In his song, "Welcome to the Future," Brad Paisley sings about how as a child he wished he could watch TV in the car on long drives, describes the letters his grandpa wrote to his grandma from Japan during the war and how he was on a video chat with a Japanese company that morning, and muses that the games he played at the arcade are now available on his cell phone.

Technology is changing everything and its successful implementation is quickly becoming a key differentiator for insurers. New products are entering the market at an alarming rate and insurers, auto makers and other industries are scrambling to catch up with the innovations customers are seeing from Google, Apple and Microsoft.

Sean Allen, vice president of American sales for Xchanging Insurance says that external forces and rising customer expectations are the primary reasons insurers have to look at the technology aspect of their business. "Customers have more needs than in the past. For example, 70% cite value for their money as the most important factor when shopping for insurance. Sixty percent want an insurer who is easy to work with, 40% want an insurer who is responsive to their needs, and insureds want information immediately and they expect the insurer to provide it 24/7."