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Marsh Inc.

BROKERS: Service, Large Buyers (tie)

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Marsh Inc.

Retaining qualified people is a key factor in delivering top-notch service to large insurance buyers, according to David Bidmead, CEO-United States for brokerage Marsh Inc. in New York.

“We are in a war for talent every day,” Mr. Bidmead said. “We think our ability to retain and attract the best people in the industry is key to our ongoing success.”

Marsh's ability to leverage that talent to deliver standout service to large buyers earned it a tie for top honors in that category in Business Insurance's 2011 Buyers Choice awards.

“I think the one telling reality is that we segment our business on buying styles,” said Mr. Bidmead. He pointed to Marsh's global risk management practice as an example of the service the broker delivers to large buyers.

“That practice focused solely on providing service to our largest, most complex clients,” he said.

“When we think about what they want, whether in service or delivery, we work within what we describe as a dynamic service framework, which we call Marsh 3D,” he said. “That's a strategic and analytic approach to risk.”

He said the other key area of focus for Marsh is the performance of clients' insurance contracts.

“When you think about it in the context of what we've experienced in 2011—unprecedented large catastrophic losses—our major clients have placed significant reliance on the efficacy of their insurance contracts,” said Mr. Bidmead.

“We have devoted considerable time and money to the creation of a very meaningful global claims practice,” he said.

“Whether thinking about claims through an industry lens or providing expert forensic accounting support, we've helped many of our large buyers recover from...unprecedented natural catastrophes.”

Still, the retention of key people remains a critical challenge in maintaining a high level of service to clients, he said.

Marsh has conducted a global colleague engagement survey several times during the past few years in an attempt “to identify and better understand what is important to our colleagues around the world and then devise very practical plans to better address those issues of interest and concern,” he said.

Marsh's ability to execute on those plans increases engagement and allows the broker to retain and attract the right talent, Mr. Bidmead said.

View profiles of all the honorees here.