When CFC Underwriting set out to modernise its approach to broker relationship management, the challenge wasn’t simply finding the right software. It was about capturing years of institutional knowledge — stored in people’s heads, inboxes, and informal conversations — and turning it into something an entire global organisation could act on.
In a recent panel webinar, Leah Berwick, Head of Revenue Operations at CFC, joined Brian Doogan from Futureform and Suruchi Shukla from Salesforce to share the story behind CFC’s new Broker Relationship Management (BRM) platform. What emerged was a practical, honest account of what it takes to move from fragmented data and manual processes to an AI-enabled, intelligence-driven distribution operation — and what insurance organisations at any stage of that journey can learn from it.
Ready to move faster? Let’s talk!
What Should a Best-in-Class Broker Relationship Management Platform Actually Do?
The strongest BRM platforms share a few things in common. They give every part of the business a single, accurate view of each broker relationship: hierarchy, strategic tier, engagement history, pipeline, commissions, and product interest across all lines. They support the full broker lifecycle — from onboarding through to QBRs — with workflows that reflect how distribution teams actually operate. And increasingly, they surface AI-driven insight that helps relationship managers walk into every conversation prepared, and act on the right opportunities at the right time.
The shift from a system of record to a system of intelligence is where the most forward-thinking MGAs are focusing their attention — and where CFC’s story begins.
The Starting Point: Strong Relationships, Fragmented Data
CFC is one of the world’s most innovative specialty MGAs, managing thousands of broker relationships across 90 countries in lines including cyber, tech risk, and life sciences. In under a decade, the business had grown from a close-knit London market firm to a global organisation of over a thousand people, but the systems supporting broker engagement hadn’t kept pace.
Broker knowledge lived in individual diaries, email inboxes, and people’s memories. There was no single broker profile, no shared view of hierarchy or strategic importance, and no consistent process to manage the broker lifecycle. Multiple versions of the same data circulated across the business, and teams in different geographies had no reliable way to co-ordinate their activity.
As Leah put it: “If you’re ever asked who last met that broker, what did we commit to, what matters to them, where’s the opportunity — that was the gap we were trying to close. We had good relationships. We just weren’t sharing that information.”
Why CFC Chose Salesforce Financial Services Cloud — and Futureform
CFC ran a competitive RFP across four platforms before selecting Salesforce Financial Services Cloud with Futureform as the implementation partner. Three criteria drove the decision.
UI/UX and insurance fit. A CRM is only as good as what people actually put into it. Salesforce stood out as the most advanced platform and the one tailored to the needs of an insurance organisation.
AI and future readiness. CFC knew its data foundation needed to be strong enough to support where technology was heading. The ability to enable next best actions, evolve with Agentforce, and work with a partner thinking ahead about emerging capabilities was a decisive factor.
People and cultural fit. “We needed a team that matched CFC’s culture and agility,” Leah explained. “From the moment Futureform came in, it just felt like the right fit. They became an extension of our own team — and that’s rare for third-party partners.” That cultural alignment would prove critical during a fast-moving, technically complex six-month build.
How the BRM Platform Was Built
Futureform delivered the solution across three interconnected layers.
Layer 1: Salesforce Financial Services Cloud as the Foundation
Financial Services Cloud (FSC) provided the structural backbone of the BRM: broker hierarchy management, contact and relationship profiles, pipeline visibility, commission tracking, and workflow support across the full broker engagement lifecycle. As a partner with deep FSC expertise and a seat on Salesforce’s FSC Partner Advisory Board, Futureform came to the project with a clear, opinionated view on how the platform should be configured for an MGA.
Layer 2: Databricks Integration for Performance Data
One of the most common challenges in insurance CRM implementations is the separation between relationship data and performance data. Transactional information — GWP, submissions, policy data — typically lives in admin systems that don’t talk to the CRM, leaving relationship managers with an incomplete picture.
CFC had already made a significant investment in Databricks as a centralised data store. Futureform used zero-copy integration to connect this to the BRM, meaning performance data was available alongside relationship data from day one — without the heavy integration overhead that would typically be required. The result was a truly unified view of each broker: what they were writing, where they were growing, where engagement was slipping, and where the opportunities lay.
Layer 3: Agentforce for AI-Driven Insight
The third layer is the one that will change the nature of the platform. Agentforce will be used to automatically capture and synthesise meeting notes, call transcripts, and emails. Rather than requiring underwriters to manually log activity, the system processes that data and pushes relevant insight back to them — surfacing broker summaries, flagging engagement gaps, and generating next best action prompts.
“AI is shifting CRM from requiring you to enter data to actually performing things for you,” Brian explained. “It’s the difference between a passive system of record and something genuinely intelligent.”
The Results: A New Product Opportunity Found in Minutes
The practical impact of the platform became clear within two weeks of go-live. CFC was assessing whether to launch a new product line in the US market. Previously, building a credible business case would have required a specialist analyst spending days manually searching through historic broker records, marketing data, and transactional history.
With the BRM in place, the team ran a search across all historic engagement records, surfacing every broker who had shown interest in the relevant product area — along with associated GWP opportunity and marketing engagement signals. The whole exercise took minutes, and the result was a data-backed strategic business case ready for internal sign-off.
“That could have taken us weeks,” Leah said. “The fact we can do that in five minutes with AI, and therefore launch a new product with a really clear business case, is absolutely incredible transformation.”
More broadly, the platform will shift how CFC’s underwriting teams operate day to day. Broker profile summaries will be generated automatically. Meeting notes will be turned into structured actions. Time previously spent searching for context and preparing for meetings will be redirected toward broker-facing activity — extending the capacity of relationship owners without adding headcount.
Change Management: What Worked, and What They’d Do Differently
Daily standups, a close working relationship with the Futureform team, clear change personas from the outset, and strong executive sponsorship all contributed to a programme that held together under pressure.
Her honest advice for organisations on a similar path:
- Allow slightly longer sprints. When you’re building something genuinely new with technology that’s evolving rapidly, an extra week per sprint pays for itself.
- Don’t underestimate data. “It sits at the heart of everything. We knew how important it was, but we still didn’t give ourselves quite enough time.” That said, you don’t need a perfect data strategy before you start — embedding data cleansing within the programme forces decisions, creates ownership, and ties quality directly to business outcomes.
- Separate your ROI story. Financial return typically materialises six to twelve months post go-live. Leading indicators — productivity gains, new capabilities, efficiency improvements — are what carry the business case in year one. Presenting both gives leadership a realistic picture of what success looks like at each stage.
What Comes Next for CFC
Phase two of the BRM programme is focused on deepening the agentic layer. Automated compliance and regulatory checks — drawing from the Lloyd’s database and licence registries — will replace manual searches. HubSpot integration will align marketing activity with the BRM in real time. And a roadmap of around 25 AI use cases is in active development, all aimed at reducing friction for underwriters and ensuring brokers never have to repeat what they’re interested in.
The longer-term vision, as Leah described it, is a platform that doesn’t just store data but knows what to do with it — one that helps shape broker distribution decisions, not just record them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is broker relationship management (BRM) in insurance? Broker relationship management refers to the systems and processes an insurer or MGA uses to manage its distribution network — primarily brokers and intermediaries. A BRM platform provides a centralised view of broker relationships, engagement history, pipeline, and performance data, and supports the full lifecycle from onboarding through to strategic planning and quarterly business reviews.
How is Salesforce Financial Services Cloud used for broker management? Salesforce Financial Services Cloud (FSC) provides the structural foundation for broker relationship management, including hierarchy modelling, contact management, pipeline tracking, commission visibility, and workflow automation across the broker engagement lifecycle. For MGAs and insurers, FSC is often configured by specialist implementation partners like Futureform to reflect the specific structures and processes of the insurance market.
What is Agentforce and how does it help insurance organisations? Agentforce is Salesforce’s agentic AI platform. In the context of broker relationship management, it can automatically capture and synthesise meeting notes, call transcripts, and emails; generate broker profile summaries; surface engagement gaps; and prompt relationship managers with next best actions — reducing manual data entry and shifting CRM from a passive record system to an active intelligence tool.
How long does a Salesforce BRM implementation take for an MGA? CFC’s initial BRM implementation was delivered in six months by Futureform. The timeline for any organisation will depend on data complexity, the number of integrated systems, and the scope of AI-enabled features. A phased approach — establishing the core data foundation first, then layering in AI capabilities — is typically more effective than attempting to build everything at once.
What is the ROI of a broker relationship management platform? ROI from a BRM platform typically comes in two phases. Leading indicators — such as reduced time spent on meeting preparation, faster access to broker insight, and improved cross-sell visibility — are often visible within weeks of go-live. Financial returns, including measurable revenue uplift and productivity gains at scale, tend to materialise six to twelve months post-implementation as adoption matures and AI-driven capabilities compound.
Do you need clean data before implementing a CRM or BRM platform? Not necessarily. CFC’s experience shows that embedding data cleansing within a structured implementation programme can be equally effective — and has the advantage of forcing decisions around data ownership and standards that might otherwise be deferred. A clear data strategy is important from the outset, but waiting for perfect data before starting is rarely the right call.
Ready to See What Salesforce Could Look Like in Your Firm?
👉 Book Your Free Strategy Call. We’ll review your current Salesforce setup, walk you through what FSC unlocks for firms at your stage, and help you map out a clear path to get there.