Quote-to-bind in 45 minutes instead of 3 hours
The situation before we started
The agency had grown from 3 agents to 14 over four years, but their tooling hadn't evolved. Every quote involved logging into four carrier portals separately, copying client data by hand, formatting PDFs in Word, and emailing them out. Policy renewals were tracked in a shared spreadsheet. Follow-ups relied entirely on individual agents' memory. When agents left, their pipeline knowledge walked out with them. The owner had tried two off-the-shelf CRMs but neither understood the insurance workflow — neither could pull carrier rates or understand the difference between a BOR letter and a certificate of insurance.
What made this hard
The agency needed a unified platform where agents could pull client data, generate quotes from multiple carriers via API, track policy status, and onboard clients — all in one place without switching tabs.
Carrier APIs (Hartford, Travelers, Nationwide) each had different auth mechanisms, rate structures, and response schemas
Agents needed to compare quotes side-by-side across carriers before presenting to the client
Policy documents, signed apps, and endorsements needed to be attached to specific policies, not floating in email
Renewal pipeline had to surface upcoming renewals 60–90 days out automatically
Compliance required a full audit trail of who quoted what and when
How we built it
Phase 1 — Discovery & API Mapping (Weeks 1–2)
We audited every carrier portal the team used, mapped their API endpoints and authentication flows, and designed a unified quote request schema that could fan out to multiple carriers simultaneously. We also interviewed 4 agents to map every workflow step they did manually.
Phase 2 — CRM Core (Weeks 3–6)
Built the client profile system — accounts, contacts, exposure data, and policy history. Implemented the pipeline board with drag-and-drop stages (Prospect → Quoted → Presented → Bound → Renewed). Set up role-based access so agency principals could see all pipelines while agents only saw their own.
Phase 3 — Quote Engine (Weeks 7–9)
Integrated Hartford's commercial lines API for BOP, GL, and workers' comp. Built the quote comparison view — agents fill in client data once, select carriers, and get back structured quotes within 60 seconds. Quote PDFs are auto-generated and stored against the client record.
Phase 4 — Document Vault & Automation (Weeks 10–12)
Built the document management layer: drag-and-drop upload, versioning, and attachment to specific policies. Implemented automated renewal reminders (90/60/30 day email sequences) and follow-up nudges for open quotes older than 5 days.
Features shipped
How it's built
React frontend with a Node.js/Express API layer. PostgreSQL for all relational data (clients, policies, quotes). A dedicated carrier integration service handles API fanout with per-carrier retry logic and response normalisation. Documents stored in AWS S3 with signed URL delivery. Email automation via Resend. Deployed on AWS with a separate staging environment.
What changed after launch
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