What trend influences all others in how your agency will do business in the coming years? Look down at your phone.

It’s all about mobile.

In 2015, the Strategic Future Issues Work Group of the Agents Council for Technology (ACT) began the process of reviewing, evaluating and updating its 2013 hard tech trends to reflect the major technological developments that will impact the insurance industry over the next few years.

“The real value of the Hard Trends Report is the great discussions and involvement of so many in the creation of the report,” says Rick Morgan, ACT Strategic Future Issues Work Group chair and senior vice president of Aartrijk in Springfield, Virginia. “We expect the release of the report to generate further discussion on the challenges and opportunities these trends present.”

ACT identified and evaluated the following seven trends:

1) Mobile: Mobile, along with social and cloud computing, is what has enabled the cultural transformation and the emergence of the connected consumer. Mobile permeates everything and will change how agencies offer and present insurance products, as well as interaction on services.

2) Social culture, digital transformation and the ‘Internet of Me’: This trend reflects the broad influence and impact social and digital have on society, including our business lives. This ongoing transformational change is an expansive, strategic trend that has grown from social Web tools and digital technology.

3) Connected society: Connectivity is expanding from consumers to business and even “things”—all aspects of our physical world are more and more connected.

4) Demographic segmentation and personalization: This trend encompasses diversity in every sense of the word: age, ethnicity, culture, gender and connected vs. non-connected.

5) Big Data and actionable business intelligence (BI): New technologies and techniques are enabling the capture and analysis of more and more big data. Agencies and carriers are able to integrate BI into their decision-making in real time in order to better understand their consumers and operations.

6) Changing nature of insurance risk: Changing social norms, applications of technology, climate change, all the trends noted above and more are changing the types of risks consumers and businesses face.

7) Information security and privacy regulation: In addition to federal and state regulations for security plans and procedures, the costs of data breaches will become more expensive for businesses. Growing cyber liability risks create opportunities for carriers and agents to provide coverage and risk management guidance to clients.

“ACT is pleased with the Strategic Future Issues Work Group’s report and efforts to identify, update and discuss trends in the independent agency system,” says Ron Berg, ACT executive director. “Although these technological developments and trends often present challenges, they’re also blooming with opportunities for agencies to build their business and provide better service.”

Check out the March issue of IA magazine for an in-depth analysis of the Hard Trends Report. The complete report is available on the ACT website.

Margarita Tapia is Big “I” director of public affairs.