How placement moves through the IPS

Last updated: September 8, 2026

Answers: What does this platform do? What are the stages? What's automatic vs. mine to do? Where does binding happen?

The IPS (Intelligent Placement System) takes a commercial insurance submission from intake to bound policy, replacing the spreadsheet, inbox folder, and shared drive you'd otherwise keep in sync by hand. Here's the full lifecycle and who does what at each stage.

The six stages

  1. Start a submission. A submission gets into the platform by uploading documents or entering it manually. For uploads, the platform extracts the insured's details from the documents and pre-fills the application for you. Renewals start the same way — you just set the incumbent carrier at creation, which tailors the rest of the flow.

  2. Complete the application. The platform shows you exactly which questions the selected carriers require. Required questions are marked with an asterisk; a few optional questions are displayed as well. Many answers will already be filled from extraction — review them.

  3. Go to market. One click sends the submission to the carriers on your panel. You don't need every question answered for every carrier — the application shows how many markets are ready, and you can submit to those and come back for the rest. The platform records what went to whom. You're welcome to send the same insured to carriers not available on the platform today through your standard channels — emailing an underwriter, for example — and incorporate those results into the platform later.

  4. Review quotes. Quotes return on the submission's Market Details tab as carriers respond — some in minutes, some after underwriter review. Each quote shows premium, limit, retention, and subjectivities, and opening a quote gives you the carrier's files — the quote letter and policy specimen. Quotes you received outside the platform can be uploaded and compared alongside.

    This is also a decision point: if the options aren't good enough to present — the risk data changed, or you want to see a different limit — update the submission and go back to market rather than starting over.

  5. Compare and propose. Select the quotes you want to present, and export a client-ready proposal — an editable PowerPoint — you send from your own email. Renewal submissions with an expiring policy get a renewal template that compares every option against expiring coverage.

  6. Bind and deliver. Binding happens with the carrier: the Bind Details tab gives you the carrier contact, and you send the bind request from your own inbox. The binder and invoice come back to you to review and deliver to your client, same as today.

What the platform does vs. what you do

  • The platform extracts data, fills applications, sends to market, returns structured quotes, and generates the comparison and proposal.

  • You review extracted data, fill what's missing, decide which quotes to present, and handle the bind conversation with the carrier.

The judgment calls stay yours; the re-keying doesn't.

Where to watch it all

Your home base is the submissions list — every in-flight submission and where to pick it back up.