How data warehousing helps independent brokerages gain scale

One way independent brokerages can gain scale is by leveraging large amounts of data. 

That’s the approach behind Canadian Broker Network (CBN)’s data warehouse, which, using Microsoft Power BI, pulls anonymized data from its 30 broker members, maps them to a data standard, and then creates quarterly individualized reports. 

“We’ve had some smaller boutique members win sophisticated, large accounts by relying on the depth, the breadth of the volume in our warehouse, and having the reports to substantiate how big we as an organization are,” says Lorie Phair, president of Canadian Broker Network.

“What a large international brokerage would be providing their staff, [broker members] get that from the benefit of the CBN data warehouse, but they’re still able to operate independently in their region.” 

The quest for data  

Inspired by the suggestion of a reinsurance broker, CBN started its data warehouse in 2017 to create something innovative for its then-eight members.  

Since then, the brokerage network has more than tripled its membership, which totals over $3 billion in gross written premiums collectively.  

Now, members all get their own production data from CBN’s business analyst, Andi Kociaj, as well as a consolidated, anonymized report on the volume produced by other members. 

The broker network can segment data to a very granular level. Kociaj can pull data that’s regional, or based on premium or business line, for example, and members are able to leverage that for client or insurer discussions.

In one case, a CBN brokerage member was able to win a big healthcare account by showcasing their expertise across CBN’s entire membership. 

“Say they want to see the average size of an account in restaurants or barber shops or hair salons,” says Kociaj, “…we’ve used the data warehouse [to create] benchmarking reports for our members.” 

Kociaj can also pull upon external data sources, like active wildfire maps, and compare them to where a member brokers’ clients are located. (Useful, given 2024’s highly active wildfire season.) 

The broker network also monitors insurer metrics, such as growth and loss ratios. So, member brokers have used the warehoused data to secure partnerships accordingly. 

And, Phair says, some insurers come directly to CBN for specific reporting.  

How brokers enter their own data highly varies by firm, and the process to standardize everything can be lengthy. 

“The data sets on the back end are different for every BMS,” says Andrew Leiper, director of operations and member services. 

And as members grow — including through other business lines — new data sets continue to crop up.  

“They’re growing not just in the commercial and personal lines spaces, but also outside of that — in life and benefits,” Leiper says. “So now we can provide information on that as well to our members.” 

All these use cases have developed with time, as BMSes improved and as broker members’ data was standardized. Seven years into this quest for data, CBN sees more ways to innovate its process in the future.  

“We’ve used the data warehouse in numerous ways, and we’re coming up with new ways to use it all the time,” Kociaj says. “I suspect with the addition of more data points, we’ll be able to get more out of the data warehouse, and that’s definitely in our technology journey and roadmap.” 

Competition and collaboration 

Broker members can see how they compare with the baseline average for certain products or business lines. That creates healthy competition among broker members.  

Also, they can see how their insurance partners stack up to the average as well. “Our broker members can see if they can…find a market that will provide a [more competitively priced] product in comparison to the average,” says Kociaj. 

There’s also room for collaboration. Take, for example, a situation in which brokers want to build an insurance program together. 

“We show [CBN broker partners] who’s available in the data pool that has this kind of business, and then they’ll take on that conversation between each other, find a market for it, build it out and proceed forward,” Kociaj says. 

Where members have been able to improve productivity, they often do it together.  

“Eight of our member firms got together last year and pooled their resources and created a new business entry bot for an insurer’s portal,” says Phair.  

Feature image by iStock.com/z_wei