--- title: "FHK Insurance Case Study: Custom Agency Management Platform | George Rios" description: "How George Rios built GAM, a custom C# / .NET and SQL Server general agency management platform, for FHK Insurance in six months after GBS was sunset. Live since September 2019." url: https://georgerios.com/case-studies/fhk-insurance author: George Rios --- Case study · Insurance # FHK Insurance: when your platform is sunset, build one you own GBS, the platform FHK Insurance ran its agency on, was acquired by AgentBLOC and then sunset, leaving FHK and other agencies scrambling for a replacement. FHK called me. Six months later GAM, a custom General Agency Management platform built around FHK’s own workflows, reporting, and agents, went live. That was September 2019\. It still runs the entire operation. [Book a free 30-minute call ](https://cal.com/georgerios/30min) [All case studies ](https://georgerios.com/case-studies) **6 months** Built and launched **Sep 2019** Live in production **7 years** Running the operation **Dozens** Agents on the platform At a glance ## A forced migration, turned into a platform FHK owns FHK didn’t choose to leave GBS. The choice they did get was where to go next: another vendor’s product, with the agency reshaped to fit it, or a platform built around the agency as it already worked. | Client | FHK Insurance | | ------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | The trigger | GBS, FHK’s agency platform, was acquired by AgentBLOC and then sunset. | | What I built | GAM (General Agency Management): one platform for agents, policies, commissions, billing, and reporting. | | Built around | FHK’s existing workflows, the reports leadership already relied on, and what their agents needed day to day. | | Stack | C# on .NET 9, ASP.NET Core, Razor Pages, SQL Server. | | Timeline | Six months to build; live in September 2019. | | Today | Seven years in production, supporting billing and operations for dozens of agents, run and extended by a team of three. | The situation ## The platform the business lived in was going away For an insurance agency, the management platform isn’t one tool among many. It’s where the business lives: agent records, policies, commissions, billing, and the reports leadership reads to run the place. For FHK, all of that lived in GBS. When AgentBLOC acquired GBS and then sunset it, every agency on the platform had to find somewhere else to go, on a timeline it didn’t set. FHK was one of them. The obvious move was another off-the-shelf product: retrain everyone, rebuild the reports, bend the workflows to fit someone else’s screens, and carry the same risk into the next acquisition. **FHK chose to own the platform instead** , and brought me in to build it. What I built ## One platform for the whole operation GAM wasn’t a generic CRM with insurance fields bolted on. It was designed around how FHK already worked: the same workflows, the same reports, and what their agents needed every day. 01 · Agents ### Agent management The agents FHK works with and their books of business, in one system the agency controls. 02 · Policies ### Policy management Policies tracked from the agency’s side and tied to the agents who wrote them. 03 · Billing ### Commissions & billing Commission tracking and billing for dozens of agents, in the same database as everything else. 04 · Reporting ### The reports they already ran The reporting FHK relied on in GBS, rebuilt on a single SQL Server database the agency owns. Timeline ## From a sunset notice to seven years in production 1. 1 The trigger ### GBS is acquired, then sunset AgentBLOC acquires GBS and winds it down. FHK and the other agencies on it need a replacement. 2. 2 6 months ### Design & build GAM is designed around FHK’s workflows, reporting, and agent needs, and built in C# on SQL Server. 3. 3 September 2019 ### Go-live FHK moves off GBS and onto GAM: billing and operations for dozens of agents, in one platform. 4. 4 2019 to today ### Kept current, still growing Upgraded along the way to .NET 9, and extended by a team of three. In production since 2019 GAM / 2026 ## Seven years later, a team of three keeps GAM moving The platform built to replace a sunset product is now where FHK’s newest capabilities ship. Owning the platform means the roadmap belongs to FHK, not to a vendor. A small team of three runs GAM today and ships advanced features on FHK’s schedule, on the same codebase that went live in 2019, now running on .NET 9. [Talk about your platform ](https://cal.com/georgerios/30min) The engagement also shaped **Insurancera** , my self-hosted insurance management platform for MGAs and brokers. See [insurance technology](https://georgerios.com/george-rios-insurance). Now shipping 3 01 **Automatic statement ingest** Statements ingested and processed automatically, not keyed in by hand 02 **Payments to agents & downlines** Payouts driven by the same records as commissions and billing 03 **Client email platform** Email that connects to clients, straight from the records already in GAM ### The result, judged - Replacement platform live within six months Pass - Built around FHK’s existing workflows and reports, not a vendor’s Pass - Still running the entire operation seven years later Pass - On a current runtime (.NET 9), maintained by a small team Pass Why it worked ## Three decisions that held up for seven years 01 ### Built around the business A replacement goes live faster when nobody has to relearn their job. GAM matched the workflows and reports FHK already trusted, so the move off GBS changed the system, not the agency. 02 ### Scoped to ship Six months, one platform, the whole operation. The first release covered what FHK needed to run the business; everything since has been built on top of a system already in production. 03 ### Built to be owned Mainstream C# and SQL Server that a small team can run and extend, kept current to .NET 9\. No vendor can acquire it, and no vendor can sunset it. Your platform ## Is a vendor deciding your platform’s future? If the system your operation runs on is being acquired, sunset, or has simply stopped fitting the business, let’s talk about what owning it would take. [Book a free 30-minute call ](https://cal.com/georgerios/30min) [What I build ](https://georgerios.com/cto#what-i-build) --- Contact: george@georgerios.com · Book a call: https://cal.com/georgerios/30min · Services summary for agents: https://georgerios.com/llms.txt