The times they are a’changin’. And the evolutionary signs are everywhere.

Consider two major examples in 2015, beginning with Uber. In the city of San Francisco—the app’s most mature market—the four-year-old Uber is already bigger than the local taxi industry: Projected revenue is $140 million annually for taxis, compared to Uber's $500 million—which is growing at 200% per year in San Francisco, 400% in New York City and 500% in London.

In addition, Uber recently launched "Uber Pool," which allows riders to share rides and reduce their costs even further. The company has not simply taken market share from taxis but significantly expanded the potential size of the marketplace as more urban dwellers ditch their cars in favor of getting around cheaply thanks to Uber.

But Uber isn’t just about less expensive fares. It also gives users the convenience of paying easily by linking their credit card to the app and rating their driving experience, and the company has dramatically lowered wait times as well. Uber has already become a standard way for people to get around, saving on the costs associated with car payments, gas, insurance, parking and repairs in the process. Within a few years, there might not even be a driver in an Uber car. As a result of these game-changers, the value of taxi medallions has dropped, and the banks that made loans based on the market value of the medallions have to write down the value of their loan portfolios.

Second example: Sales at retail stores on Black Friday fell to $10.4 billion this year, down from $11.6 billion in 2014, according to preliminary figures from research firm ShopperTrak. Compiling data from 1,200 retail chains, the firm also found that sales on Thanksgiving dropped to $1.8 billion from just over $2 billion. By contrast, online sales jumped 14.3% on Friday compared to last year, according to Adobe, which tracked activity on 4,500 retail websites.

Chris Christopher, director of consumer economics at consulting firm IHS, predicts that holiday season e-commerce sales will jump 11.7% this year to about $95 billion, up from last year's 10.9% gain. That's a much larger increase than the 3.5% gain Christopher forecasts for total holiday retail sales, including both online and traditional retail stores. Overall, about $1 in every $7 in holiday shopping sales will occur online this year, IHS predicts.

The implications for independent agents are clear: It’s not just about insurance anymore. It’s about digital marketing, mining business analytics and developing a strategy for your agency to market and service their target market. Consider John Deere: The company isn’t just about farm equipment anymore. Today, it’s a high-tech company that sells services that harness data-crunching techniques honed in Silicon Valley to help farmers boost crop yields and use equipment, seeds and fertilizer more efficiently.

Have you taken a fresh look at your agency’s digital strategy? If you want to drive more business to your agency, head to TrustedChoice.com and sign up for an Advantage Subscription. Then make sure your agency has the capability to maximize the value of the referrals.

We can all fall into the trap of thinking we’re insulated at the local level from the technological changes that are sweeping the nation. Independent agencies have an inherent advantage because they are not limited to a single solution. And yes, expertise matters. Networking at the local level is still important. But none of this is a vaccine against the competition that is harnessing technology and analytics to run their business more efficiently.

Are you ready to make 2016 the year of change in your agency?

Dave Evans is a certified financial planner and an IA contributor.