If innovation is as Jay Abraham says, “making obsolete thatwhich you did before,” then the small motley band of benefitsprofessionals determined to revolutionize their business certainlyqualifies.

I sit down with four of them at some pretty plush surroundingsat the top of the Mandarin Hotel in Las Vegas, near the southernend of the Strip. It's quiet by Vegas standards, probably becauseit's still light outside and this is a place built for night.

At any rate, you'd never know to look at them that this islittle more than the masterminds behind an insurgent group, readyto overthrow the status quo, whether it's at a trade associationannual meeting or in the conference rooms on the front lines of thebusiness.

I start with a round of drinks and a single question: What areyou doing?

It started with the National Association of Health Underwriters'Young Agent Committee — one of a dozen or so leadership committeescharged with various tasks within the larger organization.

It started with Rebecca Purdy, a former broker who's nowHumana's small group commercial sales rep for Nevada. A former NAHUpresident approached Purdy about taking over the committee in a bidto jump-start its sagging — if not stagnant — membership.

“The need for [the] Vanguard Council stems back to a place wherepeople who have their whole careers in front of them (or a goodportion left anyway) and are looking for something to plug into,”Purdy says. “Something they want to be a part of.”

She immediately enlisted Chad Schneider, broker market director,broker sales at Aflac. And they both agreed they wanted more thanjust the same old committee in the same old organization.

“Basically we wanted to really revamp and reinvent the entireYoung Agent Committee,” Schneider explains. “And get rid of thestigma that 'it's gotta be under 40, it's gotta be first five yearsin the industry and' … really, for lack of a better term, makinginsurance sexy.”

Purdy drew inspiration from her own backyard: Las Vegas.

“There's a big need to do things differently than they're beingdone,” Purdy insists. “There's an opportunity to change the wholescope of the industry. What's it gonna take to separate today'sbroker from tomorrow's broker? And it didn't look the same. Itwasn't the guy with the business suit and the briefcase going intoa meeting with a PowerPoint presentation. It needed to be moredynamic. It needed to be more 'now.' And what is 'now?' In myopinion, Vegas is a great example of what is 'now.' It's current.It's trendy. Maybe that's a little hard for people in other partsof the country to see.”

Read: Half ofbrokers still mulling industry exit

The pair soon turned to BenefitVault's Scott Mardis, who's longlamented what he sees as a largely stagnant broker base sittingstill in the face of unprecedented change in the industry.

“It's not a knock on brokers,” Mardis quickly points out, “butthey're doing things the same way they've done them 10, 15, 20years ago: spreadsheeting carriers, throwing down broker recordletters and grasping onto group coverage because it's the waythey've always done things.

“So we went about trying to put together a council of thoughtleaders that brought into play new voluntary ancillary solutions,health solutions and new payment solutions,” Mardis adds. “We triedto create a community [where] we could bring those best practicesin to play and be able to show not only what people are doing inthe industry that's innovative but show that next generation ofbroker what they're gonna need to accomplish in order to succeed inthis industry. And that's a lot of what the Vanguard Councilrepresents to me.”

For Sean Loving, vice president of customer engagement atCareington International, it went beyond serving young or rookiebroker needs and extended to consumer outreach, as well.

“A lot of things are moving to the individual market and the bigpopulation of uninsured people is the younger generation,”Loving says. “And just think they need someone to relate to. And Ithink we can be that connectivity to get that uninsured populationreduced so they have somebody who understands them and understandswhat's going on.”

That being said, the group wanted the Vanguard Council torepresent more than just young agents — in both reality andperception — and that was a driving force behind the rebrand. Itwas important for the group to both embrace a new way of doingbusiness, while offering a more inclusive environment.

“I don't want to lose some of the amazingness of some of thesemembers who will retire in the next couple of years. This is notabout age. It's not about how long you've been in the business. Wewant to capture all the greatness and be an incubator forinnovation. All the great ideas,” Schneider explains.

“It's a forum, right? This is not a place to complain aboutPPACA. There's plenty of forums for that. It's not a forum for 'thesky is falling' or 'membership is doing this' or 'this localchapter is doing that.' If you aren't thinking about positive,forward-thinking, game-changing, innovative ideas, we're gonna bootyou from the group.”

“It's solutions,” Purdy emphasizes.

“We're gonna run past you,” Mardis adds. “We're solutionsproviders now.”

Solutions, not support groups

It's that lack of patience with both traditional ways of doingbusiness and nihilistic attitudes about the market that drives thisgroup forward. And their ambition certainly doesn't end at theirown doorstop. They've transformed their committee in less than ayear. And they make no bones about wanting that transformation tospread like a virus throughout all of NAHU.

And the rest of the benefits business is next. And make nomistake, that ambition is driven by simple survival instinct,stirred up by a business in turmoil, which — in their words — “isgonna make this simple group broker and this industrydisappear.”

So, as always, it seems as if half the problem is still awareness.

“Some people still think it will all shake out and it will bejust fine,” Purdy says, shaking her head. “Some people reallyhaven't really understood the gravity of what has happened.”

And while uncertainty from the both the federal and state levelshaven't helped matters over the last few years, this is a group ofpeople who are adamant brokers haven't been proactive enough.

“We've witnessed three years of 'wait and see,'” Mardiscomplains, agitated now. “If you listened to a lot of brokers threeyears ago, they simply said to all of their groups once PPACApassed, 'Everybody, don't move. [It] will never survive the SupremeCourt.' And so they simply told the groups not make any changes.They waited for the Supreme Court ruling to come out, it wasapproved, said it could be a tax, and they 'All right, but nobodymove because Obama will never get reelected.' And so they made surethat there were no new changes. They didn't implement voluntary,they didn't do ancillary lines or anything else. They didn't evenchange the group policy. Obama gets reelected and they say 'Wait,don't move because it's actually not gonna work. I'll tell youwhat, we're gonna renew you [Dec. 1] and kick this can down theroad for another year in hopes this can do it.” And now there's athreat out there that says that federally-based exchange subsidies aren't legal and, believe me, thereare enough brokers out there who will go out to their accountsright now and say 'Nobody move because the subsidies coulddisappear.' And the problem is they're simply worried about losingtheir group commissions.

“But the fact is nothing has changed,” he concludes. “It's beenlaw for more than three years and there are brokers out there rightnow driving significant revenue by doing things differently.”

A broker degree?

Another thing that has changed is the increased expectation ofeducation and training. As Purdy points out, the days of theaccidental broker are numbered.

“You've never had to have a degree for this,” Purdy admits.“Everyone falls into it. You ask any broker right now: 'How did youget into insurance?'

“'Well I certainly didn't aspire to be an insurance agent.' Theysort of fell into it. It's one story after another how peoplelanded in this industry. I really see in the future the thingsbrokers especially are being asked to do for their clients now —they're tax people. They're compliance people. You're gonna need adegree in the future to be this,” Purdy concludes.

Read: Top 5 brokerconcerns

But that level of expertise extends beyond accounting, tax lawsor issues of compliance. Tomorrow's brokers need to be betterversed in products — and solutions — than ever before. And all ofit — even health insurance — circles back to financialmanagement.

“If you think about it, you have 401(k)s, which are financialmanagement tools, for example,” Mardis says. “Health insurance andall the ancillary lines are financial wellness tools. But theystill carry the same potential price tag a lot of the otherinvestment vehicles do. I agree completely with Rebecca from aneducation standpoint.

“Health insurance is turning into the new voluntary,” Mardisadds. “I'm turning into an individual financial advisor for yourclients and your clients are no longer the CEOs; they're theindividual employees.”

So, what's next?

Few would argue against the fact that this an industry still inthe throes of rampant consolidation, a tech transformation and anincreasingly litigious workforce. But these factors, along with aslightly more savvy — and certainly more costs-conscious —clientele, have conspired to demand much more from today'sbrokers.

Or, as Purdy put it, we'll no longer be seeing “the firefighterdoubling as an insurance agent. I think those days are numbered andif they're not, they should be. Just because of the support andeverything else you need.”

In short, while PPACA might create more part-time workers inthis economy, brokers won't be a vocation hit with that bug.

But brokers definitely need to rethink their strategy, andexpand beyond the traditional group chassis.

“Maybe the brokers need to find a way to be able to engage theindividual consumer,” Mardis suggests. “If you think about whatbrokers have been doing over the last 20 years, they've beenproviding a product 90 percent of end-users don't understand.They've been selling it to CEOs and CFOs who are focused on thebottom line and their renewals. They're putting together amonolithic group product for a large group that doesn't necessarilyfit the individual needs of the employee or the employee's family.So they're gonna have to find ways to step out of that group model— which will be very difficult for a lot of these brokers — andfind ways to become individual benefits consultants for theiremployees.

“Now that might mean most brokers are probably not in a placewhere they have the capacity or even the ability to do that. Butthere are others who do,” Mardis adds. “And that's all aboutengaging those who can sit down one-on-one with employees anddiscuss their benefit options, because this is no longer a simpleone-size-fits-all group policy. There's enough choice in the marketthese days (as Sean referred to) outside of your traditionalmedical plans. Brokers need to find a way to gauge those individualemployees and I think that's where they're gonna end up ultimatelyservicing their end-user, the client. And that who aren't able to —as Rebecca mentioned — are not gonna survive long in this world.”

“I'd take that a step further and ask what it would take toservice that population?” Purdy asks. “It's going to taketechnology, No. 1. Technology is expensive and, quite frankly, it'snot quite there yet. So I foresee a lot of the innovations comingforward on the technology side … being able to manage all of thesemoving parts. Gone are the days of just HR 'ben admin' systems. Nowwe need something that allows you to capture things at anindividual level with multiple carriers. And not just one carrierpiece, too, because that's where they are right now. What's neededin the marketplace right now is so far ahead of what's currentlyavailable. So small brokerages aren't going to be able to affordit, which is where I think market consolidation is going to comeinto play. You're gonna see a lot of people joining with otherlarger firms. So I think mid-size to large agencies will be the newnorm.”

HIPPA and hysteria

I stop the conversation there, because I get frustrated everytime technology comes up. For a decade, I've heard about everygreat new tech breakthrough under the sun that was certain torevolutionize the benefits business. Nothing lives us to the hype.Hell, it wasn't that long ago we were still using fax machines.

Why is it so hard for benefits to get tech right? Do we needElon Musk to buy Aflac? Or Jeff Bezos to take over BenefitFocus?

Either way, it hasn't stopped every wannabe Bill Gates fromtrying. Exhibit hall floors have steadily ceded more booth space totech vendors with each passing year.

“It's not just about file police. It's HIPPA. It'scommunication, the age of avatars,” Schneider says. “It's a milliondifferent things on the admin side. I think it was kind of aperfect storm of everything coming together. Now more than half ofthe vendors [on the show floor] have technology platforms comingout of the woodwork so it's not just the Blues and Cigna andHumana, anymore.”

“And all the big carriers are investing millions of dollars inenrollment software …” Purdy interjects.

But it's more than that. The threat isn't some big carrier willcrack the tech code—it's that someone else will.

“I've seen brokers in my market — especially on the West Coast —who go to the San Francisco area, Silicon Valley,” Schneidermentions. “Engineers are now getting into insurance because theysee the opportunity vs. insurance getting into the technology,right? That's the type of stuff that's gonna happen at some point.God forbid we have an Amazon.com for insurance, because then we'reall screwed.”

Schneider's convinced it's a scenario that's only three to fiveyears away.

“So what does that mean?” Mardis wonders. “I think there is aneed to understand how to engage that individual employee,individual consumer. And I agree with you that if Google or Amazonfigures out health insurance the traditional relationship with theemployer is gone. The broker record letter is gone.

“There's no more engaging the employer,” Mardis continues. “Sothere's no engaging the frat brother, the brother-in-law —relationship-based selling is gone. And at that point how does anemployer not decide to drop group insurance based on their size.Because if health insurance is gonna be the new voluntary benefitout there…employers are gonna leave the group market in droves,especially after this round of renewals.”

But it's a future that's already here.

“I think it's all happening now,” Loving points out. “Employersare dropping group insurance. It's not that they're going to, it'shappening. They're already offloading their retirees intoexchanges. We've had this for years. All people did was rebrand it.Took what they had … added a little payment consolidation…rebrandedit and called it an exchange and all of a sudden they're the newhottest thing.”

Communication and confusion

“The consumers have no idea what the hell's going on,” Mardisinsists. “We have brokers in the industry who don't know what thehell's going on, let alone the average consumer. Sitting theresaying 'What's going on? How does this work?' So what do they do?Employee looks to employer. (It's always been that kind ofmaterialistic/paternalistic relationship.) Employer says, 'I don'thave a clue. I'm gonna go with broker. Broker, what do yougot?'”

So what do brokers do? Do they take the latest tech enrollmentsoftware for a spin? Try an avatar on for size? Or do they gothrough the same paces as always, showing up for that annualenrollment meeting and sprinkle a few emails throughout the rest ofthe year?

“I delivered a presentation about a-year-and-a-half ago to[nearly 200] brokers in Philadelphia and I stood up and said, 'Allright I'm anointing you the best educators in the industry. You arethe best and greatest communicators ever. And you sit in front of100 employees and describe their benefits plan, so I want you tellme how many of those individuals understand what you're talkingabout,'” Mardis recalls. “Believe it or not, almost everyone cameback and said, 'I don't know, maybe 10 people out of a 100understand what we're talking about in a group presentation.'”

And who's fault is that?