Industry disruptor finds a mate

Sarasota insurance executive Jeff Harris often talks about how his industry is turtle-like slow to adapt to technological advances.

To wit: He spent a decade and nearly $5 million on a workers' compensation insurance product, InsurePay, that utilizes proprietary real-time technology to analyze payroll data. The system, in turn, provides a more predictable payment system for customers, contends Harris, founder of Sarasota-based Insurelinx.

While Harris did find some clients, enough for $3 million in revenues last year, Insurelinx, founded in 2006, has been a slow burn. But a few months ago, Harris received a phone call from top executives at Fort Lauderdale-based Patriot National. Patriot, with $14 million in sales last year, handles outsourcing services for companies in the workers' comp industry. Patriot executives were big on InsurePay, saying the pay-as-you-go and payroll-deducted billing will be “major disruptors in the workers' compensation marketplace.”