Why the Largest Insurance Agencies Are Choosing InsuredMine Over Salesforce
The largest insurance agencies in the country have taken notice: increasingly, they are shifting away from generic CRMs and choosing InsuredMine as the platform that truly understands insurance. This article anonymizes the journey of one such agency and highlights the difference it experienced by partnering with a purpose-built platform that delivers real results without the overhead of clean slate customization.
“Broadshire Risk Partners,” a leading national agency (name changed for confidentiality) with over 400 staff and 30 locations, illustrates the trade-offs between adopting a general-purpose CRM like Salesforce and a platform like InsuredMine that is purpose-built for insurance. Along the way, Broadshire came to appreciate something else Salesforce couldn’t offer: a high-touch partnership. From executive access to ongoing customer support to co-innovation opportunities, the InsuredMine experience was defined not just by better features—but by stronger relationships.
The Salesforce Assumption
When Broadshire Risk Partners began its digital transformation journey, Salesforce seemed like the obvious answer. It had the name recognition, a reputation for flexibility, and widespread adoption in other industries. The promise? A powerful, all-in-one CRM that could scale.
But six months in, that promise started to unravel.
Salesforce is a general-purpose CRM, and in our experience with insurance agencies, it often requires significant customization to support policy-driven workflows. And as Broadshire tried to map renewal cycles, policy types, and producer activity onto a CRM designed for tech or retail, they found themselves running up costs, delays, and mismatched workflows:
- Custom development just to manage basic policy lifecycles
- Expensive add-ons for texting, email marketing, and e-signature
- Complex integrations for syncing with Applied Epic and AMS360
- Training content was not tailored to the insurance-specific roles of CSRs and account managers, according to Broadshire’s experience.
Multiple analyst studies estimate that CRM implementation failure rates range from 50% to as high as 70%—including industry summaries suggesting Gartner observed a 50% failure rate—while some reports indicate figures up to 55–75%.”—especially when deep customization is required.
Broadshire also learned that aligning Salesforce with the nuanced roles of producers, CSRs, and account managers required much more than field mapping. It required a rethinking of the CRM’s core objects—accounts, contacts, opportunities—which pushed the team into a cycle of meetings, rewrites, and workarounds.
If Not Salesforce… Then What?
To be fair, Broadshire didn’t immediately embrace the idea of moving away from Salesforce. It had already been endorsed at the executive level and discussed in board meetings as a strategic platform investment. Internal advocates had championed the CRM as a future-proof technology stack. Challenging that narrative wasn’t easy.
But as cracks emerged, the uncomfortable question surfaced:
If not Salesforce… then what?
Alternative CRMs felt risky at first. How could a smaller, insurance-specific platform stack up to a global player? Would migrating away be disruptive? Could it scale with a firm like Broadshire?
Security and compliance were another major concern. As a national agency handling sensitive client data, Broadshire could not afford to adopt a platform that lacked rigorous data protection credentials. SOC 2 certification, once a nice-to-have, had become a non-negotiable. Equally important was the vendor’s own cyber liability coverage—a critical backstop that many large firms now view as table stakes for third-party technology partnerships.
The team also had to confront the reality of sunk costs—licensing, integrations, training—and weigh those against long-term value. The early skepticism wasn’t just reasonable; it was essential. And it was precisely what made the discovery of InsuredMine all the more powerful.
InsuredMine — Designed for Insurance from Day One
As Broadshire began evaluating InsuredMine, their skepticism turned to curiosity—and eventually to conviction.
This wasn’t a tradeoff. It was a better fit.
- Built for the nuances of insurance: policy-centric workflows, renewal automation, lead segmentation by LOB
- Enterprise readiness wasn’t just about features—it was about trust. InsuredMine’s SOC 2 compliance and active cyberinsurance coverage reassured Broadshire that the platform had institutional-grade safeguards in place. In an era of rising cyber threats and regulatory scrutiny, these weren’t just IT checkboxes—they were fundamental to doing business.
- Ready-to-use: no need to rebuild foundational insurance CRM logic from scratch
- Deep integrations with Applied Epic, AMS360, QQ Catalyst, and Sagitta
- Drag-and-drop pipeline boards that mirrored producer workflows, not generic “opportunities”
More importantly, InsuredMine promised (and delivered) faster speed to value. What had taken six months in Salesforce—without full adoption—was now achievable in weeks, with higher usage across departments.
Salesforce vs. InsuredMine CRM: 2025 Side-by-Side Comparison
Feature/Category | ||
|---|---|---|
Pricing | Industry reports and customer feedback suggest total Salesforce Financial Services Cloud costs often range from $300–$500/user/month, depending on configuration and add-ons (source) | $109/user/month (volume discounts available) |
Insurance-Specific Design | Partial (requires FSC + customization) | Purpose-built for insurance |
Out-of-the-Box Functionality | Basic workflows; requires configuration & consulting | Rich, ready-to-use: renewals, sales pipelines, texting, e-signature |
AMS Integration | Often requires API development or third-party tools | Native integrations with Applied Epic, AMS360, QQCatalyst, Nowcerts, HawkSoft, Nexsure, and more |
Enterprise Readiness | ✅ Yes – scalable, extensible platform | ✅ Yes – already used by 15 of the Top 100 U.S. brokers |
Implementation Speed | Months (depending on internal dev resources) | Days to weeks |
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) | High (licenses + third-party apps + consultants) | Moderate (bundled features at flat pricing) |
Ease of Use | Steep learning curve, admin-heavy | Intuitive UI built for CSRs, producers, account managers |
The Value Multiplier
The issue wasn’t just cost—it was cost without lift.
Salesforce required:
- Multiple licensing tiers
- Paid third-party apps for e-signature and SMS
- Internal dev support to maintain automations
- Consultants for every major update
At Broadshire, the estimated total cost—based on a limited pilot configuration—was $175+ per user/month. However, for full-featured deployments, total Salesforce Financial Services Cloud costs typically range from $300–$500 per user/month, excluding consulting and add-ons.
In contrast, InsuredMine included:
- E-signature
- Marketing automation
- Sales pipelines
- Two-way AMS sync
- Text, email, voicemail integration
All out of the box, at a dramatically lower per-user cost.
Better yet, Broadshire deployed InsuredMine to three pilot offices in just 8 weeks. Within one quarter, they had measurable improvements in:
- Renewal outreach completion
- Producer task adoption
- Lead conversion speed
As their CFO put it:
“It’s not just about saving money—it’s about seeing results sooner, with less complexity.”
The Support That Understands You
CRM transitions are hard. But they’re harder when your vendor doesn’t speak your language.
With Salesforce, Broadshire’s support was ticket-based and generic. Trainers spoke in SaaS jargon. Product roadmaps had little to do with insurance.
InsuredMine flipped that experience.
- Onboarding was led by people with insurance backgrounds
- Support requests were handled in real-time—via chat, not queues
- Product leadership hosted quarterly roadmap calls with client input
- Feature suggestions often became live updates within a sprint or two
One key moment came when Broadshire requested enhanced visibility into renewal risk. Within weeks, the InsuredMine team had co-developed a prototype for behavioral scoring based on client engagement history.
“It was the first time a vendor felt like an extension of our strategy team,” Broadshire’s COO reflected. “They weren’t just responding—they were innovating with us.”
Who Else Has Made the Switch?
Broadshire isn’t alone.
A growing number of the Top 100 U.S. insurance agencies, including 15 of the largest, have made InsuredMine their CRM and engagement platform of choice.
Why? Because when you’re running a $50M+ book, you can’t afford CRM decisions that drag down agility, delay renewal work, or silo your marketing.
And in many cases, the decision wasn’t optional. Top-tier agencies now include SOC 2 certification and evidence of cyber liability insurance as part of their vendor due diligence. Platforms lacking such controls are increasingly seen as liability risks—regardless of their functional promise.
As McKinsey notes, digital tools aligned with industry workflows can drive double-digit productivity gains and boost retention—without the need for major internal restructuring.
InsuredMine delivers that alignment, at scale.
Final Word: Built for Insurance Means Built for You
Salesforce is an excellent platform—for technology firms, large retailers, and organizations with the time and budget to build their CRM from a clean slate.
But for insurance agencies like Broadshire—with unique workflows, AMS integrations, policy-driven cycles, and the need for speed—InsuredMine is the clear choice.
With InsuredMine, you get:
- Enterprise-grade CRM capabilities, including high grade cybersecurity provisions
- Built-in insurance intelligence and workflows
- Full integration with AMS360, Applied Epic, QQ Catalyst, and Sagitta
- Faster time to value
- Co-innovation and partnership—not just a login screen
Broadshire Risk Partners made the switch. So have dozens of others.
Maybe it’s time to see what InsuredMine can do for you.
