A quiet revolution is gathering pace across the insurance sector. While it may lack the drama of financial crashes or sweeping regulatory overhauls, its impact may prove just as profound. It is a transformation driven by artificial intelligence, automation, and a growing demand from customers for clearer, faster, and more relevant service.
To understand the forces reshaping the industry, FinTech Global sat down with a number of leading voices at the forefront of change in the sector.
From executives building AI-powered customer experiences to innovators driving embedded insurance and personalised risk assessment, these industry leaders shared their views on where the sector is headed and why the next twelve to eighteen months may be critical.
Matching consumer expectations
Yvonne Daugherty, Global Head of Industries at Ushur, says her firm is seeing consumer expectations change rapidly. As a customer experience automation company, Ushur has been closely watching the shift.
“We are right at the forefront of this as a customer experience automation firm, and we are really seeing a strong continued shift of consumer expectations in the InsurTech landscape,” she says. “They are really looking for more personalized, convenient and transparent ways to interact with their carriers, across all different journey phases.”
The key, Daugherty says, is allowing customers to reach their insurer on their terms, using the channels they prefer. Whether looking for basic information or navigating a claim, policyholders want a service that is smooth, immediate and accessible.
“Consumers are expecting the ability to reach their carrier on their channel of choice, easily and conveniently, and to be able to find information they are looking for without having to sift through so much information or wait on hold,” she explains.
Insurers are increasingly turning to firms like Ushur to deliver this. AI-powered agents are becoming central to the effort. These agents, trained on company knowledge bases and documents, can respond to questions, share documents, and assist with tasks around the clock.
“They can bridge to and from online and offline channels to support policyholders and claimants with intelligent, conversational AI-powered responses and interactions,” Daugherty says. “It is really making it easier to do business with these insurance carriers, which is meeting the growing consumer demand.”
Inside InsurTech Generation Two
This is no longer a luxury, according to Ashleigh Gwilliam, Director of Insurance Industry Growth at FullCircl. For him, the expectations of modern customers are reshaping the market entirely.
“Customers are increasingly demanding personalised, transparent and convenient digital experiences,” he says. “They are expecting on-demand services, instant claims processing and real-time communication.”
He points to Blueprint Two, a major digital transformation initiative in the London insurance market, as a model for the future. Among the changes it supports are hyper-personalised policies that adapt in real time, automation-powered claims systems, and embedded insurance products that slot neatly into everyday digital purchases.
“Sustainability-focused insurance products that align with ESG values will become more common,” she adds. “Overall, companies that prioritise customer-centric design and anticipate these evolving needs will be the ones that gain a competitive advantage in 2025.”
Peter Ohnemus, CEO and President of dacadoo, believes we are already well into what he calls the second generation of InsurTech. The early wave of innovation, he says, was cautious and piecemeal. Now, insurers are shifting toward fully integrated platforms.
“The first generation of InsurTech was kind of stepping the toe into the water, testing the temperature,” he says. “Now what we call InsurTech Generation Two is full stack.”
He compares it to the old telephone switchboards of the mid-20th century, now updated for the digital age. Customers are no longer content with individual apps or siloed tools.
They expect complete, seamless digital journeys that bring together services such as virtual health, lifestyle monitoring, and instant assistance.
“The consumer expects a fully integrated experience with their insurance company,” Ohnemus says. “It is going to be full stack, AI supported and API based, so I can plug or unplug the service level that I am looking at integrating.”
At dacadoo, they refer to this as the REF factor. Services must be relevant, easy, and fun. Ohnemus believes the typical 40-page insurance agreement is increasingly out of step with what customers want.
“We are going to see a consumerisation of InsurTech,” he predicts. “It needs to be a fun, engaging experience. The industry has to move beyond complexity.”
Voice will also play a bigger role, he suggests, as users become more comfortable with natural language interfaces. Further ahead, he imagines the emergence of digital twins, personalised AI-driven avatars that track users’ lifestyles and health to help tailor insurance in real time.
Delivering real value
But technology alone will not be enough.
“Technologies alone do not make insurance successful,” Ohnemus says. “It is really about bringing value.”
The value proposition has to be clear and measurable, says Andy Thomas, CEO at KYND. His company focuses on helping customers understand risk in a way that is relevant to their work and easy to interpret.
“What we see day in day out at KYND is an increasing focus on relevance and customer relevance,” Thomas says. “Relevance is respectful of the customer. It is meeting the customer where they are and in their job.”
For Thomas, simplicity is just as vital. Many tools in the market provide a flood of data that confuses more than it clarifies. The better approach is to offer only the information that matters, in a format the customer can understand and act on.
“Simplicity is in the way information is presented to the customer, and also the information that is actually presented,” he says. “That does not mean there is not a lot of complexity underneath. It does mean, though, that complexity gets hidden.”
This philosophy applies equally across insurance and financial services. As regulation becomes more complex, firms need tools that make it easier, not harder, to comply.
“Just having siloed risk analytics is not the answer,” Thomas says. “The trick is making sure that they are relevant to them in their role, they have a clear value add, and they are simple and clear to understand.”
Whether driven by regulation or customer expectation, the message is clear. Insurers can no longer afford to tinker around the edges. A real digital transformation, not just another tool on the dashboard, is what is now required.
As Ohnemus puts it, some companies are already making the leap.
“We are seeing very large insurance companies now that are saying we are going full in,” he says. “The insurance companies that do not do the full transformation of digitalisation now will probably end up like Kodak. This is now mission critical.”
The shift is not about gimmicks or hype. At its heart, it is about helping customers in ways that are easier, clearer and more useful. And for an industry built on trust, that could be the most important innovation of all.
