Leading Through Trade, Technology, Weather and Workforce

Leading Through Trade, Technology, Weather and Workforce
August 19, 2026 11 mins

Leading Through Trade, Technology, Weather and Workforce

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Aon leaders share perspectives on how organizations are making better decisions and positioning themselves to stay ahead amid rapid change across four interconnected megatrends.

Key Takeaways
  1. Data quality, analytics and AI are becoming critical differentiators for insurers.
  2. Organizations in the food, agribusiness and beverage sector are using data-driven climate insights to make more informed decisions.
  3. The role of benefits strategy in helping organizations support workforce needs while balancing cost pressures and long-term business objectives.

Intro:
Hello and welcome to this, the latest edition of On Aon.
If there’s one thing this year’s Industry Insight episodes have told us it’s that every company — no matter what sector they’re operating in — is faced with the difficult task of doing business in an increasingly complex and volatile world.
Forces across four interconnected megatrends — Trade, Technology, Weather and Workforce — are affecting every organization.
But their impact is not universal. The risks, opportunities and strategic choices facing a retailer differ significantly from those facing a construction company, food manufacturer, insurer or aerospace and defense organization.
Over the course of this year’s Industry Insight episodes, our Aon experts have discussed the issues and trends that matter most to a particular sector, what decisions companies have to make and the actions that will create the greatest value.

Insurance Industry
A common problem facing organizations in every industry is understanding the environment in which they operate. And key to this understanding is getting access to the right data — and then be able to interpret it and act upon it.
Andy Marcell, Aon’s Global Solutions CEO, discussed this issue in relation to the insurance industry in the first of our clips today:

Andy Marcell:
The sort of the baseline challenge, is data. We're selling, they're selling a product that's forward-looking, right? And you don't know the cost of it when you sell it because of all the changing exposures that they face. And there's a ton of technology out there that can help you get to a more consistent way of viewing risk and managing your capital — whether it's AI or some of the new sort of severe convective store models. There's a bunch of capability that's more readily available than it ever has been. It can have a dramatic impact in the way that you deploy capital and think about risk.

And you want to do that with your proprietary data. There's depending where you are in the world, there's a lot of public information, public data you can get your hands on, but ultimately the differentiator is how you manage your own data and getting to that data in an organized way and changing your systems is a significant cost but a massive benefit.

And so, when you're talking to those clients about how they're thinking about that, that is that single biggest challenge. Right. So, there's, can think of many clients that I won't name here that have really spent the last 10 years thinking about how to create that data architecture.

So now with the, with AI doing all the things that it can do to help insurance companies make better decisions more quickly, likely at lower costs. Right. They'll have a strategic advantage over those that weren't able to do that.

But the great thing about AI and some of the other technologies that people are using is actually you can close that gap pretty quickly. And that is where they're solely focused. And of course, in a soft market, they're also focused on the big challenge now is M&A, how do they position themselves? How do they think of third-party capital? But primarily it's just the basic rudimentary data management is more and more important than it's ever been.

Food, Agribusiness and Beverage
Just to say that you can find the links to all the episodes featured today in the Show Notes.
But on to the next clip, and here we’re taking a look at the impact of climate risk on organizations. And there is one sector in particular that has been affected by this year’s extreme heat — the Food, Agribusiness and Beverage industry.
There’s no doubt that climate change is accelerating volatility across the food system — but it’s also opening the door to smarter, more resilient ways of managing risk.
Here’s Aon’s global head of climate advisory, Liz Henderson, discussing how FAB businesses can stay ahead:

Liz Henderson:
We can talk about the challenges and the problems. The thing that I'm optimistic about is that I do think we have solutions in order to really help shift the thinking and create a reduction in some of the impacts that these things are having.

So, the first sort of practical step is to move from a reactionary, we know the weather is getting worse. We've observed over the last five or 10 years, these shifts in harvest times, this change in the heat impacts on the quality of the crop. You have to move from that kind of historical basis to quantified risk analytics.

So really exploring the different types of solutions that exist in the insurance industry, in other parts of the value chain that can actually help you anticipate where things are going to get worse, how much worse it might get in order to triage your efforts and focus in on where you can have an impact.

And so that's step one. Get into the analytics, understand where in your growing regions you're going to see the biggest impact and start to build that triage.

Retail
There have been major workforce issues impacting every sector but a significant concern for retailers has been defining and financing the right benefits program for their employees.
Here’s Matt Duffy, Chief Commercial Officer for Global Benefits here at Aon, discussing how benefits are having a significant impact on performance, employee experience and financial outcomes across an organization.

Matt Duffy:
So I think probably the biggest thing for me is the shift that benefits is no longer viewed solely as a as an issue for HR to manage and solve. In today's organizations, particularly if you look in in the retail sector, they're increasingly recognizing that kind of benefits really sit at that intersection of workforce strategy, financial performance, but also risk management. And so on one side you've got organizations which are really challenged with managing double-digit healthcare cost increases, growing expectations from their employees around what they expect from their employer and that increasing competition for talent.

And then on the other side, you've got CFOs and other business leaders who are under extreme pressure to improve productivity, manage costs, and deliver predictable financial results.

And benefits touch all of those areas.

Construction
One sector that has been a defining force behind our global economy is the construction and infrastructure industry.
Construction firms are essential to some of the biggest and most important projects being built at the moment — from power networks to massive digital infrastructure projects.
However, while the outlook for construction companies is strong, success will depend on how well these businesses understand the growth sectors, manage increasingly complex risks and use data to navigate volatility.
Here’s James MacNeil, Aon’s Global Industry Specialty Leader, for Construction and Infrastructure, to explore these issues further:

James MacNeil:
To start, it's really important to know where the growth is coming from. It sounds obvious, but it does impact your risks. And right now, they're the three main drivers of growth globally, as we mentioned earlier. It's data centers, it's power, and it's that critical infrastructure. And these sectors, they're not going away. They're going to influence how companies invest, hire new talent, and manage risk for, I think, many years to come.

Secondly, with projects getting more complicated and private financing is playing a much bigger role, solid risk management and insurance. They’re not just optional anymore, they're absolutely essential. And these days, everyone's involved from investors, owners to contractors, and they all want a common theme. They all want clear answers on who's responsible for what and how Natcat risks are handled and how delaying startup and other crucial insurance covers are set up. And so by tapping into insights from our thought leadership, like Global Risk Management Survey, like our Global Construction Insurance and Surety report, organizations can make smarter calls about which risk to keep, which to transfer on those bigger complex projects.

And the third point, keep your eye on volatility, crucial, especially when it comes to supply chains and prices. With all the trade disruptions and geopolitical tensions we're seeing, and that they're going to be sticking around for some time to come, budgets and margins are going to be under pressure. And the companies that are staying ahead are the ones mapping out their key suppliers, they're building backup options into their sourcing plans, and they're using strategies like financial hedging to help manage the risks that come from these unpredictable commodity prices.

Aerospace and Defense
To close out this episode, here’s some insight from another key sector — Aerospace and Defense.
Earlier this summer, Dave Carlson, Aon’s Global Industrials and Manufacturing Industry Leader, and Randy Ramirez, who’s a Human Capital Rewards Solutions associate partner for Aon, got together to discuss the big issues facing this sector — and why the right Human Capital strategy is so important.

Dave Carlson:
Today's geopolitical volatility is driving governments worldwide to demand innovation at scale and speed, particularly in technology solutions and advanced engineering. Yet many organizations still rely on legacy infrastructure, making the integration of cutting-edge technologies complex, costly and risky for operational stability.

Large U.S. government contracts are significant part of defense manufacturing, and any disruption from cyber attacks can have severe and longstanding consequences.

Challenges compounded by over-reliance on third-party vendors and legacy infrastructure is also a consideration.

And then with supply chain, restrictive tariffs and fast-changing export control disrupt the flow of equipment and material globally.

Tackling large production backlogs in commercial aviation and increased regulatory scrutiny from the Federal Aviation Administration has also been a core challenge. Regulations such as the International Traffic and Arms Regulation and Export Administration Regulations, mean that alternative sourcing during disruptions is difficult.

And finally, sudden challenges in international regulations, tariffs or embargoes, further deepen risks.
So Randy, how are these risks having an impact on finding, selecting and retaining workers in the aerospace and defense industry? What are the big human capital challenges?

Randy Ramirez:
Yeah, that's a big question there, Dave, and there's a lot behind that. But let me quickly touch on a few of the global human capital challenges that come to mind.

The first is closing the workforce skills gap. This is a big unlock in the industry. Companies that can close the skills gap have a greater chance of seeing increased innovation and better contract fulfillment than those that don't close this gap.

The A&D workforce has always been a top strategic risk, but now it's an even bigger risk with talent replacement proving increasingly difficult in the current climate. So there's a big focus on retaining critical talent.

Another is changing employee preferences. Many A&D organizations have set up shop away from traditional urban areas of focus. This makes it challenging to attract and retain new hires. Evolving perceptions of the A&D industry among early career talent.

There are even more competing forces such as commercial AI, high tech, renewable energy, commercial space applications and so on, which make this traditional early recruiting space even more challenging.

We have flexibility versus traditional manufacturing, which depends on in-person attendance. Aging manufacturing workforce is deepening these challenges.

And finally, we have an industry that's competing for the “gray-collar” workforce. So this is a new generation of technically adept highly skilled hands-on talent driving the development of tomorrow's complex systems. And these new systems need talent that have both engineering understanding and real-world execution.

Outro
That’s our show for today — thanks for listening. You can find the links to all the episodes featured here today in this episode’s show notes.
If you have enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to like, share and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and be sure to visit Aon.com to learn more about Aon.
We’ll be back next week with another episode — our Global Insight — when we’ll be taking a deep dive into the latest geopolitical, economic and regulatory news impacting businesses.

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The information contained herein and the statements expressed are of a general nature and are not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Although we endeavor to provide accurate and timely information and use sources we consider reliable, there can be no guarantee that such information is accurate as of the date it is received or that it will continue to be accurate in the future. No one should act on such information without appropriate professional advice after a thorough examination of the particular situation.

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