The insurance landscape is changing rapidly. Products are becoming more interchangeable, price transparency is increasing and direct insurers are penetrating the market ever more aggressively with digital solutions. This raises an existential question for brokers: how do you remain relevant when pure price comparison has become the standard?
Platforms such as thebrokernews.ch make a decisive contribution to the industry here by promoting discourse on new business models and professionalization. They show that the broker of the future is no longer just a “risk buyer”, but must become a strategic risk manager. Those who still define themselves exclusively in terms of the lowest premium will lose access to management in the long term.
The vision: risk management must be affordable for SMEs
Until now, there has been an enormous barrier to risk management for SMEs, and especially for smaller companies: the cost. Anyone looking for a professional software solution today often encounters annual license fees in the high four or even five-digit range. This is simply not affordable for an SME.
This is where Marco La Bella’s vision comes in: he was convinced that professional risk management should not be a privilege for large corporations. It must be affordable, understandable and practicable for SMEs without academic baggage. I fully share this vision, and riskAware was born out of precisely this idea. It is about driving forward the democratization of risk management and providing brokers with a tool that also makes economic sense for their clients.
Dialogue at eye level: understanding risk instead of selling products
A structured but pragmatic approach closes the gap that many SMEs have not yet been able to fill. It is not about creating new complexity, but about asking the right entrepreneurial questions:
- What unexpected events could jeopardize liquidity tomorrow?
- Where do the costs of a loss exceed the capacity of the balance sheet?
- Which risks are consciously accepted and which are merely suppressed?
Such discussions fundamentally change the perception of the broker. He is transformed from a cost factor into a sparring partner who shares entrepreneurial responsibility.
Partnership approaches: Methodology and AI as “enablement“
In order to accomplish this role change in everyday broker life, efficient tools are needed that do not create any hurdles. The aim of riskAware is genuine “enablement”: The broker does not have to become a certified risk engineer, but needs a system that quickly visualizes and prioritizes risks.
Modern approaches take advantage of the benefits of digitalization. Today, AI-supported analyses help to run through scenarios in real time and professionally prepare the basis for decision-making. This saves time and raises the quality of advice to a level that was previously only achievable with an extremely high level of manual effort.
Integration into the broker process
Seamless integration into existing processes is a decisive factor for success. Risk management should not be an “additional project”, but should form the foundation of the annual customer audit. Instead of just checking sums insured, the focus is broadened:
- Identification: What has changed in the customer’s business model?
- Evaluation: Are organizational measures perhaps more efficient than insurance?
- Decision: Which risks remain with the customer, which are transferred?
This transparency creates a relationship of trust that cannot be replaced by any direct insurer’s algorithm. The broker remains the central person of trust, strengthened by independent methodological support.
Differentiation through real added value
The path to modern risk consulting is not a hurdle for brokers, but an invitation to professionalization. Through the combination of personal customer proximity, an affordable and modern methodology through riskAware and the professional exchange in the community of thebrokernews.ch, brokers position themselves where they belong: as indispensable consultants at C-level.
The result is not short-term deals, but reliable mandates, deeper customer loyalty and a positioning that can no longer be attacked on price alone.
Would you like to take the next step towards strategic risk management? The vision of affordable and effective risk management is now a reality. Let’s talk about how you can make this added value visible for your customers: pragmatically, in partnership and at eye level.
A guest article by Fabian Germann
Fabian Germann is a sparring partner for decisions under uncertainty. As an independent risk consultant, he supports entrepreneurs and managers in understanding risks and making conscious decisions. With his approach, he makes risk management tangible for SMEs and shows insurance brokers how to use this expertise as a strategic lever.
Read also: “The broker becomes an entrepreneurial risk manager for SMEs”
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