The latest in the “independent insurance agents are dinosaurs”studies has come down from McKinsey and it's a doozy. The gist:Independent agents who approach selling insurance as a commodityare doomed. The study specifically points to changes in the waypeople buy auto insurance as an example of where the rest of theindustry is going and predicts the demise of the commission systemas we know it as carriers recognize the need for agents to provide“extras” to get and keep customers.

Shocking, right? Still, haven't we been here before–both veryrecently (with the Deloitte study showing that 1 in 5 small commercialinsurance buyers are more willing to go direct) and in the past,when direct writers, insurer-run service centers and other threatswere supposed to deliver the coup d'etat to the independentagent system? More to the point, aren't most of you way ahead ofthe curve and adapting by sheer necessity?

Just this week we did a story on a J.D. Power study in which the big take-away is that smallcommercial buyers (the same guys who Deloitte says might beinclined to buy direct) depend on the counsel of theirindependent agents–and ironically, actually value in-personcommunication above email. (I remember a mantra from the early daysof insurance technology extolling the value of “high-tech,high-touch” customer contact. In spite of the slight creep value ofthat saying, it still holds true.)

Jeff Yates, Big I's high priest of technology, recently weighed in on the McKinsey report, choosing to focusnot on the doom and gloom, but on steps agents can take to preventthe obsolescence that the study predicts. In fact, Yates pointsout, smart agents are already way ahead of the game.

Among McKinsey's recommendations:

• Increase your digital presence
• Have a value proposition that appeals to both customers andcarriers
• Define and reach target markets
• Find new ways to get in front of your prospects
• Deliver more tailored and deeper expertise, such as bundledinsurance packages and tailored advice
• Use technology to do more with less.

I think it's safe to say that most of you can check thoseitems off your to-do list, and add a few of your owninnovative ideas as well.

Last count, according to the 2012 Future One/Big I Agency Universe study, there are stillmore than 38,000 independent agencies out there—representing anincrease from the 2006 and 2010 studies. Many are newerstartups–no small feat in this new-normal economy. Others areputting a new spin on agencies founded by parents or grandparents.Better yet, today's agencies are more diverse in both business andculture, and are actually more profitable than in 2010, with 60percent reporting revenue increases since then.

This certainly didn't happen by accident, or by doing businessthe same old way.

McKinsey is right that to succeed now and going forward,agents will have to operate very differently than in the past. Butthey're dead wrong if they're predicting the end of theindependent agency system.