Next week, 2,700 principals, producers, CSRs and IT professionals will gather in Orlando for the annual Applied Systems conference—an event Applied CEO Reid French calls “the biggest technology event for independent agents in the world.”

Previously known as TENCon, the newly branded Applied Net 2014 will feature big-name keynote speakers like Rudy Giuliani and the Disney Institute, as well as more than 175 educational sessions that explore the tech opportunities available with not only Applied products, but also the up-and-coming tech trends that are affecting independent agencies across the country.

As CEO of Applied, French knows what’s ahead for the independent agency system—and which trends and technologies could have a positive impact on your agency.

IA: What are the top technological trends currently affecting independent agents?

French: The insured really expects a connected experience between the carrier, the agent and themselves. First, if you’re going to run a solid agency, you have to manage your agency or brokerage well. In order to do that, you’ve got to have fully comprehensive agency management system and a single integrated application.

Second is the connected experience with the insured. Most agencies today really don’t have any window for their customers into their insurance information via the agency themselves. At times [consumers] find it crazy that they can’t communicate electronically with their agent of choice. If they want to wait to use the phone, they can certainly do that. But a lot of times people say, when “I get home from work and I want to update my address, I go online and I want to be able to do it that way. I don’t want to wait to call them until 9:15 a.m. the next morning.”

The third is related to connectivity to carriers—independent agents need to be able to work effectively and efficiently with multiple carriers. At the end of the day, that is the value proposition for the independent agent—I’m going to give you personal, local service and I’m going to match the right risk for you with the right carrier at the right price.

How is the way consumers interact with their agents changing?

One broader theme would be what we refer to as multi-channel servicing. A few years ago, people kind of viewed online servicing as an either/or: “I don’t really want people to go to the online portal—I’d rather them call me because when they call me that’s my time to cross-sell or up-sell. So if they don’t call me I’m never going to get that opportunity.” I would say that is probably not the right thought process. The consumer is in charge. The consumer gets to choose how they’re going to interact with the agent. When they’re trying to update their address field, they’re probably not that interested in talking about that umbrella policy.

Ultimately, you have to be able to provide an online connectivity across consumers—call-center support and the ability to have an in-person real meeting around risk management. You’ve got to do all of them—that’s the expectation.

How can technological advancement help perpetuate an agency?

I think each agency has its own secret sauce for why they’ve been successful. If that’s based on people and personalities, then that’s not a great strategy for agency perpetuation. If it’s based on process, if it’s based on a certain way that you market, sell and service your customers, and if it’s based on technology, that is very easy to perpetuate because its built into the tool. They all use the system completely differently and in a very different way. And it’s so configurable. Their secret sauce is in the configuration of the tool. If you want to perpetuate your agency, you have to think about technology. It will help make it more profitable.

Investment in software is an investment in productivity. It is not cost—it is an investment in your business. If you deploy it correctly, if you implement it correctly, you will save money over the life cycle of that investment.

Morgan Smith is IA assistant editor.