Back in the day, a one-person independent agency could get by with a desk, a chair and a telephone.

With the emergence of mobile technology and smart phones, we've come full circle.

Today's mobile technology makes it possible for agents to contact their customers, process documents and convene virtual meetings from wherever they happen to be—which is pretty smart business at a time when nearly half of U.S. adults use smartphones for just about everything, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Ten years ago, insurance agency office essentials were pretty essential: phones and faxes were still king, with email quickly closing the gap on the preferred method of communication.

So what tech tools are as indispensable today as the typewriter, fax machine and desk phone were in the past? What sorts of tech tools are the must-haves, can't-live-withouts that independent insurance agents are using every day–to conduct basic business and market and promote their firms?

We took an informal poll at several LinkedIn agent groups to determine what constituted basic technology in today's agencies, and have come up with a short list of some of today's favorite basic tools.

1.     Smart phones

Using smart phones as a basic way of conducting business is a way of life, especially among young agents—although basics like copiers, scanners and even fax machines are still in use back at the office.

“iPhones are our smartphone of choice. Mostly because of ease of use. We have also been using Evernote for creating presentation notes and keeping up with activities.” –Joe Cerzosie, owner, Lexington Insurance Agency, Inc.Demographic infoLexington, Kentucky Area

“We couldn't live without smart phones and our multi-functional copier, which handles our copying/scanning/faxing/printing. We don't use the fax function much because we use cyber-faxing, but it is more convenient to use an old-fashioned fax sometimes.” – Angelyn S. Treutel, CPA, president, SouthGroup Insurance, Bay Saint Louis, Miss.

“I'm with Angelyn; our producers and management couldn't live without their iPhones or BlackBerrys, We also scan everything to attach to our client or employee files. Download that comes in from our companies every day is a huge time saver, too.” – Andrea Axne, marketing coordinator at Clark-Mortenson Agency, Keene, N.H.

2.    E-signature software

With mobile technology comes the necessity to procure customer signatures on virtual documents. Although there are a number of products on the market, users are primarily concerned about security and ease of use. 

“Docusign (easy e-signature service) is the best thing to come along since sliced bread, the phone, fax and i-phone! Simply amazing: just wrote one up the other day while they were camping!” — Michael Randles, owner, Insurance Center Associates, Greater Los Angeles area

 3.      Project management and document sharing software

Successful insurance agents understand the importance of a management system that enables them to use the Internet to collaborate with associates and organize and share documents.

 “I'm using Basecamp to collaborate with my agents on different initiatives we are working on. It's a nice, simple little web tool.” – Aaron Wallrich, vice president, Wallrich Agency, Oshkosh, Wisc. area

“Dropbox makes moving and sharing documents of any size easy and efficient, between PCs, Macs, iPhones, etc. Free version is more than enough to be useful. Use my link and we both get 500 megs extra free space.” – Charles Joiner, vice president, claims and operations, The Insurance Alliance of Central Pa., Inc. 

4. Screen sharing technology

This is a must for working remotely and collaborating with folks back at the office.

“One of the greatest tools that I love is screen sharing technology (WebEx, GoToMeeting). From an efficiency and a 'getting-your-point-across' perspective, nothing beats it…With the time savings from using my favorite technologies, I now have more time to figure out this social media stuff.” – Michael Rabinowitz, risk solutions consultant, RFK Insurance

 5.      Dictation software

With the need for blogging, tweeting and otherwise churning out content, writing is essential. But who has time? The solution is using dictation software to capture your thoughts and turn them into the written word.

While I was at Aartrijk Brand Camp, Jason Cass, owner/agent of JDC Insurance Group in Centralia, Ill., said he uses Dragon Dictation app on his smart phone to compose blog content and capture thoughts — three times faster than typing, according to their website.

6. Cool new hardware

Some old-school pieces like keyboards and fax/scanners, are still essential, although portability is still the watchword with these. In-house staffers find using dual monitors to be especially efficient.

“If you are speaking strictly hardware, my favorite is my keyboard. A great keyboard (mine: Microsoft Arc) is an essential productivity tool.” — Michael Rabinowitz

“My Fujitsu Scansnap S300 double-sided scanner is and has been one of the most productive timesavers I own. I owe a shout-out to Phil Schmitz from Schmitz Insurance for steering me in the right direction with this technology. — Jim Wright, owner, Wright Insurance Agency Inc., Greater Milwaukee Area 

7. Just for fun

At Brand Camp, Chris Amrhein ran a “name that tune” contest — and Jason Cass cheated by using the Shazam app to capture and identify the songs, complete with lyrics.