• Published on: April 15, 2026

The 2026 HUG National in Arlington, Texas, was one of those events that live up to what HawkSoft calls the Purple Cow Experience. For those unfamiliar with the phrase, it comes from Seth Godin’s idea that the things worth paying attention to are the ones that stand out. HawkSoft has made it a cultural touchstone, and this year’s event reflected it. The attendees were engaged and genuinely open to the kinds of conversations that go beyond surface-level vendor talk.  

We were at Booth 10 with a clear message for every agency that stopped by: Unlock Your What If with AI-Powered Intelligent Assistants. And the conversations we had there are worth sharing.

The Tone of the Conference

Before we get into the specifics of what we discussed at our booth, it is worth mentioning what the event felt like. The 2026 HUG National Conference was not an event defined by competitive chest puffing. The sessions and general atmosphere pointed toward an industry that is interested in lifting each other up, figuring out what works, and sharing that knowledge.  

AI in insurance and workflow automation were prominent themes across sessions. That created a receptive floor for the conversations we were having at our booth. People were there to learn and to talk, and they came with real questions.

What Agencies Were Asking About

One thing became clear fairly quickly: every agency carries its own set of operational challenges. The specifics differ by size, structure, and staffing. But a common pain point kept coming up across conversations, and that was the reliance on Virtual Assistants (VAs). 

Many agencies we spoke with have built workflows around VAs to handle the repetitive, time-consuming work that their agency staff should not be spending bandwidth on. This arrangement works, but only up to a point. It creates its own form of dependency, and when that dependency increases, it becomes expensive.  

Agencies that are currently assigning staff or VAs to log into carrier portals, navigate policy records, and extract policy information manually responded positively to the idea that an AI-powered intelligent assistant could handle that entire process without manual intervention and with full AMS integration.

The Questions That Came Up the Most

The two areas we spent the most time in conversations were cost and differentiation.  

On cost, agencies wanted to understand what the actual economic case for insurance workflow automation looks like. This is a fair question, and it is one we welcome. The ROI picture for AI insurance automation becomes concrete when you map it against the actual volume of work an intelligent assistant can absorb reliably, at scale, across a full book of business.  

Document retrieval is a good example: it is repetitive and time-consuming. Automating document retrieval frees your agents to focus on tasks that genuinely require their judgment.  

What helped conversations centered around cost move forward was our ability to speak from an established track record. We work with agencies that have been running vBots intelligent assistants long enough to have real data on what it saves them, and that history helped paint a clear picture of the ROI. 

On differentiation, the question was essentially: how is vBots different from other insurance automation solutions we have seen? The answer to that question is: vBots is purpose-built to take on the complex challenges of the P&C insurance industry. Our intelligent assistants are not generic one-size-fits-all tools. They are built for regulated insurance agency operations, integrate with 300+ carriers, and can be customized to your agency’s unique workflows.  

Security and governance while using AI in insurance operations were also major talking points. Our intelligent assistants are deployed on-site, meaning your data stays yours. All processing happens within your network, allowing you full control over sensitive client data.  

Customizable, governable, context-aware, and scalable: these are the factors that separate vBots from generic insurance automation solutions and basic RPA tools. 

How People Responded to vBots

Audience interest at an event like this can range from mild curiosity to real engagement. What we experienced was the latter. Agency leaders and operational heads saw live demos of our intelligent assistants. And they wanted to know how implementation works, how long it takes to see results, and whether vBots could fit their existing operations without a major disruption.  

For insurance agencies considering any AI automation investment, confidence in the solution provider matters as much as confidence in the solution. Being able to point to years of successful deployments, a growing base of HawkSoft users, and real outcomes from agencies similar in size to theirs was the most effective thing we could communicate.

What We Are Taking Home

Every event teaches you something. The 2026 HUG National Conference helped us understand the HawkSoft roadmap for the next 12 months. It also reinforced that agencies exploring automation and AI in insurance are asking the right questions. 

They are thinking carefully about: 

  • Cost justification
  • What makes one insurance automation solution genuinely different from another.
  • Whether a solution provider has the staying power to be a reliable long-term partner.

These are marks of thoughtful agency leaders, and they are exactly the kind of audience that vBots was built for.  

If you are a HawkSoft user and we spoke at the conference, we would be glad to continue the conversation. If we did not get a chance to connect, that is what demos are for. Schedule a conversation with our automation experts!