That means that it will take far longer for it to undergo the massive change brought on by the speed and interactivity of the Net. Policy writing isn't easy. Few Net upstarts have the size, expertise, and money to take on the risk of underwriting insurance. None of the newcomers is selling its own products. The result is that traditional insurance companies still have tremendous power to set their own prices and protect the agents who sell their policies through local offices.
Agents clearly are the most threatened by the Internet.
Selling insurance over the Net could eliminate or drastically reduce those fees, saving customers billions of dollars each year. But most traditional insurers, which depend on agents to sell their products, don't want to risk alienating them with an aggressive Net strategy. There's ''a huge channel-conflict issue,'' says Clayton M. Christensen, associate professor at Harvard Business School. Most still send users back to agents who won't seal a deal without a telephone call or a personal visit. It makes it much easier for them to compare the prices of insurance policies than in the past.