The first week of June, along with a few of my ValueMomentum colleagues, I had the chance to attend this year’s Insurtech Insights conference in New York City. As it was my first insurance conference of 2025, I was eager to meet with clients, partners, and analysts to understand how everyone is feeling about our ever-changing industry.
The agenda ranged from optimizing claims processes to integrating advanced capabilities into distribution streams to improving geocoding accuracy — and that was just within the first two hours of day one. Speakers addressed pain points and opportunities for innovation across the entire value chain, bringing firsthand knowledge of the insurance industry into every session.
With as many as 6,000 people in attendance, it seemed nearly impossible to gain consensus on anything, let alone distill the large-scale event into just a few key takeaways. But here are the three main points that stuck with me:
- AI still dominates the conversation. No surprise here. However, instead of talking about AI replacing humans, the conversation was about how AI can leverage human expertise. Even with all the discussion about the impact of agentic AI, every speaker was quick to point out the importance of keeping humans in the loop. The industry is beginning to look at AI as a collaborative partner, not a replacement for skilled human workers.
In a keynote presentation with EVP of Technology and Operations at MetLife Bill Pappas and Founder of Insurance Evolution Partners Bryan Falchuk, they mentioned, “AI hasn’t clarified its purpose yet.” I couldn’t agree more. While some insurers have applied AI for measurable outcomes, use cases and adoption haven’t advanced to the level that I would have expected a year ago.
- Data is (still) the new oil. While the phrase is almost 20 years old, it is still as important as it was back in 2006. The amount of data available to fuel decisions anywhere across the insurance value chain continues to grow by leaps and bounds. For example, unstructured data is still a prevalent challenge in claims. Access to more data doesn’t necessarily yield better outcomes or reduce claims leakage without the capabilities needed to store, clean, and analyze it.
In distribution, data fuels the vast pipeline of brokers, agencies, and marketing organizations pairing consumers with the insurance products they need. And data has never been more important to enhance risk assessment and enable smarter decision-making in underwriting. The pace at which carriers continue to face regulatory changes, emerging risks such as cyber threats, and operational inefficiencies makes regularly revisiting data strategy a wise investment.
- Build, buy, or partner? As insurance leaders continue to grapple with aging core systems, many have leaned into partnerships — especially with organizations offering modular solutions — to continue executing with speed and agility.
This interest in modular solutions could be a way for CXOs to stay ahead of the dynamic product landscape, or it could be a sign of things to come. The clients I spoke with were appreciative of the different options available: cloud-native solutions, low-code/no-code platforms, and the array of solutions on the market that can help them reach their business goals without requiring a full replacement of their core systems.
It’s clear from the discussions at Insurtech Insights that insurers and their partners are investing in strengthening existing capabilities and leveraging new technology to drive the industry forward.
While there are numerous ways to approach modernization efforts and insurance technology, leveraging AI, having a solid data strategy, and partnering with skilled solution and service providers play a key role in succeeding in insurance.
These are my takeaways. What are yours? Let me know at Joseph.king@valuemomentum.com.
