Insurance Agency Answering Service | Claims & After-Hours Intake
Independent Agencies
An independent agency's phone has two completely different failure modes. One is the catastrophe morning: hail comes through overnight, or a freeze bursts pipes across the county, and every insured in your book calls before nine — including the ones whose agent is sitting in the same storm with no power. The other is every ordinary Tuesday, where the constraint is not volume but licensure, because the person answering may take the facts and set the appointment but may not quote, bind, or tell anyone whether they are covered.
Global Empire Corporation answers agency lines inside that boundary on purpose — first notice of loss taken cleanly and passed with the carrier claim line given, certificate requests captured with the holder's exact wording and the deadline attached, new business routed to a licensed producer while the caller is still interested, and a catastrophe script that can be switched on the morning your whole book calls at once.
- Live after-hours and overflow answering, so a loss report or a quote request reaches a person rather than a recording
- A catastrophe script that activates on your instruction when an event hits your territory, with surge capacity behind it
- Certificate, ID card and billing calls taken off your licensed staff so producers are not doing service work at renewal
- Every call handled strictly inside what an unlicensed person may do, with a defined handoff the moment it stops being one
- 1.1B+
- Transactions Processed
- 11+
- Contact Centers Worldwide
- 27
- Service in 27+ Languages
- 35.5k+
- Over 35000 Happy Employees
- 10M+
- New Customers Acquired
Two Problems on One Phone Line, and Neither Is Solved by Voicemail
Service volume in an agency is not evenly distributed and it never has been. A hailstorm, a freeze or a wind event does not generate a busy week — it generates a single morning in which a large share of your personal lines book tries to reach you simultaneously, and your own staff may be dealing with the same weather at home. Insureds who cannot reach the agency call the carrier direct, and some of them notice they did not need you in the middle. That is the quiet damage in a catastrophe: not the calls you missed, but the relationship habit that changes afterward.
The ordinary days cost you differently. A quote request that reaches voicemail at six in the evening is competing with a direct writer's website that never closes, and speed to first contact decides most of those. Meanwhile the calls that do get answered are mostly service — certificates, ID cards, billing questions, address changes — landing on the same licensed staff you need selling. Answering everything in house means your producers do service work; answering nothing after five means the new business goes elsewhere. An answering line that knows exactly where its authority ends solves both without touching your licensing exposure.
For independent agencies, brokers and multi-line agency groups
Where an Agency Call Goes, and Where It Stops
First Notice of Loss, Taken Properly
Policy number, named insured, date and time, location, what happened, whether anyone is injured, whether the property is secure and mitigation is underway, and how to reach the insured. Agents give the carrier's claim line so reporting is not delayed by your office hours, and deliver the file to you the same night. They do not open a claim on the insured's behalf unless your process says to.
The Coverage Question, and the Hard Stop Behind It
Am I covered for this is the most common question on the line and the one an unlicensed person cannot answer. Agents acknowledge it, capture the situation in the caller's own words, and route it to a licensed producer with a callback commitment. They do not read the policy back, compare it to another, interpret an endorsement, or reassure. Getting that boundary scripted is the whole compliance program.
Certificates of Insurance and Evidence of Property
High volume, deadline-driven, and the request most likely to arrive at 4:55 on a Friday. Agents capture the certificate holder's exact name and address, the required wording, whether additional insured or waiver of subrogation status is being demanded, who to send it to and when it is needed — then route it to whoever issues yours, flagged by deadline rather than by arrival time.
Billing, Lapse and Cancellation Notices
An insured who has received a cancellation notice is calling about a deadline. Agents confirm the policy, capture what the notice says, direct payment to the carrier's own channel where that is fastest, and escalate to your service team under the urgency rules you set. They do not confirm whether a policy is currently in force, reinstate anything, or promise a grace arrangement.
New Business Routed on a Speed-to-Lead Clock
Line of business, what prompted the call, current carrier and renewal date, and the contact details a producer needs. The inquiry goes to the right licensed producer immediately, or an appointment is set directly on their calendar. Agents describe your agency and what lines you write, which is permitted; they do not solicit, compare products, or state that you can beat anyone.
Catastrophe Mode
A defined script you switch on. When an event hits your territory the line moves to loss reporting first, additional capacity comes on, callers get the carrier claim line immediately rather than after triage, and everything else is logged for later. Agreeing the trigger, the script and who can activate it before storm season is the difference between surge coverage and a busy signal.
Working Inside Applied Epic, AMS360, HawkSoft and EZLynx
Independent agencies mostly run one of a short list of systems, and they are not interchangeable. Applied Epic and Vertafore AMS360 are the management systems larger and mid-sized agencies build around; HawkSoft is common in smaller personal lines shops; EZLynx spans both management and comparative rating; AgencyZoom sits alongside as a sales pipeline. Where you grant it, agents log activities and notes against the correct client record in your system, so a loss reported at eleven at night is already on the account when your service team opens it — instead of arriving as an email somebody has to match to a customer by hand.
What agents do in those systems is deliberately narrow, and the narrowness is the point. They read enough to identify the caller and the policy, and they write activities, notes and appointments. They do not rate, quote, bind, endorse, or change coverage, and they are not given permissions that would let them — because in an agency the access model and the licensing boundary should be the same line drawn twice. Where you would rather not extend outside access at all, structured intake is delivered to a monitored inbox or your service queue in a fixed format, which is slower for your staff but keeps every credential inside your walls.
- Applied Epic and Vertafore AMS360 — activities, notes and appointments logged against the right client record
- HawkSoft and EZLynx for personal lines agencies, scoped to intake, notes and scheduling rather than rating
- AgencyZoom or your CRM for new business, so an after-hours quote request enters the producer's pipeline overnight
- No outside access granted — structured intake delivered to your service queue in a fixed format instead
Producer Licensing, and Why the Script Is the Compliance Program
Selling insurance is licensed activity, and each state's department of insurance administers producer licensing for its own market. Broadly — and with real variation between states — an unlicensed person may take a message, relay it to a licensed producer, set an appointment, give out general information about the agency, and tell an insured what the agency's own records already show. Soliciting a sale, comparing products, interpreting a policy, advising on what coverage someone should carry, and binding or altering coverage are licensed acts. Several states also recognize a licensed customer representative role that sits between the two, with its own appointment requirements.
That is why the scripting is the whole job here rather than a formality. Every call path has to end either in something an unlicensed person is clearly permitted to do or in a warm handoff to your licensed staff, and agents have to recognize the exact moment a service call turns into a coverage question — because it happens constantly and it rarely announces itself. Your own errors and omissions carrier may also impose tighter conditions than the statute does, and the rules differ state by state and change. Confirm your current requirements with your own counsel, and with your E&O carrier, before you approve a single script.
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Frequently asked questions
Can your agents quote or bind coverage for a caller?
No. They are not licensed producers and the script is built so they never approach the line. What they can do is take the inquiry properly — line of business, current carrier, renewal date, what prompted the call — and get it in front of a licensed producer immediately, or book an appointment on that producer's calendar while the caller is engaged. If a provider tells you their agents can quote on your behalf, ask which state they are licensed in and for what line. The answer is usually the end of the conversation.
Someone calls at nine at night to report a claim. What actually happens?
The agent takes a complete first notice of loss — policy, insured, date and time, location, description, injuries, whether the property is secure and mitigation has started — and gives the caller the carrier's claim line so reporting is not waiting on your office to open. Where your process is to open the claim through your agency instead, we follow that. The file reaches you by the method you nominate the same night, and anything meeting the urgency rules you set escalates to a named person rather than waiting for morning.
What happens when a storm hits our entire book on the same morning?
That is a plan agreed before the season, not an improvisation on the day. We define the trigger, who at your agency can activate catastrophe mode, and what changes when they do: loss reporting takes priority over everything, carrier claim lines are given immediately, additional capacity comes onto the queue, and non-urgent calls are logged for callback rather than worked. Sizing an agency program on your average call volume is exactly what produces a busy signal on the one morning your insureds judge you.
Can you handle certificate of insurance requests?
Intake and routing, yes — and it removes a genuine drag on commercial lines service. Agents capture the certificate holder's exact legal name and address, the wording being demanded, whether additional insured or waiver of subrogation status is required, the project or contract it relates to, who it must be sent to and the actual deadline. That goes to whoever issues certificates in your agency, prioritized by when it is needed. Agents do not issue the certificate, confirm that the required wording can be provided, or promise a turnaround.
Will your agents work inside Applied Epic or AMS360?
Where you grant access, yes, with permissions scoped tightly — identify the caller and the policy, write activities, notes and appointments, nothing that touches rating or coverage. The benefit is that an after-hours loss report or service request is already on the correct client record when your team opens it, rather than arriving as an email somebody has to match up by hand. Where your agency prefers not to extend outside access, we agree a fixed intake format delivered to your service queue instead.
Do we need 24/7 coverage, or just evenings?
It depends on your book, and it is worth being honest about. A personal lines agency in a hail, wind or freeze-exposed state has a real overnight case: losses get reported when they happen, and the insured who reaches a person at two in the morning remembers it. A small commercial agency with no catastrophe exposure often needs evenings, Saturdays and daytime overflow and nothing more. Start with the hours your own abandoned-call data justifies, and add overnight when the log or the exposure argues for it.
Can you set appointments for our producers?
Yes, and for most agencies that is the highest-value part of the program. Appointment setting sits outside licensure in the general case — the agent is arranging a meeting, not selling insurance — so a new business inquiry can be captured and placed directly on the right producer's calendar with the context they need to prepare. The rules to agree in advance are which producer takes which line and territory, how far ahead they may be booked, and what qualifies an inquiry as worth an appointment.
What does an insurance agency answering service cost?
It follows the program: hours covered, call volume and how much of it is service versus new business, whether catastrophe surge capacity is contracted in advance, whether agents work inside your management system or hand intake to your service queue, how many locations and lines are in scope, and how detailed the routing rules are. Catastrophe readiness is a real cost even in a quiet year, because the capacity has to be reserved. We quote per agency after reviewing your call pattern and your exposure.
TESTIMONIALS
Our trusted clients
Global Empire provides reliable 24/7 coverage with live support when it matters most. Their breadth of service, professionalism, and ability to answer calls quickly has made a major difference for our organization. We’re very happy with the partnership and would recommend them confidently.
Wait times no longer exist with the service Global Empire provides. We have cut labor costs dramatically, eliminated overhead from dispatch staffing, and our clients are getting picked up quicker. Spending less while improving service has become the backbone of our business.
We are not only meeting but exceeding our service level objectives. Global Empire resolves many calls without needing a live agent, and the calls that require support are answered quickly and handled faster than before. Their reporting gives us visibility anytime we need it.
We set very challenging service level objectives and insist on those standards being met. At first we were unsure if Global Empire could consistently deliver at that level, but they proved they could. Based on performance and reliability, we know we made the right decision.
Service matters greatly for customer loyalty and experience, and Global Empire provides exactly the professional support required. We’re confident we achieve more value in our contact center because of the strategic partnership and the consistency of their service.
During our recent flood disaster, Global Empire provided messaging services vital to our communications management. Their quick, efficient, and professional response stood out throughout the crisis. In situations like this, service quality is not taken for granted — it’s recognized.
Excellent service — we consistently receive comments about how professional and friendly their agents are. To our customers, it feels seamless and they assume the people answering are part of our in-office team. It has worked out far better than we thought possible.
Global Empire has provided essential call center services for over a decade, responding to medical and non-medical emergencies with accuracy and professionalism. Their commitment to quality and continuous learning is clearly reflected in the service they deliver.
I never realized how much overtime we were paying until we started using Global Empire. We were able to eliminate overtime completely while improving how calls are handled. Now our staff can focus on other important tasks that keep our customers happy.
I wasn’t using all the options Global Empire offered until one of their representatives noticed and reached out. Based on their recommendations, we made several changes that saved money and improved response time. Customers now comment on how efficiently our business runs.
We believe excellent customer service provides the sharpest competitive edge. Global Empire shares that same vision and works closely with us to deliver the best possible service quality. Their partnership supports our ongoing commitment to excellence.
The main reason we work with Global Empire is the ‘red carpet’ treatment. They have the best group of agents I’ve worked with in over 20 years, and they consistently maintain high standards for compliance and customer interactions. They lead by example.
Efficient, professional service with a personal touch. It’s rare to find a provider that consistently delivers both quality and responsiveness at this level.
Over the years I’ve been impressed with the professionally trained staff at Global Empire. Our customers are often anxious or angry, and their team consistently puts them at ease. In two decades, we have never had a customer complaint — which says everything.
As we expanded from Europe into North America, we knew customer service and technical support would be critical to success. We were impressed to learn Global Empire was handling support for a market leader. After working with them, it’s clear why — their service sets the standard.
One of our members struggled with registration and called our toll-free number. The Global Empire agent remained calm, extremely helpful, and professional throughout a long troubleshooting process. Because of that call, the customer remained loyal — and that is a huge asset.
Global Empire is over-delivering on SPH and sales targets. Their performance has helped us reduce acquisition costs significantly, and they have proven to be the missing link in our growth strategy.
I can’t believe we didn’t use Global Empire sooner. Since joining, our order accuracy improved, wait time is virtually gone, and customers receive their orders correctly and on time. This partnership has had a major impact on our national pizza business.
Because of their experience in the energy industry, Global Empire has become a valued marketing partner. Their call center solutions help us acquire customers, retain them, and provide quality service after the sale — 24 hours a day.
Our business relationship with Global Empire has been long and very satisfying. Their employees deserve full credit for the professionalism and consistency they bring to every interaction. I know firsthand how stressful frontline work can be, and their team delivers every time.
Global Empire has been an integral part of our business for years. Our customers expect to speak with someone who can assist immediately, and their team consistently delivers. They maintain professionalism, empathy, and flexibility, making it easy to work together.
With so much outsourcing in the answering services space, it was a relief to find a provider that is truly efficient. The pricing is excellent, onboarding was smooth, and our clients were far happier speaking to a live operator instead of voicemail.
We have partnered with Global Empire for over 15 years and they remain a crucial part of our 24/7 operations. They support multiple sites across states, and we couldn’t be happier with their service, reliability, and long-term consistency.