AI transformation in insurance – Part 2

The Qorus Digital Reinvention Community, together with professional services group Accenture, hosted the second of three roundtable discussions on AI for insurance industry leaders. This discussion highlighted how insurers are balancing buy-versus-build decisions, moving beyond automation, and measuring the value delivered by their AI implementations.

Key takeaways

• Insurers are increasing the pace of their AI adoption but few implementations have reached maturity. More insurers are scaling AI across multiple functions and moving beyond isolated pilots.
• Customer experience and retention have become the biggest drivers of AI investment. Insurers are shifting attention from back-office efficiency toward customer-facing applications.
• AI investment remains focused mainly on improving existing operations rather than creating new business models. The strongest gains are appearing in underwriting, customer service, claims handling, and support functions.
• Scaling AI requires end-to-end process reinvention rather than layering new tools onto old workflows. Insurers need to rethink work around business outcomes, equip teams with new skills, and build platforms that can support AI securely at scale.
• Most insurers favor hybrid AI sourcing models that combine external technology with internal platforms and in-house teams.
• AI implementations are moving from automation to end-to-end process redesign that improves decision-making. Claims handling, customer service, fraud detection, and underwriting are early applications.
• Measuring the value that AI implementations deliver remains difficult. It requires a broad, flexible framework rather than simple efficiency or financial metrics.