When Big “I” Chairman David Walker addressed Big “I” Legislative Conference attendees at this morning’s general session breakfast, he emphasized the importance of the voice of independent agents in the industry and beyond.

“It’s vitally important that we continue to maintain that voice with legislators, companies and media,” Walker said. “To turn a blind eye to that would be arrogantly naïve—to believe that if we just stay away from Washington they won’t bother our industry.”

During his State of the Association address, Walker discussed the main challenges the independent agent channel currently faces: a fluctuating marketplace, changing workflow demands and industry perpetuation. Noting the face of competition in the insurance market is changing, Walker predicted that captive and direct agents will no longer be competition within a decade.

“In the future, your competition is going to be Google, Amazon and entities like that,” he says “And if we’re unrealistic about that expectation, I think we’re being incredibly naïve.”

According to Walker, 70% of consumers rely on the Internet to look for solutions to their personal lines insurance issues. “That doesn’t mean that we have to give up that ground, and that doesn’t mean we don’t have solutions,” Walker said. “It simply means that we have to build a better mouse trap.”

To that end, Walker encouraged agents to leverage the Trusted Choice® brand in conjunction with the TrustedChoice.com platform to boost their online presence.

Continued support from carriers will help the distribution force thrive in new and innovative ways in the midst of a changing marketplace. “As agency principals and owners, we have to continue to look for carriers that want to represent our best interest for both with our agency and the marketplace,” Walker said. “But we also have to take responsibility for our own destiny.”

That sentiment also extends to the industry’s perpetuation and diversity problems. “The result of not embracing that change is that we’re missing a marketplace,” Walker said. “We have to continue to look forward and work toward solving that problem.”

In a call to action, Walker advised agents to form deeper relationships with associations, carriers and vendors, arguing it takes a conscious effort to become meaningfully involved in diversity efforts and grassroots campaigns and to use the Trusted Choice brand, noting “all of these are the tools we need to move forward.”

And Walker is confident that the Big “I” will continue to develop new tools to help agents meet their everyday challenges. “Knowing the leadership of the [association’s] board, we will continue to dare for mighty things,” Walker said. “I’ve never been more positive, encouraged and upbeat about the independent agency system than I am today.”

Morgan Smith is IA assistant editor.