Welcome to the next generation of insurance. Our industry stands on the cusp of an exhilarating technological revolution, primarily driven by artificial intelligence. Embracing next-generation technology is no longer a choice but a necessity for success.
Insurance-specific AI is the key to unlocking new possibilities, driving innovation, and creating lasting value for agencies and their clients. It is ushering in a new era that promises a more efficient, responsive, and customer-centric insurance ecosystem, perfectly attuned to the needs of today’s digital-savvy consumers and insurance professionals. Three pivotal factors will enable agencies to succeed in this next generation of insurance: data, the insurance industry talent gap, and real-time connectivity to create seamless experiences.
Let’s explore those factors and how integrating AI will provide your agency with a clear road map to not only survive but thrive in this new generation of insurance.
The Data Gold Rush
In today’s dynamic landscape, data is the new currency–because the power of AI depends entirely on the quality of the data it learns from. The good news is that your agency is ripe with data. But how do you gather it and make it usable?
Modern technology excels at making data more accessible. Agentic AI platforms can find and interpret both structured and unstructured data across systems, documents, and communications. By using AI-powered tools, your agency can automatically extract relevant information from policy documents, emails, PDFs, and legacy databases–much of which was previously inaccessible or time-consuming to sort through. This accelerates data discovery and feeds automated workflows that reduce the need for manual data entry. Your agency will see greater operational efficiency, fewer errors, and more time for agents to focus on high-value client interactions and strategic decision-making.
New Tools, New Blood
The insurance industry faces a significant talent gap, with many seasoned professionals nearing retirement. According to Accenture, less than 25% of the insurance industry workforce is under the age of 35, and within the next 15 years, approximately half of the workforce is expected to retire. Agencies need to find innovative ways to achieve more with fewer staff members while actively attracting new talent.
Technology serves as a powerful magnet for the next generation of insurance professionals. Millennials and Gen Zers have grown up with technology deeply ingrained into their personal lives and expect it to be integrated into their professional lives as well. They recognize it as key to growth in any industry and are drawn to forward-looking companies. Your agency will find it significantly easier to recruit these up-and-coming generations if you integrate technology into daily operations.
So, what kind of technology should you invest in to attract this new talent? These generations desire digital, connected experiences, making AI-integrated management systems with open architecture highly attractive. Such systems facilitate seamless data flow between different platforms and automate workflows, which is exactly what modern professionals expect. Integrated AI-driven training can even upskill and onboard new team members in half the time.
Beyond attracting new talent, this technology also profoundly benefits your existing talent by removing tedium from workflows, allowing them to accomplish more with less effort and concentrate on higher-value tasks.
‘Technology serves as a powerful magnet for the next generation of insurance professionals.’
Seamlessly Connected
The insurance industry has often been characterized by its inefficiency. Workflows have been largely paper-driven, time-consuming, and cumbersome, frequently requiring manual tasks across multiple systems, websites, portals, and physical forms. Transforming this landscape with automated workflows that span your agency, clients, and insurer partners is critical to your business success. But it requires connectivity between your technology platforms. This strategic shift toward connected, intelligent workflows allow agencies to become smarter about capacity planning and to identify new opportunities to expand their books of business. Ultimately, this modernization results in a coherent system and streamlined workflows, which in turn creates a truly seamless and exceptional experience for all stakeholders involved.
Real-time connectivity, powered by modern technology, simplifies, accelerates, and enhances the insurance experience for prospects, clients, and internal teams alike. The AI-integrated management system with open architecture we talked about above, for example, allows you to connect to various platforms to achieve this. Consider AI-powered renewals and prospecting solutions that enrich commercial risk profiles by drawing on thousands of publicly available sources. These solutions can identify coverage gaps within existing policies and then deliver corresponding market placement insights to help teams submit business to carriers most likely to fit the customer’s needs. Producers and account managers can easily target new commercial lines prospects and identify cross-sell and upsell opportunities without time-consuming manual research.
Furthermore, AI integrated into your accounting workflows allows your accounting and finance staff to reconcile payments much more quickly. You can simply upload statements and leverage AI to extract data to match and reconcile policies and plans in your management system, creating step-change efficiency value for both direct bill and agency bill revenue processes.
Thriving with AI
These transformative forces of the next generation of insurance share one fundamental common denominator: modern technology. Next-generation technology is poised to unlock new value for your agency by equipping your people with better experiences, providing enhanced connectivity to your clients and partners, and equipping your team with the information and insights they need to work smarter. Your agency is sure to thrive when you embrace AI!
Gupta is the chief product officer at Applied Systems.
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
DHS Secretary Noem Fires Two Dozen at FEMA Citing Cyber Lapses 
Tropolis Completes Acquisitions of 8 Agencies in 3 States 
Farmers Insurance Data Breach Could Impact More Than a Million Customers 
DeSantis Unleashes ‘Florida DOGE’ in Quest to Kill Property Taxes From This Issue
