinks before the new tech solution is rolled out to the larger business. Participants in the pilot group will also become process experts who can champion the benefits of the new process to other colleagues. 

3) Prioritize training. No matter how user-friendly or straight-forward a vendor may seem, effective adoption requires training and support. Without the repetitions of the new process, employees might revert to old methods, undermining the benefits of the new system. 

To ensure your team understands and fully embraces the new processes, offer training and user guides that employees can refer to when they have questions. To create accountability, share team milestones for when you want certain integration goals to be met. For example, set a date to migrate the first part of your agency to the new process, as well as the date by which the technology should be fully implemented. 

Integrating a new system into your insurance agency's workflow is a significant investment, but with thoughtful planning, team involvement and a focus on training, you can maximize its impact. The ultimate goal is not just implementing technology but enhancing the value your agency delivers to clients and team members alike. 

Chris Peabody is leader of partnership efforts at Ascend, an industry-leading platform to automate the entire insurance financial operations lifecycle across collections, accounting, reconciliations, and disbursements.