Ivans survey: submission friction now outweighs price in where agents place business

What happened

On August 26, 2026, Applied Systems published findings from Ivans’ 2026 Insurance Agency-Carrier Connectivity Trends survey. Ivans is an Applied company. Per the release, 702 independent agents answered a voluntary online survey in April and May 2026.

The headline finding is that submission friction is now the main factor in where agents place business, ahead of product and price for the first time. Other numbers from the release and from Risk & Insurance’s coverage:

• 90% of agents have reduced business with a carrier because of submission friction.
• 74% named rekeying risk data into several carrier portals as their top workflow pain point.
• 76% said digital submission and servicing matter more than commission. Easy quoting and submission was the top digital priority at 86%, followed by speed to bind and issue at 75%.
• 79% said commercial submission automation would most change their behavior. It ranked first for the second year running.
• Other friction points: inconsistent underwriting questions (42%), slow portals (38%) and multiple logins (37%).
• Agents’ top AI request was automated data prefill, at 51%.

Risk & Insurance reported that commercial-focused agents leaned on email to gather data (49%) far more than dedicated submission capture software (7%). It also reported that 54% of them lose commercial deals each month because they can’t reach the right markets fast enough.

Why it matters for agencies

Keep the source in mind. Ivans is owned by Applied, which sells connectivity, rating and submission tools to both agents and carriers. The survey was voluntary, not a random sample. Still, the findings match what most agency owners describe. In our view, the useful takeaway is less about technology and more about leverage.

If nine in ten agents say they have moved business away from a hard-to-use carrier, ease of doing business is a placement factor. That gives an agency a reason to tell underwriting and marketing reps plainly which portals and question sets are costing them submissions.

It also shows where agency spend is going. Prefill and commercial submission automation top agents’ wish lists. That is the pitch behind most of this year’s AI launches from AMS vendors, carriers and startups.

What to do

• Measure your own friction. For two weeks, have CSRs log time per carrier portal on new commercial submissions. Bring the numbers to your carrier reviews.
• Raise it with carriers directly. Ask each top market about ACORD upload, AMS-to-portal prefill and API quoting on their roadmap.
• If most commercial intake arrives by email, look at tools that turn email and documents into ACORD data before you buy another rater.
• Read vendor-sponsored surveys with care. Use them for direction, not as benchmarks for your agency.