Benefits advisers are under greater pressure today than everbefore.

The days of solely selling insurance and renewing policies areover. Commissions have been curtailed, competitorshave entered the market with hundreds of millions in venturecapital to fuel their growth, employees expect more from theiremployers than ever before, and HR teams are looking tobenefits advisers for affordable yetmodern solutions.

It’s an “evolve or die” environment for benefitsadvisers. To grow your business and stay relevant, it’s importantto be able to do more with less, and that starts with findingefficiencies both internally and for your clients.

The insurance industry is plagued byoutrageous complexity, outdated technology, and impenetrablejargon. It’s hard for your team and the HR teams you consult withto do their jobs effectively. But these are problems that smarttechnology investments have solved in every other industry. It’stime for ours to catch up.

Maximizing operational efficiency

Last year was a big one for inorganic growth in the brokermarket, with record numbers in mergers andacquisitions. If you’re focusing on organic growth, you must domore with what you already have, and that starts with “cutting thefat” from your organization.

Inertia is the enemy of innovation. I firmly believe that. Oneof the most important principles I took from academic economics wasthis: Never, ever get attached to a sunk cost. It’sillogical to continue on a path after recognizing that there’s amore efficient, more practical, or more ethical way, yet this isseemingly a constant in corporate America.

Lean companies look to optimize every facet of theirorganizations. Make sure your resources are dedicated to thehighest-ROI activities, and the skills of the people at yourorganization are tailored to do their jobs as efficiently aspossible.

Save the brainpower for the jobs that require critical thinkingand innovative strategy. For those jobs that don’t require brainpower, invest in automation instead. Humans are not robots.

Clearing time to focus on what matters

Certain tech companies peddle the idea that brokers add no valueto employers — that they’re old-school middle men with manualprocesses and mean golf handicaps whose jobs can be easily replacedby tech platforms and clever algorithms.

The broker business model is dead. Benefitsadvisers play in a whole different league.

They take a consultative approach to their client relationships.They think about more than selling insurance policies. They addressemployee health and wellness holistically. They look to addressinertia and inefficiencies within an organization as a whole andrecommend technologies to simplify processes.

Benefits advisers understand that insurance and payroll aretable stakes, not the main show.

HR is about building processes, team structures, and managementstrategies that bring out the best in people. It’s about creating agreat culture within a company that people want to participatein.

A true strategic approach to insurance sales takes aconsultative brain; creativity; and expertise in insurance, HR,payroll, and benefits. That’s not a role that can be replaced by atechnology platform. And if your job could be replaced by a robot oralgorithm, you’re simply not doing your job well.

However, this role could be significantly enhanced with greattech experiences.

Technology can alleviate many mundane or repetitive tasks foragencies and clients alike. To stay competitive in the market,brokers need to take on more work, but it’s important to worksmarter, not harder. Dedicate the resources and brainpower on yourteam to areas that require strategic, critical thinking, and leavethe pen-and-paper inefficiencies and repeatable processes toreliable technologies.

Improved efficiency is the holy grail of business, but perhapsthe most important result of automating is the trickle-down effectfor patients.

All your clients’ employees will become patients at some point.For them, insurance brokers have the opportunity to help fix abroken system. They’re a small but important piece of thepuzzle.

The patient experience can be frustrating, to say the least.

Advisers have a responsibility to deliver value for insuranceusers wherever possible and to ease that frustration. Doing yourpart to go beyond the sale and working to improve people’s lives isthe difference between a mere broker and a trusted partner.