Outsourced back office for independent insurance agencies
Dull takes the repetitive service work of an independent agency off your producers and account managers: policy and renewal data entry, certificate of insurance prep, carrier document downloads and agency bill AR. We never do licensed work or give advice.
In most agencies, the people who should be talking to clients spend hours a day keying data. Policies have to be entered and checked, renewals prepared, certificates turned around the same day and carrier statements reconciled. That work follows rules, and it is exactly what piles up when a service seat is empty.
The back-office work in an agency
| Task | What it involves | Where it usually lives |
|---|---|---|
| Policy data entry | Entering new business and endorsements from carrier documents, and checking that key fields match the policy. | Applied Epic, Vertafore AMS360, HawkSoft or EZLynx |
| Downloads and filing | Pulling policy documents from carrier portals and attaching them to the right client and policy. | Carrier portals and your agency management system |
| Renewal prep | Building the list of upcoming renewals, gathering expiring policy details and sending the routine requests you have approved. | Your agency management system and email |
| Certificates of insurance | Preparing ACORD 25 and similar certificate drafts from your templates for a licensed person to review and issue. | Your agency management system |
| Agency bill AR | Invoices, statements and written reminders for agency-billed premiums, and reconciling payments received. | Your agency management system and accounting software |
| Carrier statement reconciliation | Matching commission and carrier statements to what is in your system and flagging differences. | Spreadsheets and your agency management system |
What happens when the seat is empty
- Data quality drops. Rushed entry means wrong dates, missing drivers or locations, and documents filed to the wrong account.
- Certificates slow down. Clients and their customers expect certificates quickly. Delays put jobs and contracts on hold.
- Renewals start late. Without a current renewal list, remarketing starts too close to the date.
- Agency bill balances age. Premium receivables go unchased and carrier statements don’t get reconciled.
- Producers do admin. Your licensed people spend their day on keystrokes instead of clients.
What Dull takes on
- Entering policies and endorsements from carrier documents, checked against your rules.
- Downloading carrier documents and filing them to the right client and policy.
- Building renewal lists and sending the routine written requests you have approved.
- Preparing certificate drafts for your licensed staff to review and issue.
- Agency bill invoices, statements and written reminders, and payment reconciliation.
- Reconciling commission and carrier statements, with differences flagged.
Anything unclear is set aside, reviewed by a person and sent to you with the reason and the question. Nothing is guessed. Every Friday you get a summary of what got done, the exceptions and anything blocked.
What you see each week
Every Friday you get one short summary. It lists the policies and endorsements entered, and any where the carrier document didn’t match what was expected. It shows certificate drafts waiting for review, renewals coming up in the next 90 days and what is still missing for each, and agency bill balances that are past due. Every exception comes with the reason and the one question we need answered.
Your account managers spend their time on the clients who need a conversation, not on the keystrokes behind them.
What stays with you
Insurance is a licensed business, and the line matters. Dull does not:
- Quote, bind, sell, advise or discuss coverage with anyone.
- Do any work that needs an insurance license.
- Make approval decisions, such as underwriting choices, cancellations, refunds or write-offs.
- Make payments, move premium money or handle card numbers.
- Call your clients or carriers.
Hire, temp or hand it off
Hiring another service assistant or CSR is the usual answer. For a sense of the cost, a bookkeeping, accounting or auditing clerk earned a median of $49,210 a year in May 2024, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Wages are about 70% of what private employers spend per hour worked; benefits are the rest (BLS, June 2026). SHRM puts the average cost per hire at nearly $4,700, before training on your systems and carriers.
Dull is month to month. Use it while you hire, through renewal season, or instead of hiring. The empty seat calculator lays out your own numbers.
How it starts
- A 15-minute call about the work that is piling up, such as policy entry, certificates or agency bill.
- Day one: a user login with only the access the job needs, about 20 example documents with the correct entries, your rules, and one named person for questions.
- Shadow first: we run alongside your team and you approve everything. Then we take the work over.
- 30-day pilot: up to 300 standard records a month. Then continue monthly, add a second process, or stop.
Prefer to see a plan first? Run a free back-office check.
Frequently asked questions
No, because we don't do licensed work. We don't quote, bind, advise or discuss coverage. We handle the data entry and paperwork behind your licensed staff.
We prepare certificate drafts from your templates and the policy on file, and your team reviews and issues them. You decide how much review each request needs.
The one you already use, such as Applied Epic, Vertafore AMS360, HawkSoft or EZLynx, with a user login that has only the access the job needs.
Not by phone, and never about coverage. We can send routine written requests you have approved, such as a reminder for missing renewal information.
A flat monthly fee, month to month, with a fixed quote on a 15-minute call. The standard pilot covers up to 300 standard records a month with a person reviewing every exception.