What a CRM does
A customer relationship management (CRM) system tracks people and conversations: contacts, leads, deals, tasks, emails and follow-ups. A general-purpose CRM is built around a sales pipeline and doesn't know what a policy, a carrier or a renewal date is.
What an AMS does
An agency management system (AMS) is the system of record for the agency itself: clients and their policies, carriers, expirations, documents, commissions, certificates and carrier downloads. It's built around how insurance agencies make and keep money.
Where they overlap
- Contact and household records
- Leads and pipeline
- Tasks, notes and email
- Retention touches such as birthday and holiday emails
Where an insurance agency needs more than a CRM
| Agency need | Generic CRM | AMS |
|---|---|---|
| Policies and expirations | Custom fields you build | Built in |
| Multi-carrier quoting | No | Rater |
| Commission reconciliation | No | Statement parsing and splits |
| Certificates of insurance | No | ACORD 25 generation |
| Carrier document downloads | No | IVANS and document harvest |
So which do you need?
If you run an independent agency, you need an AMS that includes the CRM, not a CRM bolted on to spreadsheets. That is how DarkHorse AMS works: the insurance CRM side and the policy, quoting and commission side are one system. See the full list of what's inside.
More guides
- How to choose an insurance agency management system: 9 questions to ask first
- How to switch agency management systems without losing your book
- Insurance agency software pricing: what to expect and what to watch for
- What is a comparative rater, and how do independent agencies use one?
- Insurance agency software for small agencies: what you actually need
- How to reconcile insurance commission statements, step by step
- Agency management system implementation checklist: from signed to live
- Insurance agency CRM features checklist for buyers
- What is IVANS, and how do carrier downloads work?
See DarkHorse AMS running
$250/month flat. Deployed on your own server, branded as your agency. Talk to an agency owner, not a sales rep.
Got more questions? Schedule a one-on-one with the developer → See pricing