Furthermore, many small brokerage firms may lack the scale to develop advanced capabilities in house, so it is important for them to find ways to pool resources or access market-wide information services. The survey reveals that risk analysis is the No. 1 way in which a brokerage firm, of any size, can assist clients on a more efficient basis.

Brokers have the ability to help their clients respond to these emerging and strategically critical risks, but on the flip side, failure to provide insightful advice could call relationships and capabilities into question. While there are great opportunities on which brokers could capitalize, they also come with large risks, should the broker fail to deliver. While two-thirds of risk managers who responded to the PwC survey see brokers as "trusted advisors," reliance only on past relationships to carry the industry forward is not an effective strategy.

"Brokers are forced to move beyond their traditional role of facilitating basic risk placement decisions into providing creative and timely solutions that are anchored in deep analytical insights," Mayock says. "Given the strategic nature of the demands now being placed on brokers, it is those that have a global presence that mirrors their clients' footprints and invest in the necessary technology to strengthen their in-house analysis and solution development capabilities that will establish a sustainable competitive advantage."

Overall, survey participants see service capabilities and the ability to complete the program as the most important capabilities, even more important than price, in choosing a broker. But brokers should also focus on developing strong relationships with their clients for the purpose of retention, and further, provide them with the knowledge clients require to successfully navigate the new risk landscape, driven by social, technological, economical, political and environmental forces.

"While brokers are generally seen as 'trusted advisors' especially in the realm of traditional risk management, when it comes to increasingly complex and constantly shifting 'non-standard' risks, risk managers are looking for 'consultative partners.' Their expectations are that brokers will rapidly innovate and make investments in strong predictive analytics that drive development of highly tailored and relevant solutions," Mayock says.

The PwC report notes the importance of using dynamic analytics to help businesses anticipate and understand the risks they may face, and furthermore, develop informed decisions in addressing them. Brokers are in an ideal position to evolve into global risk facilitation leaders. They can identify and develop innovative solutions that can help clients address the changing risk environment.

"One example of how this might play out is in the area of cyber risk. Cyber insurance is one of the fastest growing commercial product lines. The brokerage community is well-positioned to facilitate the management of the entire cyber risk process, to better anticipate and understand emerging cyber risks through the collection, integration, analysis and communication of actionable insights—shifting into more of a 'consultative' role," Mayock says.

"The brokerage industry is recognizing that success will be achieved by aligning investment in technology with overall business strategy," he continues. "The improvement of technology in the broker industry will become a major factor distinguishing superior from mediocre performance. Companies that invest in and help their customers exploit the benefits of emerging technologies will achieve superior results."