Better Tech for a Better Client Experience

On Aug. 5–6, 2025, more than 200 representatives from carriers, brokers, startups, and investors gathered in Chicago for the first BrokerTech Connect (BTC) conference.

A new initiative by the convening company, BrokerTech Ventures (BTV), the meeting is intended to foster deep conversations on innovation that don’t really happen at larger conferences.

“The brokers and carriers like the intimacy of being together and having tech join us, versus…having our industry venture out to alternative tech conferences,” explains BTV Co-CEO Dan Keough, chairman and CEO of broker Holmes Murphy. “It was a great experience for all of us.”

M3 CEO and BTV Co-CEO Mike Victorson concurred that the inaugural BTC promoted the connection and ideation necessary for the industry to progress towards a more efficient and effective industry. Both he and Keough believe the focus on innovating aspects of the client experience across the insurance value chain was the most crucial theme of discussions during the conference. “We’re seeing brokers lead adoption of new tech, especially things that impact not just operations but client experience,” Victorson says.

“It’s a great time to be in the industry, because the industry is leaning into the innovation from the client viewpoint and the proximity of the customer, which is really exciting to see,” Keough says.

AI and Predictive Tech in the Spotlight

Two main categories of technological innovation emerged in discussions at this year’s conference, Keough and Victorson say. Chief among them was artificial intelligence—Keough notes that 70–75% of the Insurtech startups featured at BTC had an AI component built into their solution or platform.

Startups, brokers, and carriers hope to use AI to cut reduce human work on rote repetitive tasks like policy checks, data entry, and updating systems of record, according to Victorson. “All that work frees up capacity for brokers to take care of their customers,” he explains.

“Technology to enable predictive analytics for high-severity, low-frequency risks was another key focus area, including climate- and weather-related risks in particular,” Keough says. Helping clients prepare for those exposures is crucial for the industry to show its value.

What’s Next

Victorson and Keough aim to keep the discussions started at BTC going. Victorson sees these conversations continuing through other formal in-person meetings such as the annual BTV All Partner Summit in January, BTV Mania in April, and ongoing through BTV work streams known as BTV’s Collab-Labs.

 “We’re actually talking about partnering with the industry on a thought leadership piece about where [the] ‘precompetitive’ space begins and ends,” Keough says. “We view the precompetitive space as 90% of what we—our companies—do, which is simply table stakes. It’s not necessarily unique or differentiating, or your companies “secret sauce.” Think about how much collaboration and information sharing can take place, if you embrace this mindset.”

In his view, if the industry can determine what that space is, insurtechs will have a clearer view of what technological pain points they should be targeting, thus driving more value for the industry.

Ultimately, though, the main priority for Victorson and Keough is to keep growing the BTV community, adding carrier partners and expanding the organization’s accelerator cohort. Gleaning insights from all sides of the industry is the best way to guide innovation down a path to create the right change, they say.

“Where else in the industry is the premium-paying customer, our insurance companies, capital, and startups—who brings them all together?” Victorson asks. “BrokerTech Ventures and brokers. That’s the kind of magic we stumbled into six years ago, and it’s what we want to keep.”