From Concept to Reality: Triforta's Founding Vision

Triforta Insurance Partners may be one of the nation’s newest agencies, but our history long predates our founding. Years before officially opening our doors for business, Triforta Founder and CEO, Rodney Mattos dedicated decades to gaining hands-on experience across the insurance industry continuum. He’s worked both sides of the proverbial industry coin: agency and carrier. And as a former commercial business owner, Rodney has also been an agency client. Clearly, Rodney’s diverse, firsthand knowledge and multiple immersive insurance experiences make him a leading industry expert. 

Rodney’s journey from agency client to carrier leadership to agency owner is a modern-day exploration of America’s contemporary insurance landscape. His industry odyssey uncovered remarkable discoveries and unexpected findings. One of the most surprising discoveries was that a significant percentage of the independent insurance agencies still used long-outdated legacy systems. It was at that moment that Rodney understood too many agencies big and small operated in siloed environments, utilized inadequate off-the-shelf software, and some even jerry rigged their antiquated systems in efforts to fit square pegs into round holes. Clearly, these legacy systems were causing more problems than they solved, and the time and resources they hoarded are time and resources that could, and should, be focused on improving client experiences, developing customized, client-centric solutions, and generating new agency lines of revenue.

Rodney also recognized the insurance- and agency-specific technology void was not just harming the industry; it was bruising the reputations of every brick-and-mortar agency in America. And it didn’t take long for insure-tech platforms to exploit the technology weaknesses of traditional insurance agencies. Soon after launching, these online-only agencies quickly began gaining market share. But these platforms proved—just as quickly—to be the anthesis of brick-and-mortar agencies, falling on the opposite end of the client-centric spectrum. The majority of insure-tech platforms don’t staff expert insurance advisors to help clients circumvent risks or mitigate loss severity. Few insure-tech platforms develop data-driven, customized client solutions and instead offer only mass-market lines of coverage.

No face-to-face client meetings? No one to answer client calls? That’s not insurance. That’s Amazon—a platform without customer-facing personnel. An algorithm adept at hiding all human contacts. An impersonal website intent on extracting as much as possible from clients rather than enhancing and improving their lives and livelihoods. To the Triforta team, this is not insurance; this is simply unacceptable. And other people agree. They’ve turned away from insurtech platforms and turned toward to traditional insurance agencies.

Which is why nobody should be surprised to learn insurtech platforms have lost market share gains faster than they were attained. It’s true. It took only minutes before insure-tech investors were eating pieces slices of Humble Pie, swallowing their pride, and learning a fiscally agonizing lesson: Insurance is all about people. Insurance puts people above all else. Codes will never best human connections. Platforms can’t replace people. Advisor-client relationships are paramount to establishing loyal, long-term, expansive client rosters, and for an agency to thrive these relationships, these human connections, are essential. To provide clients with access to experienced advisors on the phone or in an office, many insure-tech investors are determined to team-up with brick-and-mortar agencies. Because nothing will replace traditional insurance agencies and the gifted, expert advisors they employ.

Still, insurance agencies lacked both software and hardware specific to their industry. It was as if every independent insurance agency owner was waiting for someone else to take the reigns to develop the much-needed technologies, and to restore one of America’s oldest industries back into a modern, future-focused enterprise. The moment he had this realization Rodney’s future crystalized, and his mission cemented. Rodney would take the reigns and transform the insurance agency landscape.

Having committed himself to right-sizing the insurance industry, Rodney continued to seriously ponder why nobody had previously made an honest, concerted attempt to modernize the industry. Why agencies appeared hesitant to develop and adopt insurance-specific technologies perplexed Rodney day in and day out. Virtually every other industry had eagerly adopted new technologies decades ago, changing literally every aspect of how these companies conduct their businesses and how they interact with clients and customers.

So why weren’t agency owners or entrepreneurial individuals developing programs exclusively for brick-and-mortar agencies? Was it a fear of unknowns? Or was it comfort in the familiars? If it was comfort in the familiar today ‘familiar’ translates into subpar, outdated products and services. And why weren’t industry outsiders—young, hungry hackers; digital native programmers; and garage-based inventors—engaged in, and abuzz, in a red-hot race to fill the gaping hole that is agency-specific technologies? Why weren’t tech mavens vying to be the first to bring-to-market the technologies that could, at minimum, easily become industry norm further bewildered Rodney. He simply couldn’t understand the insurance industry’s high-tech void. And Rodney knew, without question, that the only way to fully grasp every angle of the antiquated agency technology calamity was to own an agency. So, Rodney purchased an existing Property & Casualty agency and immediately set out to learn an insider’s perspective on the lack of industry technologies.

Immediately after purchasing the agency, Rodney focused only on those tasks directly in front of him. On signing closing papers on his new-to-him agency. On getting to know each team member’s professional goals and areas of interest as well as their hobbies and children’s names. And after learning which local sandwich shops made the best hoagies, and which nearby coffee shop brewed the strongest lattes, it was time for Rodney augment his existing staff by onboarding only expert, experienced advisors who shared in his belief in the human spirit and the capacity of all people to do good and do right. And every new hire also shared Rodney’s belief that revolutionary change is always possible.

For as long as he’s been an insurance man, Rodney has also been technology devout, actively, and endlessly trailblazing technologies, algorithms, and even AI. He coupled his technology know-how with his earlier agency discoveries and findings to establish a clear vision for Triforta, his newly-branded agency. He outlined how the agency will achieve its short- and long-term milestones and described the best and most expeditious way to successfully revolutionize and modernize one of America’s largest and most important professional services sectors.

Through the establishment of exclusive long-term partnerships with select independent agency owners, Triforta will modernize agency operations and optimize customer experiences. As we create a nationwide network of technologically advanced agencies, Triforta will also reinvent and revitalize how the insurance industry conducts its business and redefine the industry’s overall purpose and role in our society1.

Achieving these ambitious goals requires Triforta to implement extensive and significant technology upgrades in every equity partner and partner agency office. This begins by dismantling the antiquated legacy systems so many agencies still cling to, seemingly loathe to replace. According to a recent study, right now “insurance providers use an average of five systems to handle complex processes such as claims, billing, rating, policy distribution, underwriting, and more2.” And the larger the agency, the larger the systems struggles. Nearly 80 percent of enterprise companies with more than 5,000 employees currently juggle 6-10 systems (or more!). Many of these systems were initially designed to be relevant for 48 months but it’s not atypical for agencies to be utilizing systems haven’t been updated in over a decade3!

Triforta equity partners and partner agencies will never contend with outdated systems and incoherent technologies. Every Triforta agency will enjoy unlimited access to our proprietary technology platform, Apeironix, and we will continually develop requisite, contemporary solutions to address the most acute challenges facing our industry—today and far into the future.

Rodney and his team of intrepid advisors set out to do nothing short of revolutionize the insurance industry. To achieve this utopian yet feasible ambition, the Triforta team had the Founding Vision as a roadmap as well as the attributes of all successful revolutions:

• An unwavering, relentless conviction to their cause; 
• A united, unified, shared vision; 
• The tenacity to overcome industry opposition and resistance; 
• The finesse and capability to attract skeptics to their cause; and 
• A leader capable of keeping his teams motivated, focused, and mission-driven.

The Triforta team immediately began blueprinting their vision of the development and deployment of an agency-specific, holistic, user-friendly, cloud-based tech platform built on the powerful foundation of Salesforce. And after several years of collaboration and ideation and creation, their blueprints became a tangible, real-world tech platform specifically designed for insurance agencies.

Turning Triforta’s vision into reality began with Apeironix, the insurance industry’s recently-unveiled, bespoke, proprietary insurance management platform ideated and innovated by the team of intrepid, veteran Triforta advisors. Envisioned for agencies and advisors, Apeironix digitizes, automates, integrates, and optimizes front, middle, and back offices to craft coherent, friction-free agency operations. And automated, integrated agencies generates the types of granular empirical evidence that enables agency owners and advisors to probe their operations from every angle. Apeironix can, for example, reveal potential sales process bottlenecks; spotlight strategic investment areas to amplify future growth; and so much more.

Apeironix also deploys potent analytical tools that decipher big data into actionable intelligence. The platform-produced distilled data, analytics, and insights empower advisors to deliver bespoke client experiences at every phase of the insurance distribution lifecycle. And Apeironix is AI-enhanced and that means, like us, it never stops learning; it constantly acquires new data-informed knowledge to keep Triforta and its equity agencies and partner agencies eternally at the apex of the nexus of insurance and information technologies.

Last but certainly not least is the fact that Apeironix is a cloud-based platform, providing Triforta agencies and advisors easy access to vital, real-time data anytime, anywhere, on any device. And Apeironix generates, daily, analytics, statistics, reports, facts, and figures. Triforta’s proprietary platform also produces comprehensive, 360-degree vistas of agencies’ data universes as well as in-depth client-specific analytics. And having 24/7/365 access to empirical evidence, data analytics, predictive models, and industry-specific insights enables advisors to quickly respond to client inquiries and to create data-driven customized, cost-effective client solutions.

Apeironix is foundational to Triforta’s Founding Vision. Implementing our tech platform will modernize agency operations and optimize customer experiences while also playing a pivotal role in revitalizing and rejuvenating America’s insurance industry. And by utilizing AI and other revolutionary technologies, Apeironix will help initiate a much-needed industry renaissance that will, in turn, attract the next generation of insurance advisors to every Triforta agency.

Clearly, Apeironix is poised to radically change the insurance industry for the better. Only recently unveiled, interest in Triforta’s tech platform has already surpassed initial expectations. Apeironix is, however, exclusive. It’s proprietary. It’s available only to Triforta’s select equity partners and partner agencies. And we understand that merging with, or being acquired by, an agency like ours may very well be one of the most consequential decisions a business owner makes. Which is why we believe it’s important to know as much as possible about Triforta—our history, ambitions, and core values. Our past, after all, created our present and laid the foundation of our long-term goals. And our core values express who we are, defining our ethics and ethos and attitude.

Triforta is all things insurance. We are agents and advisors. and analysts. Account executives, auditors, and underwriters. And so much more. We are several former independently-owned insurance agencies now united into a singular dynamic company. We operate as a cohesive, unified, harmonious, we’re-in-it-together organization. Agency leadership stands in solidarity with staff, always supporting our advisors—a renown, esteemed team of relentless and fierce client advocates.

Triforta is a testament to the transformative power of unity, integrity, innovation, client-centricity, excellence, and accountability. These traits are the essence of our identity; they are the heartbeat of Triforta.

• Unity: Our greatest asset is our collective strength. We foster a culture of collaboration and support every team member in achieving new professional goals. 
• Integrity: Ethical clarity and responsibility guide our every step. We believe in honest, open lines of communication and our agency operations are fully transparent. 
• Innovation: Apeironix is the embodiment of our dream - a technology platform that is dynamic, robust, and capable of redefining the future of insurance. 
• Client-Centric: Our clients are the center of our universe and we do everything in our power to provide them with industry-best service and support. We tailor solutions to meet their unique needs. We help them pivot to economic, regulatory, climate, and market disruptions, to expect the unexpected, and to plan for unknowns. 
• Excellence: Our pursuit of excellence is relentless because quality products and services are always in demand. Quality never goes out of style. Quality is recession-proof. And quality is synonymous with excellence. 
• Accountability: We own our actions and the results of our actions. We are accountable to each, and every client and we go to great lengths to deliver on our promises to all stakeholders—clients; equity partners and partner agencies; communities; employees; and shareholders.

Today, Triforta is where the fusion of real-time analytics, big data, generative learning, and hands-on, human expertise innovates smart, data-devout solutions for the financial security and lifelong prosperity of all clients—corporations; companies; nonprofits; workforces; families; and individuals.