Carriers Expand Digital Quoting and Binding for Small Businesses; Streamline Online Workers Compensation and Advance Digital Assistants

The Hartford Continues Run at No. 1 in Keynova Group's Annual Small Commercial Insurance Scorecard

WILMINGTON, Del., Oct. 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Keynova Group, the principal competitive intelligence source for digital financial services firms, today announced the results of its 2025 Small Commercial Insurance Scorecard. For the seventh consecutive year, The Hartford ranks first for its digital experience tailored to small businesses. Keynova Group's annual Scorecard evaluates the desktop and mobile offerings of 10 of the largest U.S. small business insurers.

The Scorecard findings reveal that carriers serving small businesses are enhancing digital quoting and binding features, offering more online options for workers compensation policies and claims and activating digital assistants for small business self-service.

"Small businesses expect the same levels of digital convenience and servicing that their managers and employees enjoy as consumers, and carriers are responding by introducing full-featured digital quoting and binding capabilities that drive improved acquisition outcomes," said Beth Robertson, managing director, Keynova Group. "Workers compensation policies, also ripe for digital efficiencies, are seeing upgrades affecting both claims actions and premium calculations. And carriers are simplifying access to support by expanding the availability and skill sets of digital assistants to accommodate the needs of small business policyholders."

Key Findings:

Expanded Digital Quoting and Binding Drives Efficiencies 
More than half of Scorecard carriers now enable digital purchasing and binding for a variety of small business policy types and 20% also support digital binding for commercial auto policies. These enhancements are helping carriers deliver time-strapped small businesses an efficient and accurate quoting experience that improves acquisition results while reducing related costs for both carriers and prospects. As accurate business assessments are important for determining business risk and appropriate coverage requirements, more than two-thirds of carriers offer tools that help small businesses determine the type of policies and coverages that they may need and nearly half include in-quote assessments to help correctly classify prospective firms. The Hartford has introduced an innovative technology solution in its quote flow to simplify business classification for small business owners. And with fraudulent bot activity on the rise, 20% of carriers now include a CAPTCHA request in quoting contact forms or within the full quoting flow to ensure applicant legitimacy.

Digital Processes Ease Workers Compensation Complexities 
Workers compensation claims reporting and premium calculations are another area of complexity in which carriers are continuing to improve digital support for small businesses. Nearly three-quarters of Scorecard carriers now enable online, rather than paper-based, audits for determining workers comp premiums based on the active number and classification of a business' employees, with 60% streamlining the process so companies can upload audit-related documents. Half of carriers offer "pay as you go" options that support recurring digital assessments of payroll data for more real-time premium calculations. Several carriers now provide additional "pay as you go" accuracy and efficiency enhancements including directly integrating data from payroll providers, payroll notification alerts and payroll period reports. Carriers have also improved support for workers comp claims with half allowing claims to be filed online and 60% providing online claims tracking. More firms are adding web-based resources to aid injured workers such as information about the claims process or a search tool to identify preferred medical providers; while some have recovery apps for injured workers that enable direct communication with claim handlers through online message centers or chat.

Digital Assistant Servicing Enhanced for Small Business Policyholders 
As the use of digital assistants grows for personal lines insurance, 60% of Scorecard carriers are now expanding digital assistant capabilities to support small businesses. Carriers that have integrated digital assistants can help policyholders efficiently self-service without requiring live agent interaction. Among carriers offering a desktop assistant, two-thirds guide users directly to a relevant screen based on their inquiry, while one-third transfer users to a live agent on request or when an inquiry cannot be addressed by the assistant. AmTrust's assistant, which supplies a broad array of in-depth content, also supplies users with their queue position when live support is requested. The Hartford's assistant enables small business policyholders to request and obtain payment information, including amount owed and premium due date.

About the Small Commercial Insurance Scorecard
Keynova Group's annual fact-based Small Commercial Insurance Scorecard evaluates the online and mobile offerings of 10 of the leading U.S. small business insurers including AmTrust Financial, Chubb, GEICO, Hiscox, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide, Progressive, State Farm, The Hartford, and Travelers. Evaluating nearly 350 objective criteria and measuring competitive digital capabilities and user experience elements, the Scorecard identifies evolving trends and actionable insights that influence digital strategies for carriers serving small firms.

For more information about Keynova Group's 2025 Small Commercial Insurance Scorecard, please visit https://www.keynovagroup.com/scorecards/#insurance.

About Keynova Group
Keynova Group is the nation's foremost competitive intelligence firm providing trusted benchmarking insights and analysis of consumer and small business digital financial services, including banking, credit card, home lending and insurance. Since 1999, Keynova Group's Scorecards have served as the go-to source for leading financial services firms to obtain reliable competitive intelligence and actionable insights. The firm's proven methodology and highly detailed results help its clients maximize the value of their online and mobile channels to deliver a premier experience to customers and prospects.

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SOURCE Keynova Group