“We've had a few interesting interviews with a number of agentsabout how they are using technology. You see varying degrees ofsuccess. A lot of them do feel like they are on their own. There isa great desire among agents to help support their customers—bygetting access to policy administration systems, or being able tosee the notes from claims adjusters to let [policyholders] know thestatus of their claim.

[Agents] feel like they have to handle some of this [technology]themselves, but you do see [carriers] that are very proactive. Forinstance, American Family has done a lot with their agents withsocial media. They've built Facebook pages for them and offer asocial media toolkit for the agents to engage with theircustomers.

You see varying degrees of support, but to be honest, though,you see varying degrees to adoption on the agents' side aswell.

There is a real distinction among the agents themselves. Youhave some who historically say, 'This is how we've always done it.'There's no succession plan on who is going to take over the agencyand a fax machine is a technology innovation for them. Then you seeothers that are interested in using technology to better engagewith their customers and deliver a better experience. They arelooking at ways they can use technology to build the bestagency.”