Gregory C. Case
Analyst · Goldman Sachs
Yes. Really, the overall macro point, which is really the key one here you're raising, Michael, is really we see certainly, pressure around the world, as you read about everyday and we see it, really, from every corner of the world. But it's different. And right now, as we look at the sort of the global landscape, there's certainly pressure in the European quadrant. It happens to be a place where we have substantial, very strong and solid basis. And it's just part of how Aon was built over time. And in that context, what we're seeing is essentially, if you're client, in that context, if you've got something you can defer, you can push back, from a discretionary standpoint, you're going to do that. So that, really, is the comment on discretionary spend and sort of the pressure we're seeing in the context of that. But having said that, the platform we've got is exceptionally strong. And this is not B2C business, this is really B2B. And at the end of the day, at the heart of it, clients have risk issues and people issues. And that's why even in the context in the sort of the -- if you think about what's happened over the last number of years, Aon has grown the business every year, I mean, except for one, and that was we were, I think, down 1%. So we've essentially been able to, in the face of very strong economic headwinds, continue to grow the business and build the business, that's really one of the hallmarks of the overall platform of Aon, and it's one of the things we build upon. So there's a lot of pressure and it's had impact on the quarter, but there's a lot number of things we can do sort of against that. And then from a BPO standpoint, this is really about the HR topic more broadly and just overall, when you think about the things we are looking and taking the clients to sort of combat this sort of issue of discretionary spend, are things that can really have impact for them in the near-term. Things like dependent eligibility audits, leave of absence reviews, things like that. Project revenues that we can really help them improve the operating performance of their business in the near term. But these are the things we're actually bringing to them now that are different. So the mix has changed a bit, the pressure is real, but Aon's got a very strong platform to deal with it.