What Would Your Brokerage Do with More Capacity?
Independent brokerages already bring deep expertise to clients. The challenge is creating capacity—and drawing on specialized support where needed—to keep growing.
Ask brokerage owners what they would like to do next and the ideas come quickly: improve client experience, recruit producers, develop their people, build insurer relationships or pursue a new niche. That ambition is a strength of the independent channel.
Canada’s Top 10 brokerages now control roughly 60% of brokerage market share, compared with about 40% a decade ago.
Scale and specialization matter more, yet local knowledge, trusted advice and community relationships remain independent advantages.
The challenge is making room for those opportunities. Payroll, technology, compliance, marketing and employee support consume time needed for clients and growth. They also demand expertise that keeps pace with changing systems, risks, regulations and expectations.
Growth now takes greater intention
Premium movement will not do all the work. Commercial rates have begun to soften, with the trend extending to farm insurance in 2026 and potentially having a greater effect on auto in 2027. These premium shifts reinforce the need for deliberate retention, account development and new business strategies.
Brokerages still have many paths for growth including deeper client relationships, account rounding, niches, producer development and targeted prospects. The constraint is often having enough time and capability to pursue them while keeping up with the expertise required to run the business well.
An illustrative view of five operating costs
Planning scenarios for a Canadian brokerage with approximately 5 to 25 employees—not audited industry averages. Actual spending, time and expertise requirements vary.
Technology and IT
Illustrative scenario: $10,000–$40,000; 5–20 hours/month. Systems, cybersecurity, licenses and support require oversight—and current knowledge of evolving threats, platforms and vendor options.
Finance and Accounting
Illustrative scenario: $5,000–$25,000; 5–20 hours/month. Bookkeeping, reporting, tax and commission accounting, all grow more complex with growth, requiring specialized knowledge that stays current.
Training and development
Illustrative scenario: $2,000–$15,000; 2–10 hours/month. Licensing is essential, but leaders must also identify evolving skill needs and provide coaching and development beyond the brokering role.
Marketing
Illustrative scenario: $5,000–$30,000; 5–20 hours/month. Websites, campaigns and lead generation need consistent attention, along with expertise in changing channels, data and client expectations.
HR and Payroll
Illustrative scenario: $2,000–$15,000; 3–12 hours/month. Payroll, benefits, recruitment and employee matters intensify during growth and require up-to-date employment and workplace expertise.
What could you do with the time?
Together, the five functions could represent roughly $24,000–$125,000 annually and 20–82 coordination hours each month. At 40 hours a month and a fully loaded labour cost of $40 an hour, coordination alone represents nearly $20,000 a year—and 480 hours unavailable elsewhere.
Be more present for clients
More capacity can mean a thoughtful renewal call instead of a rushed email, a proper account review or time to understand what a client is worried about—moments that strengthen retention, referrals and trust.
Help people see a future in the business
Development should be more than required courses. Leaders need time to coach, discuss career goals, expand responsibilities and help employees picture their next step, building a stronger bench and another reason for good people to stay.
Spend more time on the good parts
Most owners did not build a brokerage because they loved coordinating back-office functions. They enjoy advising clients, developing people, solving difficult problems and building something that matters. More time for that work can restore energy to the business.
Give good ideas a fair chance
Brokerages rarely lack ideas; they lack time to act. Reclaimed capacity can move account rounding, recruitment, a chosen niche or a digital initiative from the wish list into a real plan, supporting more consistent organic growth and execution.
Open more doors for clients
Shared expertise or strategic relationships may broaden access to insurance markets, helping a brokerage explore unfamiliar risks, strengthen insurer relationships and retain opportunities it might otherwise refer away—creating more options for clients and room to build selected specialties.
Independence is not the same as doing everything alone.
The decision is not whether to hand over the business. It is which work needs the brokerage’s judgment and relationships, which capabilities belong inside the firm, and which can be handled through shared services, technology, specialists or a strategic relationship.
Done well, those choices add expertise and scale without weakening local identity or client ownership. Technology, cybersecurity, compliance and succession demands are already prompting firms to rethink support. The opportunity is to remain independent in the ways that matter while gaining capabilities that are difficult to build alone.
A useful question.
Ask: Does this need our judgment or relationships—and do we have the expertise to keep up? If not, there may be a better way to carry it.
The real cost of running a brokerage is not only in the ledger. It is in the client conversation that did not happen, the employee whose future was not discussed, the idea left waiting and the market opportunity never explored. The goal is to give the brokerage’s best people more time for work they care about—and work that moves the business forward.
Sources:
Smythe LLP, 2025 P&C Insurance Brokerage Report.
Statistics Canada, Analysis of businesses outsourcing work in Canada, first quarter of 2025.
Canadian Underwriter, Where brokerages are spending on operational improvements.
Gallagher, Canada 2026 Insurance Market Update.
Canadian Underwriter, How Definity sees future brokerage consolidation.
Insurance Business Canada, Broker consolidation in Canada is about to get even louder in 2026.