It's hard to ignore the talk around the commoditization and disintermediation of personal lines insurance and its implication of the slow but inevitable demise of the personal lines agent.  Consumers' expectations are pushing insurers to provide on-demand, online and mobile underwriting platforms and service solutions. The growth in the direct channel has been phenomenal and will likely continue.  Comparative raters, increasing advertising budgets and sophisticated technology has made buying and selling on price rather than value a major focus in recent years, especially in auto.  

This evolution is definitely putting pressure on many personal lines-focused agents. Research supports this and we can probably all recognize some facet of this through our own insurance buying experience.   

However, I think we have lost sight of the fact that there is still a lot of value in the agency channel—both independents and captives–and many companies are positioning themselves to capitalize on this, even as they continue to recognize the impact of technology and changing consumer expectations.