Integrated Risk Solutions Inc.

Integrated Founders Prepare for Next Decade

As Integrated Risk Solutions enters its second decade, founders Tom Precia and Pete Aisbet will rely on the simple principles that guided the enterprise through its first: integrity, flexibility, innovation, passion, persistence, a focus on solid relationships.

“We believe in a core set of values,” Pete said. “No one knows what will happen over the next 10 years, but if we live those values we will be successful.”

Integrated Risk Solutions celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2011. The agency opened its doors on July 2, 2001. As Tom and Pete reflect on a decade in business, they contemplate the challenges and opportunities the next 10 years will bring for their clients.

“Doing business today is a lot harder than 10, 20 years ago,” Tom said. “There are new, emerging industries.  Our economy is more service driven, and distribution is a fast-growing sector. We’re always evaluating our capabilities to make sure they closely match the changing needs of our customers. We have a constant hunger to be a resource for them.”

	To thrive in the current climate, the partners agree businesses will need a focus on human capital. Frugality imposed by the new economy will require employees to juggle diverse responsibilities.
Tom Precia

“Everyone is going to have to do more with less, get more out of their people,” said Pete.

“We’re seeing things like loss control people picking up security or fleet management. That diminishes their ability to closely monitor behaviors that lead to loss.”

According to Pete, managing risk will require a strong partner with the resources to complement and support stretched staff. As he looks to the next decade, Integrated Risk Solutions has to be positioned to meet that need.

“We’re going to have to be flexible and creative,” Pete said. “Our people have to care.”

Flexible and creative: A decade ago the insurance industry was anything but. Tom and Pete – who combine for more than 50 years of industry experience – watched in the late 1990s as insurance carriers and agencies alike merged and grew into national organizations. Local service by people who cared about their clients was becoming a casualty.

“There was just less contact with the customer,” Pete said. “People thought distance didn’t matter anymore; they were attempting to rely on phone calls. We saw an opportunity to bridge that gap, to create a meaningful presence on the ground for our customers.”

The company’s first employee was a receptionist, Peggie Irons, who a decade later remains with Integrated Risk Solutions as Client Claim Coordinator (“This is a family,” Tom said.) But the next additions were not salespeople. The vision of an agency that was a partner in managing risk called for an investment in service. A Risk Control Consultant and a Client Claim Advocate were brought on board to help customers identify and mitigate hazards before they turned into claims; and to ensure claims were handled properly and aggressively when losses did occur.

Today the staff of 32 full-time employees broker commercial property and casualty insurance and employee benefits, while still serving customer needs like risk control and claim advocacy. It’s been a decade of steady growth despite challenging market forces.
	Pete Aisbet

“I remember when our kids were the janitors,” said Tom. “We opened a couple of months before 9-11, which created some turmoil for our industry. There have been wars, an economic crisis. I’m proud that through it all, over 90 percent of the clients that we started with are still with us.”

Tom says that high retention rate is due to a focus on relationships. “We just really like people,” he says.

Pete agrees, noting that relationships with not only customers, but centers of influence in the business community will allow Integrated Risk Solutions to respond to changing needs.

“We obviously have to manage our finances to be sure we are positioned well to respond to opportunities,” he said. “But more importantly, if we forge the right relationships and develop our people, we’ll be ready when those opportunities arise.”

Both men agree it’s the friendships they’ve already forged, and the people they’ve seen develop, that are the greatest prize of the last decade.

 “The 10th Anniversary party was a really a great way to celebrate our customers,” Tom said. “We’re enjoying the journey.”