If a carrier isn't offering automation technology to make your job easier, now is the perfect time to get engaged and find out what you can do to help change that. Staying ahead of the curve in today's fast-paced market is critical. Carriers and agents must work together and embrace technologies that enable rapid response and automation, or the customer will pass them by.

In an industry where instantaneous communication is changing customer expectations, insurance companies that integrate automation technology into their agency-company workflows give their agencies a significant edge over the competition. This is especially true with personal lines and small commercial lines of business, where some agents fear commoditization is happening due to consumers focusing more on price than on the type of coverage they are buying. According to IVANS 2011 Insurance Agents, Carriers & Technology Survey, more than 43 percent of the agents surveyed indicated that "customers shopping around for quotes" (primarily on the Internet) was the most threatening issue to their bottom line.

Nineteen percent of survey respondents also indicated that another concern to their bottom line is direct online sales. Some agents fear that carriers are starting to overlook the value they bring to the sales process and are beginning to pursue direct online sales instead. A number of agents even expressed their concerns that carriers will potentially leave the independent agent distribution channel altogether. The pre- and post-sale support that agents provide, however, can be a key differentiating point in customer retention and loyalty.