As the capabilities of handheld cellular devices continue toincrease, their usage has proliferated accordingly.

Consumers have come to depend on smartphones for anever-widening range of applications that now encroach on even thosesectors of business once dominated by personal interaction.

Related: Mobilizing the health care army

Insurance companies in particular have been slow to explore thepotential of digital communication, but recent research indicatesthat even the firms' own employees believe further investment inmobile technologies will be necessary to keep pace with thesurrounding culture.

"The State of the Mobile Experience," a studyreleased this week by Raleigh, North Carolina-based mobiledevelopment company PointSource, determined that a majority of ITand marketing professionals working within the insurance industryacknowledge the desire among their clientele to take advantage ofthe immediacy and convenience digital technology allows.

However, the companies themselves have thus far lagged farbehind the financial services sector as a whole due to acombination of factors including overcautious management, ingrainedtraditions, and an insufficient understanding of the underlyingtechnologies.

According to the PointSource figures, nearly three-quarters ofthe professionals surveyed say their companies have alreadydeveloped and implemented apps, and 89 percent of the respondentssay their firms maintained websites developed for mobile use.

Unfortunately, the same data reflects a worrying unease aboutthe efficacy of these systems and pessimism about any industry-wideacceptance of transitions towards digital interfacing. A majorityof those polled doubted their firms' clients would be able toaccurately retrieve information without undue wait.

Related: Health care consumerism is more than a benefitdesign

As well, the PointSource report highlights a basic resistance toany technologically-oriented evolution of business practices.Nearly two-thirds of respondents believed a “simple aversion tochange would prevent employees from using an app to manageaccounts” while 39 percent “also expressed being generallyuncomfortable with mobile devices.”

Although a certain hesitancy about revolutionizing the trade'sfoundational methods should be expected, the last few months haveseen even the most established firms take encouraging stepsforward. Several of the most influential providers have begunimplementing proprietary technological solutions engineered likethe State Farm “Pocket Agent.”

These trends may only exacerbate the fears of insuranceprofessionals concerned that such innovations may render their ownpositions irrelevant. However, since the PointSource research alsopoints out the agents' own worries about properly engaging mobileinterfaces, the usefulness of intermediaries should be clear.

For many consumers, the insurance industry will probably alwaysrequire a physical presence. Agents are constantly traveling fromclient to client, after all, and those agents still successfullymanaging personal relationships through face-to-face meetingsshould soon welcome the ease and precision of assessing policyestimates through functional mobile apps.

Related: The millennial expectation of healthbenefits

As the study suggests, any tensions preventing the spread ofdigital technology could be easily alleviated by educationalprograms for employees that facilitate a thorough knowledge of thesystems in place. Once understood as a tool not far removed from acalculator or ordinary phone, agents should soon appreciate thebenefits mobile apps promise for themselves and their clients.