“Uncertainty has actually opened the door for deeper risk conversations,” said Aliya A. Daya (pictured), senior client executive, commercial insurance new business, at Acera Insurance.
It’s a counterintuitive idea in a market often paralyzed by volatility. But for Daya, today’s disruptions, from fragile supply chains to cross-border exposures, have created space for brokers to move beyond transactional roles and into more strategic territory.
“A lot of our clients are more aware of the fragility of their operations,” she said. “This allows us to move beyond being simple transactional insurance brokers... and step into a more strategic advisory role.”
Daya has seen a growing appetite among commercial clients for proactive risk management, not just claims coverage. The shift, she said, has significantly changed expectations for brokers.
“Clients are no longer just insuring for loss. They're actually trying to prevent disruption,” she said. “They want to understand where their vulnerabilities lie and how they can build resilience.”
That means going deeper into diagnostics before policies even enter the discussion. “Our strategy... has been to shift from simply quoting policies to doing upfront diagnostic work,” she said. “In my case, mapping client risk exposures in detail and showing them where insurance fits into a broader continuity plan.”
That approach has found particular traction with new clients who, as Daya pointed out, “definitely feel underserved by brokers who haven't adapted to this new risk reality that we're all living in.”
Looking back, Daya said the one thing she would tell her younger self, and advises peers today, is to lean harder into education.
“Try to be more consultative as a broker versus being transactional,” she said. “There’s a real hunger out there at the moment for information and knowledge... and there is a vacuum when it comes to insurance.”
For Daya, trust starts with transparency, and relevance sustains it. “Clients can tell when you're just selling versus when you're truly solving a problem for them,” she said.
To stay ahead of increasingly complex risk profiles, Daya and her team track emerging exposures closely, cyber, ESG, and environmental threats among them. The answer isn’t just new insurance products, but how those products are integrated into clients’ operations.
“We work with clients in underserved industries where traditional products often fall short,” she said.
She pointed to cyber as a space where Acera Insurance has taken a layered approach: “We layer it with proactive tools like threat detection partnerships or vendor risk audits to go beyond the policy and into real-time risk mitigation.”
Environmental exposures, too, require more than coverage. “I've personally helped clients navigate evolving ESG regulations with environmental impairment liability and tailored D&O products for sustainability reporting risks,” she said.
What distinguishes this approach, she added, is the focus on aligning insurance with broader business strategy, not just compliance. “We’re not just offering a product, we’re offering a broader risk roadmap.”
Daya said relationship-building isn’t confined to renewal season. Clients expect ongoing engagement.
“Risk can be very dynamic, so I try to stay close to my clients throughout the year,” she said. “Not just that one touch point at renewal time.”
That consistency, she added, helps deepen trust and keep communication aligned with the client’s changing priorities. “When you show up each time with empathy and curiosity, a strategic mindset, I find that relationship grows.”
As the commercial insurance landscape continues to evolve, Daya’s message is clear: the brokers who succeed won’t be the ones with the best quotes – they’ll be the ones who understand the real risk. “There is a lot of opportunity within the uncertainty,” she said.
