Canopy Connect: Transforming Insurance with Data

Founded in 2020, Canopy Connect has developed an advanced insurance data intake platform aimed at improving the insurance quoting process by addressing inefficiencies. This platform integrates consumer-permission insurance verification technology with customisable forms, document uploads, and data enrichment, offering a comprehensive solution for insurance agencies.

The system allows agents to directly receive essential insurance information, such as declarations pages, from clients, eliminating the need for lengthy questionnaires and reducing the time spent on information gathering. This streamlined process ensures that the data collected is accurate and verified, as it comes directly from the insurance carrier, rather than relying on clients' potentially inaccurate understanding of their policies.

Canopy Connect raised US$6.5 million in Series A funding last year, positioning itself for success in the insurance industry. The recent integration with TurboRater further enhances its capability to bridge gaps in the intake and quoting processes, solidifying its market impact. The platform connects with over 300 insurance carriers and integrates with popular comparative raters, agency management systems, and CRM systems, making it a versatile tool for insurance agents.

InsurTech Magazine spoke with Tolga Tezel, Founder and CEO of Canopy Connect, to discuss the company's focus on data, operational efficiency, and its vision for the future.

1. Could you explain the product as if I were 12 years old?

"Canopy Connect is the fastest way to collect verified insurance information from a potential client. An insurance agent can simply send a Canopy link to a client, the client finds their insurance carrier and signs in. In seconds, the agent will see a rich insurance profile that includes policies, coverages, premiums, limits, deductibles, insured assets, contact information, claims, and more," says Tolga Tezel, founder and CEO.

2. Why did you pick the name "Data Insurance Intake"

"We chose “Insurance Data Intake” platform to encapsulate the various ways insurance agents are collecting the information they need to advise a client and run quotes. Canopy Connect’s technology is consumer-permissioned sharing," continues Tolga.

Traditional methods often involve lengthy forms, extended phone calls lasting up to 30 minutes, dependency on prefill solutions, or requiring clients to track down and submit their declaration pages.

"All these can be considered a part of this insurance data intake step of the quoting process. Whatever the methodology, we believe it should be fast, it should provide a complete insurance profile, and it should be accurate, secure, and a good experience for the clients and agents."

3. How does Canopy Connect’s Insurance Data Intake Platform improve the accuracy and efficiency of the insurance quoting process compared to traditional methods?

"Agents want to uncover the full opportunity in the household. With forms and conversations—the answers you get are completely dependent on the client’s memory of their coverages, limits, deductibles, and asset details—the problem here is that most people don’t accurately know all the details, or choose not to be truthful for whatever reasons. Half of prospects won’t fill out a form or get on the phone."

"For prospects you do get on the phone, agents ask dozens of questions prospects don’t know the answers to. Aside from this taking thirty minutes, it makes it really difficult for an agent to be a trusted advisor to the client, and you can’t be sure you’re generating a comparable quote."

Since Canopy Connect pulls verified insurance data directly from carriers, you can trust its accuracy and completeness, delivered within seconds.

"Agents can send the data to their comparative rater to quickly generate an accurate quote, and position it to win."

4. Can you elaborate on the technology behind DecSight and how it enhances the data extraction and verification from declarations pages and other uploaded documents?

"We’re doing things differently with DecSight. While basic OCR has been around for decades, the results are unreliable because it relies upon image processing. That’s why you get typos like zeros instead of O’s and missing information with OCR solutions."

"Instead, we took a novel approach of doing the hard work to map the different types of documents that carriers return and extract details from the document using our built-in understanding of the document's structure. What that means for you is data you can trust."

5. What kind of feedback have you received from your early adopters, particularly regarding the impact on their operational efficiency and client satisfaction? 

"We often hear from our users that Canopy Connect is a “Game Changer” for their agency. Agents spend less time chasing, gathering, and inputting insurance information. Their quote-to-bind ratio increases and they bind more policies on average. They are able to automate and operationalise more of their quote processes, which allows for more time advising clients, leading to higher win rates."

"In this hard market, there’s a lot more folks shopping for insurance and switching agencies. The agencies that can capitalise on the increase in quote request volume increase their close rate rather than seeing it decrease, they will be the winners that thrive in the long term. They bind more policies on average which leads to greater retention."

"Early feedback on our new form functionality has been fantastic. There’s just a little bit more information that agents need to customise their intake—by asking just a few additional questions, they can round out the profile."

"DecSight has been really well received since we’re allowing more options for how a client can securely share their information. DecSight currently parses dec pages from major insurance carriers, but our users want more. Stay tuned. Our engineering team is cooking and we are actively hiring."

Canopy Connect has been rapidly expanding its capabilities, including partnerships with insurtech firms and lenders, and integrating innovative technologies to streamline insurance data collection and verification. With plans to continue enhancing their platform, including API-driven solutions that offer faster, more secure insurance services, it's clear Canopy Connect is poised to shape the future of the insurance industry. We look forward to witnessing their next steps as they continue to break new ground.

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