Every agency has the colleague everyone interrupts. "How do I renew this?" "Where do I update the client's address?" "What's our process for this one?" None of those questions are hard, but they add up, for the person asking and the person who keeps getting asked.
Vertafore's answer is the Velocity AI Coach Agent, an assistant built into AMS360 and Sagitta that answers staff questions in plain language using Vertafore's product documentation and, if the agency adds them, its own SOPs. In internal testing, Vertafore says it cut the time to find an answer by up to 88%.
We sent our questions to Vertafore, and Sarah Swanson, Vice President of Customer Success, answered them: what that 88% actually measures, what happens when an agency's SOPs are a mess, and where E&O responsibility sits. Her answers are below, lightly edited. (We've also covered Vertafore's Policy Intake and Policy Check agents with Dustin Pettit.)
What questions were agency staff most often pulling a colleague aside for before this, and how did those interruptions add up?
Most of the questions weren't complicated; they were everyday questions like, "How do I renew a policy?", "Where do I update customer information?", or "What's our agency's process for handling this?" The challenge wasn't necessarily the question itself. It was everything that happened next.
An employee would stop what they were doing, search documentation, interrupt a more experienced colleague, or contact Support. Individually, those interruptions might only take a few minutes, but across an agency, they add up quickly. You're losing productivity for both the person asking and the person answering.
We built the Velocity™ AI Coach Agent around a simple idea: People shouldn't have to stop working to figure out how to work. By bringing trusted guidance directly into AMS360 and Sagitta, we're helping employees find answers on their own, keep work moving and spend more time serving clients.
The "up to 88% faster" number came from internal testing. What did that test look like: who was asking, what kinds of questions, and what was measured?
Our internal testing focused on a practical question: How much time does it take someone to find the information they need using traditional methods compared with asking Coach Agent?
We measured the time required to locate answers manually versus using Coach Agent. The average manual process took approximately 2 minutes and 3 seconds, compared with about 15 seconds using Coach Agent. That's where the up-to-88% time-savings figure comes from.
The questions reflected the types of product and workflow guidance employees need during their day, such as navigating AMS360 or understanding how to complete a task. What's important is that we're measuring the time to find information, not claiming that Coach Agent completes the entire insurance workflow 88% faster. The value is eliminating the friction that slows people down throughout their day.
Answers are backed by product documentation and, when configured, the agency's own SOPs. What happens when an agency's SOPs are outdated, contradictory, or don't exist?
This is an important distinction because AI is only as useful as the information behind it. Coach Agent uses Vertafore's product documentation to explain how AMS360 or Sagitta functions. When an agency adds its own standard operating procedures, Coach Agent can also explain how that agency expects work to be performed.
If an agency hasn't documented its processes, Coach Agent can still provide product guidance. The agency-specific knowledge simply isn't available until it's added. If SOPs are outdated or contradictory, that's an opportunity for the agency to improve its knowledge management. Coach Agent can make existing procedures easier to access, but it doesn't independently determine whether an agency's business rules are current or correct.
In fact, one of the longer-term benefits of bringing AI into agency workflows is helping organizations recognize the importance of maintaining consistent, documented processes. The goal isn't just making information easier to find. It's making institutional knowledge easier to share, maintain, and apply consistently.
What does the Velocity AI Coach Agent do with a question it can't answer confidently? Does it say so, cite its source, or send the person to someone?
Trust is one of Vertafore’s most important design principles. Coach Agent is designed to provide answers grounded in Vertafore documentation and, when configured, agency-specific SOPs. Users can review the sources behind the guidance rather than simply accepting an AI-generated response.
When Coach Agent needs more context, it can ask a clarifying question. If a question falls outside its supported knowledge or it cannot reliably answer, it's designed to acknowledge that limitation rather than guess. And importantly, Coach Agent doesn't replace an agency's internal experts or Vertafore Support. There will always be situations where human expertise is needed.
We want employees to trust Coach Agent not because it claims to know everything, but because it helps them understand where the information comes from and when additional expertise is appropriate.
Training new CSRs is a constant headache for agencies. Does this shorten ramp time, or mostly change where the mistakes happen?
We see Coach Agent as an opportunity to accelerate proficiency, not replace training. Think about a new CSR joining an agency. They may complete formal training, but the real learning happens when they're working with clients and encounter something unfamiliar. Traditionally, that means searching through documentation or interrupting a colleague.
Coach Agent gives them access to guidance at that exact moment, while they're still working in AMS360 or Sagitta. It also creates consistency. Instead of relying entirely on which experienced employee happens to be available, a new team member can reference the same documented procedures as everyone else.
That doesn't eliminate the need for judgment or oversight, and we're not suggesting AI removes every possibility of error. But it can help reduce the guesswork that comes from employees having to piece together information themselves. Our goal is to help new employees become confident and productive sooner, while giving experienced employees more time to focus on higher-value work.
Is there an E&O angle? If an employee follows the agent's guidance and gets a procedure wrong, where does responsibility sit?
Insurance is a business built on trust, accuracy, and professional judgment. That's exactly why Vertafore’s approach to AI keeps humans in the loop. Coach Agent is designed to reduce the risk of mistakes by providing guidance grounded in trusted documentation, rather than leaving employees to rely on memory, assumptions, or potentially inconsistent information.
But Coach Agent is an assistant, not a decision maker. It doesn't independently execute transactions or make coverage decisions on behalf of an agency. The employee remains responsible for reviewing the guidance and determining how to apply it.
Agencies also remain responsible for maintaining their own procedures, training employees, and following their established compliance and quality-control practices. Any specific E&O liability question would depend on the facts and applicable legal and contractual obligations. We believe AI can help reduce errors and improve consistency, but it should never remove professional accountability.
Our philosophy is simple: AI provides intelligence and guidance; people remain in control of the decisions and actions.
How do Coach, Policy Intake and Policy Check fit together, and where is Velocity heading: agents that explain the work, or agents that execute?
The answer is both, and that's really the vision behind what we call the Agentic Agency. The future of AI in insurance is not one standalone tool that does everything. It's a connected set of intelligent capabilities that help agencies work more efficiently across the entire distribution lifecycle.
Coach Agent helps employees understand how to do the work. It answers questions, explains processes, and helps users navigate their management system. Policy Intake takes that a step further by turning information from commercial policy documents into structured data in AMS360, reducing manual entry. Policy Check helps identify discrepancies in policy information and recommends corrections, allowing employees to focus on reviewing exceptions and ensuring accuracy.
Together, these agents demonstrate how AI can support different parts of the same workflow: understanding the work, processing the information, and validating the outcome. And that's where we're heading with Velocity AI. Our vision is to move beyond individual productivity tools toward more connected, intelligent workflows that reduce repetitive tasks while elevating the role of insurance professionals. The Agentic Agency isn't about replacing people with automation. It's about giving people the capacity to focus on relationships, risk advice, and the decisions that truly require their expertise.
What does it take for an agency to turn this on: setup, loading SOPs, and who keeps it current?
We designed Coach Agent to be accessible directly within the systems agencies already use. For eligible AMS360 customers, an administrator can enable Coach Agent through the AMS360 Admin Center. Sagitta administrators can manage access through Vertafore Services Personalization.
Once enabled, employees can access Coach Agent from the Help icon within their management system and begin asking questions using Vertafore's existing product documentation. Agencies that want to take the experience further can add their own SOPs and internal process documentation. That allows Coach Agent to provide guidance specific to how their organization operates.
Vertafore maintains the underlying product guidance, while agencies are responsible for keeping their own procedures accurate and current. The important thing is that agencies don't need to completely redesign their operations to begin realizing value. They can start with product guidance, build employee confidence, and expand into agency-specific knowledge as their needs evolve.
We want agencies to get more value from the technology and institutional knowledge they've already invested in without adding another complicated system to manage.
Sarah Swanson is Vice President of Customer Success at Vertafore, where she leads teams focused on helping insurance agencies accelerate technology adoption, improve operational efficiency, and realize measurable business value.