Shifting customer expectations are creating a new need for new business models. As the current workforce ages, insurers are exploring new distribution strategies that can fill this hole, capitalize on trends, and implement the necessary cutting-edge business operations that can strengthen distributor and channel relationships. With the emergence of technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, insurers can quickly match customers and agents, provide recommendations on best next steps, and align compensation and services where they will have the greatest impact. Much like the rest of the industry, independent agents are going through their own digital transformation and demanding new capabilities. Understanding agent’s perspectives on how they want to digitally engage with insurers is critical to succeeding both today and in the future.

We surveyed 231 independent agents to better understand how they prefer to interact with insurers across a broad set of activities and their current satisfaction with their digital interactions at a transaction level, as well as the activities needed to run the agency. We assessed the level of digital interaction they would like to see over the next three years across a broad array of areas important to them. In addition we looked at the generational impact to see if the agent of tomorrow had different views than the agent of today (or yesterday).