On November 6, Toronto-based employee benefits brokerage Sterling Brokers announced it was acquiring Lucite, an AI platform that helps benefits brokers analyze data, automate renewal work and serve clients. Lucite is already used by more than 45 brokers serving over 20,000 clients across Canada, and it plans to combine its technology with Sterling's administration infrastructure and automated carrier quoting.
A brokerage buying its AI vendor raises obvious questions for every other broker on the platform. We put them to Jason Spector, co-founder and CEO of Lucite, along with what the tool actually does in a renewal, how quoting works when carriers still send PDFs, and what small independent brokers should be doing with AI over the next year. His answers are below, lightly edited.
Sterling was one of your largest customers before it bought you. Why sell to a customer instead of raising more money and staying independent, and how do you keep other brokers from seeing Lucite as Sterling's tool?
From day one, everything we've built at Lucite has been driven by listening to our customers and solving their biggest pain points.
Over time, we kept hearing the same frustrations from brokers: how time-consuming it was to pull documents from carrier portals, how outdated and clunky existing systems were, how difficult it could be to work with MGAs, and how much they wanted to offer their clients a modern technology experience.
We certainly could have raised more capital and continued building independently. But partnering with Sterling gave us an opportunity to accelerate that vision dramatically and expand beyond software into offering a much more comprehensive solution for the market.
Sterling had been a great customer, we really enjoyed working with their team, and we shared a vision of what the future of the industry could look like.
That said, Lucite's success has always depended on the trust of independent brokers, and that's not changing. Lucite will continue to operate independently, with separate systems, strict data controls, and clear boundaries to protect customer confidentiality. We're building technology and services for the entire broker market, not just Sterling.
Independent brokers are now getting tech and admin from a firm that also competes with them for clients. What guardrails are in place around their client data and their books?
Data security and confidentiality have always been foundational to Lucite, and we understand that they're more important than ever following this acquisition.
Our systems and infrastructure remain separate from Sterling, and Sterling's brokerage teams do not have access to Lucite customers' confidential data. We maintain strict access controls and confidentiality protections to ensure that customer information cannot be used for competitive purposes.
It's also worth recognizing that there are already examples in our industry of technology and service providers operating under the ownership of larger brokerage organizations. The important thing is having the right safeguards in place and maintaining the trust of the brokers you serve.
Ultimately, we know that our business only works if independent brokers are completely confident that their data and client relationships are protected. We take that responsibility extremely seriously, and it's something we'll never compromise on.
In a typical benefits renewal, which tasks does Lucite take off a broker's plate today, and which still need a person?
Today, Lucite automates much of the most tedious and error-prone work in the renewal process. We extract, analyze, and structure information from carrier documents, identify potential discrepancies, and automatically generate renewal reports and presentations in each brokerage's preferred format.
That work previously took teams hours of manual data entry, Excel manipulation, and PowerPoint formatting. We've helped our customers save thousands of hours while catching countless errors that otherwise might have gone unnoticed.
But there's still a lot of work around that process. Someone needs to retrieve documents from carrier portals, communicate and negotiate with carriers, manage implementations, and provide ongoing administration and support to clients.
That's exactly where we're headed with our expanded offering. For brokers who want more than just technology, we'll be able to take on much more of that administrative workload, allowing their teams to focus on building relationships, advising clients, and growing their businesses.
What does automated carrier quoting look like in Canadian group benefits, where a lot of carriers still send quotes as PDFs? How much of that is extraction versus real carrier connections?
We're building a quoting experience directly into the Lucite platform that will allow brokers to access competitive quotes from all the major Canadian carriers without having to navigate multiple portals, emails, and spreadsheets.
For groups that meet certain criteria, we'll be able to generate quotes almost instantly by leveraging pre-negotiated rates with carrier partners and our own technology. For more complex groups that require additional underwriting, our goal is to turn around quotes within one to two business days.
The interesting thing is that we don't necessarily need every carrier to have a modern API to make this possible. By combining direct carrier relationships, established arrangements, and AI-powered automation, we can streamline much of the process regardless of how individual carriers operate.
Ultimately, our goal is to make quoting dramatically faster and easier for independent brokers, while giving them access to competitive rates and more time to focus on their clients.
45 brokers serving 20,000 clients. What do those brokers actually measure to decide it's worth paying for?
The Canadian benefits brokerage market has become increasingly competitive, and independent brokers are often at a disadvantage compared with the large consolidators that have significantly more resources to invest in technology and operations.
Our customers are looking for ways to level that playing field.
At a basic level, they're measuring things like hours saved, faster turnaround times, fewer errors, and the quality of the reporting they deliver to clients. Those are tangible improvements that can make a meaningful difference in a brokerage's operating costs.
But there's also a bigger picture. Brokers want to win more business, retain their existing clients, and deliver a level of service and technology that differentiates them from their competitors.
If you can turn around a renewal faster, deliver a more polished presentation, offer competitive rates, and give your clients access to a modern technology platform, that's a real competitive advantage.
For independent brokers that are serious about building a strong brand, delivering exceptional service, and growing efficiently, Lucite is a very compelling investment.
Your founders came from Datadog, Meta and SpaceX, not insurance. What did you get wrong about benefits brokers early on?
I think one of our biggest misconceptions going into the market was how willing insurance brokers would be to adopt and pay for new technology.
There's a common perception that insurance is a very traditional industry and that selling software to brokers is extremely difficult. That was certainly a concern for us early on.
But we quickly learned that when you're solving a big enough pain point and delivering immediate, tangible value, brokers are absolutely willing to embrace new technology.
From the very beginning, we made it a priority to meet with our customers regularly, often weekly, to understand their workflows, collect feedback, and iterate quickly.
In many ways, I actually think our lack of industry experience was one of our biggest advantages. We weren't constrained by how things had traditionally been done, which allowed us to approach problems from a completely different perspective.
Of course, we had to learn an enormous amount about the Canadian group benefits market along the way. Nearly three years later, I'm incredibly proud of how deeply our team understands the industry and all its nuances.
Why build for Canada first when you're headquartered in New York? Is there a US version of this coming?
My background is in finance, and when we originally started Lucite, we were trying to automate PowerPoint presentations for investment bankers.
About six months into that journey, a banker introduced us to a Canadian group benefits advisor. We started learning about the industry, saw just how much time was being spent on manual work, and realized there was an enormous opportunity to build something valuable.
So Canada wasn't necessarily part of a larger geographic strategy. We followed a compelling customer problem and found a market where we could make a real impact.
We've since built a deep understanding of the Canadian benefits industry, and we still see an incredible amount of opportunity here.
The US is obviously a large market, but we don't have immediate plans to expand south of the border. Our focus is on building the best possible end-to-end platform for Canadian benefits brokers and advisors, and we think there's still a tremendous amount left to accomplish.
If you're a small independent benefits broker reading this, what should you be doing with AI in the next 12 months so you're not squeezed out by the consolidators?
My biggest advice would be to stop thinking about AI as something to experiment with in your spare time and start thinking about how it can fundamentally change the way you operate your business.
The biggest advantage large consolidators have is scale. They can invest in technology, hire specialized teams, and spread their administrative costs across a much larger client base.
AI gives smaller independent brokers an opportunity to close that gap.
I'd start by looking at where your team is spending the most time on repetitive, manual work. Whether that's renewal reporting, analyzing carrier documents, marketing groups, or managing ongoing administration, there are increasingly powerful tools available to automate those processes.
But it's not just about cutting costs. It's about using technology to deliver a better client experience, respond faster, catch more mistakes, and free up your best people to focus on relationships and growth.
You also need to be thoughtful about data security and make sure you're working with technology providers that understand the sensitivity of the information you're handling.
Today, a small independent brokerage with the right technology and the right people can offer a level of service that previously required a much larger organization.
The firms that embrace that opportunity over the next 12 months will be in a much stronger position to compete.
Jason Spector is co-founder and CEO of Lucite, now part of Sterling Brokers.