Last week I had the pleasure of speaking at the third annual WorkComp Advisory Group's “Knowledge and Networking” event. The group works with independent agencies to develop sales strategies, centered on but not exclusively targeted to workers' comp.

I spoke on the challenges faced by both the publishing industry and independent insurance agents. Suffice it to say that I dragged both Ben Hecht and Perez Hilton into the discussion and got a laugh when I used the term “whacked” (yes, I'm from Chicago).

Click here to see a PDF of my PowerPoint presentation.

But although my presentation was no doubt scintillating to the attendees (irony alert!), they were probably more interested in what WorkComp co-founders Frank Pennachio and Susan Toussaint had to say about upcoming industry trends and strategies. They focused on three: the producer performance gap, the influence of big data and healthcare reform.

From the attendees' perspective, probably the most disturbing trend is the last.

Most WorkComp Advisory clients are midsized agencies that serve small to midsized customers. Pennachio is concerned about the gradual creep of multinational brokers into the employee benefits and healthcare arena — beginning with the large buyer. But technology, buyer need and economy of scale could soon enable big brokers to target the 50-employees-and-under businesses — the bread and butter of the independent agent.

Using health insurance exchange administration as the enticement, the biggest brokers could soon be “buying their way into your clients' offices,” Pennachio said.

Pennacchio noted that both Aon Hewitt and Arthur J. Gallagher are getting into the health insurance exchange business. Aon Hewitt announced it will assist employees with questions they have about the plans offered and will be compensated by fees and commissions paid by insurers that participate in the program. “There is a lot of work employers no longer will have to do,” according to Mike Christie, senior vice president, exchanges for Aon Hewitt.

This is great for companies, especially because under the current model of an employer-sponsored defined-contribution plan, tax law still allows deductibility if the company works with a private exchange, such as those run by Aon Hewitt and Gallagher. If an employee goes to a state exchange for an individual policy, the employer loses this deductibility. Additionally, by working with a big broker's private health insurance exchange, employees can just to go a website and have the broker administer their coverage, and they can call a 1-800 number if there's ever an issue.

It's not so great for independent agents whose business relationships might be compromised if the big brokers get into smaller business.

“Some midmarket agencies think that healthcare reform won't affect them, but this trend will,” Pennachio said. “Instead of wringing their hands about healthcare reform, the big brokers are leveraging it as a business strategy. With technology, healthcare reform and their power, they'll be able to engage with employers of all sizes — and you'll have them in your shops.”

Big brokers are also acquiring employee benefits-only agencies. According to MarshBerry, employee benefit deals so far this year have accounted for 50 percent of the transactions completed by the top three brokers. This means they're buying access to accounts they would have never gone after in the past, Pennachio said.

The situation could develop along the lines of ADP and Paychex's emergence into the workers' compensation insurance business, he said. Fifteen years ago, when these payroll companies began referring customers to a 1-800 number for workers' compensation quotes, agents considered them “ankle biters.” Today, they're opening agencies of their own and getting contracts with the same carriers as independent agents.

So what can independent agents do to respond to this wakeup call? “Get out of the transactional approach to business and prove your value to your clients,” Pennachio said. “Transactional business is threatened by technology. It's happened to travel agents and stockbrokers; independent insurance agents are no different. The message is, if you're playing the transactional game and it worked, it was only because the big brand-name brokers didn't want your business. Now they can be in the door electronically.”

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