Michigan broker’s childhood passion for tech still paying off

Family, risk management and technology make life for Ottawa Kent’s Dustin Boss just about perfect

Insurance News

By

When Dustin Boss was a teenager, he suffered an injury playing high school football. Unable to join his teammates for a number of weeks, he grew bored and began begging his father, Randy Boss – a risk management professional with Ottawa-Kent Insurance in Jenison, Michigan – for a computer.

Though he resisted initially, Randy gave in and bought his son an old IBM monitor and Dustin set to work teaching himself basic web development.

More than 20 years later, father and son work side by side at Ottawa-Kent, where Dustin’s programming skills continue to support the group’s dynamic customer service capabilities. Over the years, he hasn’t lost that first spark that turned him on to technology.

“I really got into it – I liked the challenge,” Boss said of his first venture into web development. “I started making websites for people who wanted their picture on the internet.”

In 1995, Boss developed his first website for an acquaintance from New York. Though he was just 15 at the time, he earned a cool $300 for his efforts.

When he went to work as a certified insurance agent for Ottawa Kent in 2004, he “saw the void of technology and graphics” in the industry, as he puts it, and was able to use his talents to revamp the company website. Boss quickly redesigned the logo, which at the time featured a dated Times New Roman font, and made the interface more user-friendly – and eventually mobile-friendly as well.

Later down the road, he took time out to develop OSHAlogs.com, a software program designed to help businesses handle their workers’ compensation cases by allowing for automated paperwork and instant communication between the insured and the broker.

That program has made a huge difference for Ottawa Kent’s clients.

“One Saturday, an employee with one of my dad’s clients – an agricultural feed mill – fell off a food truck and had to be put into a coma in the hospital,” Boss said. “The CFO of the company went onto OSHALogs and filled out the report, and my dad, who was in Mexico at the time, got the information on his phone and was able to call his client within 30 seconds.”

Ottawa Kent was able to help the insured through the situation over the weekend – something that couldn’t have happened without the OSHALogs software.

Though these accomplishments have meant much for the company, Boss says contributing his time to tech-related concerns isn’t technically part of his job. Instead, he sees it as an extension of providing risk management tools for his clients, which is something he loves.

“Technology promises so much, but what our industry does so well is the human touch – the ability to sit down and talk and learn about risk issues,” he said. “Technology can aid in that, but the individual can be missed when you just rely on technology.

“It’s the marrying of the two where we’ve seen such positive results.”


Related Stories: 
Pennsylvania insurance agent still loving the business at 85
Producer turned M&A consultant says it’s all about playing to your strengths
 

Keep up with the latest news and events

Join our mailing list, it’s free!