How Hagerty Consulting Uses PolicyNote to Enhance Client Delivery and Tackle Complex Policy Research

Known for its more than 20 years of expert-driven and nationwide commitment to helping clients navigate federal funding, build resilience, and prepare for and recover from disasters, Hagerty Consulting, Inc. brings together strategic financial, programmatic, and policy expertise to assist clients in identifying and managing crucial funding opportunities at the federal and state levels. 

Tracking Complex Federal and State Legislation

The firm’s policy researchers need to be on the cutting edge as they track intricate legislation. In the last several years, major federal legislation, such as the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, has unleashed many opportunities for state and local funding. As significant streams of funding are coming from a broader scope of sectors such as energy, infrastructure, transportation, and climate, firms like Hagerty have more to track than ever. 

To keep track of everything, the team uses PolicyNote. This powerful resource has proven effective in heightening the firm’s strategic capabilities. 

"PolicyNote did not just simplify our research, it transformed it,” says Firouz Niazi, a managing associate at Hagerty. “The platform’s AI capabilities have taken us from routine legislative tracking to deep, strategic analysis, opening up a world of opportunity in navigating the complex intersections of federal and state funding." 

PolicyNote Features and Benefits

Over the past year, Niazi has integrated PolicyNote into his workflow as a solution to his firm’s pressing needs. The chat assistant, which allows him to use narrative-driven research queries, paired with bill summaries makes Firouz’s work more efficient and represents major time savings.

“The features allow very specific, narrative-type research that can help fill in the gaps when you don’t know the keywords that you’re looking for,” he explains. “We no longer have to rely on keywords and search terms. We can use descriptive research language that matches the complexity of the policy areas of focus that we want to track using PolicyNote. When we are doing research in PolicyNote, the assistant makes it easy to drill down our research on policy developments nationwide.” 

Users can query the AI assistant conversationally, asking for summaries, potential impacts, and talking points about a particular bill. “PolicyNote’s research features and bill summaries let us see how states are positioning themselves,” Niazi says.

At the core of PolicyNote’s value for Hagerty is its ability to facilitate advanced legislative tracking and policy analysis with several key features:

AI-Powered Research

With PolicyNote’s AI chat capabilities, Hagerty’s team can succinctly summarize bill contents and provisions. This utility streamlines their research process, making it more efficient than previous methods.  

“PolicyNote has provided a new style of research for pre-filing and introduced bills,” Niazi says. “We can use the research functions to conduct broader searches and see what is going on in many parts of the country. Then, using the AI assistant, we find resonant and relevant bills that we want to research further.” 

During crucial legislative periods, such as pre-filing and onset of sessions, Hagerty uses PolicyNote’s extensive search capabilities to survey bills nationwide. This broad visibility is key to identifying relevant legislation that could influence the federal funding and disaster recovery sector.

Bill Summaries and Comprehension

Legislative documents often involve a high degree of complexity, especially regarding how governments manage grants and financing. PolicyNote’s bill summaries provide the clarity and context necessary for strategic decision-making. This feature helps the Hagerty team decipher the complex policy relationships between varying levels of government.

Consolidation of Insights

PolicyNote enhances how users receive information by consolidating insights. With CQ news and analysis integrated with PolicyNote, crucial information is easily accessible, maintaining continuity in research efforts.

“All the information I need is integrated into my homepage dashboard,” Firouz says. “I’m doing research that is focused on how funding sources complement each other and what those landscapes look like. Having that information in one single place makes those connections easier.” 

Strategic Successes

Hagerty has used PolicyNote to pivot from routine policy monitoring to more comprehensive planning and operational initiatives. By automating and refining their information-gathering processes, they have been able to focus resources on in-depth analysis of evolving funding structures. PolicyNote has been instrumental in helping Hagerty navigate the intersecting federal and state policies, allowing them to better advise clients on effectively leveraging and managing federal funding opportunities.

For example, amid the complex legislative changes introduced by the Inflation Reduction Act, PolicyNote enabled Hagerty to dissect and comprehend the large-scale funding shifts that impact disaster recovery funding. The ability to explore how state policies evolve in response to or in complement with federal programs has proven invaluable.

The future potential of PolicyNote for Hagerty lies in its continuous evolution to meet emerging needs. 

“The federal and state funding intersection is really important for local communities,” Niazi says. “Being able to understand these activities through PolicyNote helps our analysis of the funding streams as they become available or are modified, and that is crucial for our work.”