2024 has shuffled off into history, leaving us to pack away the leftover mince pies and charge headfirst into 2025. At the start of last year, we pointed to five major trends for the insurance industry – connectivity, data-driven digital transformation, customer-centricity, consumer duty, and the creeping influence of AI – as key shifts to watch in insurance. Sure enough, we’ve seen many of these predictions unfold, though, true to form, the industry’s pace of change remained as cautious as ever.
We also gathered nine industry experts in a special edition of Modern Insurance Magazine, asking them to share their views on the future of policy administration. Unsurprisingly, their predictions echoed ours: data-led, proactive, and customer-focused approaches look set to take the spotlight.
This year? We’re feeling bolder, maybe even a little more bullish, with our predictions. So where do we think 2025 is headed? Let’s dive in…
Further delays and insurance industry challenges for Blueprint Two
Blueprint Two really has been, for the insurance industry (and press), the gift that keeps on giving in 2024 and the repeated delays have begun to become a question of credibility for all those involved.
The 2019 prospectus labelled Blueprint Two as an “ambitious (two phase) strategy to deliver profound change in the Lloyd’s market through digitalisation” but at the tail end of 2024 it was announced that Phase One would be yet further pushed back into 2025. The fact that no specific date was given does not bode well, nor the market feedback strewn across the insurance press. Our prediction? We will see continued delays and Blueprint Two will be pushed out further to 2026.
The longer it continues, the frustrated the market becomes. In fact, a PwC survey revealed that 41% of underwriting business leaders didn’t consider alignment with Blueprint Two as important whilst others have criticised the transformational nature of the plans, citing the need to “modernise before you can transform”.
If we don’t see a successful rollout of Blueprint Two in 2025, you have to begin worry about the future of the project. Too big to fail? We’ll see.
A shift in perception of ‘big consulting’ within the insurance industry
As the markets continue to struggle, so too does the perception of ‘big consulting’ and its role within the value chain. Once upon a time, hiring a top-tier consulting firm signalled that your business was serious about transformation. Armed with bright minds, buzzwords, and boundless PowerPoint decks, these consulting giants promised innovation, strategic brilliance, and crucially, a hefty ROI. But those were the glory days. Lately, the shine (or is it the façade?) seems to have worn off.
Despite sky-high fees and legions of fresh-faced MBAs, many companies are starting to ask: “Are we actually getting value for money?” The once-grand promises of strategic insight often fall flat, replaced by generic solutions that feel suspiciously like yesterday’s leftovers. Sure, businesses still get beautifully packaged recommendations – a pinch of digital transformation here, a dash of operational excellence there – but the results? Meh. Not exactly what was advertised.
The more cynically minded may have spotted a familiar pattern: first, a narrative of urgency is created, then an expensive consulting solution is sold to bridge the very gap they highlighted. The latest hype train? “Wait, you don’t have an generative AI strategy?!”
A survey commissioned by Emergn found that 84% of executives and project managers believed that the big consulting firms provided little to no help in corporate transformation projects. Only 13% found their input valuable. With budgets tighter than ever in 2025, those who can’t clearly demonstrate value – particularly at their price point – could find themselves facing a difficult year. After all, hefty fees without solid ROI no longer fly in a world where every penny counts.
A shift RFX priorities: from features to culture
A prediction for the insurance industry, or perhaps just wishful thinking? You decide.
For years, the RFX (Request for Proposal, Information, etc.) process has been a predictable dance. Vendors parade their shiny features and impressive benefits, touting functionality as the silver bullet for every operational challenge. But as we enter 2025, the industry seems to be waking up to a harsh truth: this approach often fails to deliver the critical insights needed for long-term success. The result? A litany of failed projects, with stakeholders left scratching their heads and asking, “Where did we go wrong?”
The problem lies in the over-reliance on the technical details. Features and benefits can, of course, help to shortlist potential partners, but they rarely reveal the deeper, more complex factors that determine success. The human element – the alignment of values, culture, and collaboration styles – has often been an afterthought.
The real question is: “What good are amazing features and benefits if you don’t have the right team to understand, tailor and implement them?”
We predict, nay, pray for, a marked shift in how the insurance industry approach the RFX process. In fact at the back end of the year, we wrote about why evaluating the team is 100% as important as the technology. There will be a greater emphasis on evaluating the people behind the solutions and their cultural fit with the buying organisation. Why? Because even the most feature-rich platforms falter without a strong partnership built on shared understanding and effective communication.
Insurers are becoming increasingly aware that a provider’s ability to collaborate, adapt, and truly understand their business matters far more than ticking off a list of capabilities. After all, the tech can be tweaked, but a poor cultural fit is a recipe for missed deadlines, blown budgets, and frazzled project teams.
We expect to see RFX processes that prioritise in-depth interviews, collaborative workshops, and even trial projects to assess how well potential partners align with organisational values and working styles. The key question will shift from “What can you offer us?” to “How will we work together to succeed?”
If done right, this pivot could finally address the root cause of many failed initiatives in the UK insurance industry: the people factor. After all, success in 2025 will be less about what’s in the box and more about who’s behind it.
The Great Tech Vendor Shakeout
After years of frothy Insurtech valuations and unchecked growth expectations, 2025 may well be the year of reckoning for the technology vendor space. The era of flashy features, bloated implementation costs, and eye-watering burn rates is ending. Instead, we predict a shakeout where only the most adaptable, value-focused providers will weather the storm. Those who have built real businesses – with sustainable models and actual profits – will gain the upper hand over their venture-backed, cash-guzzling counterparts.
This correction will be driven by hard truths for the insurance industry. Budgets are tight, boards are impatient, and clients want measurable ROI – not bells, whistles, or promises of future magic. In short, it’s time to get real. Here’s what we expect to see:
- Leaner solutions with a focus on ROI
Forget the race to add ever more features; buyers want simple, effective solutions that deliver real value. Flashiness is out – tangible impact is in. It’s a classic case of walking before you can run and clients want to be able to do the simple things, faster as opposed to adding more layers of complexity. Internal user experience is becoming increasingly important. - Clear pricing models and reduced implementation costs
Gone are the days of ambiguous pricing structures and multi-year implementations. Providers will need to offer transparency on costs and faster, more efficient onboarding processes that dramatically reduce their time-to-value. - Partnerships over transactions
Companies will prioritise vendors who focus on long-term partnerships rather than quick wins. It’s all about collaboration, resilience, and shared success in an uncertain market. But more than anything, it’s about trust and transparency and genuine confidence that you’re getting what you think you are, for the price you thought you were paying, by the date you were told. - Business sustainability over hype
The providers who emerge stronger will be those with solid fundamentals – profitable businesses built on a sustainable foundation. Meanwhile, high-valued ventures that struggle to meet aggressive shareholder growth expectations could find themselves in trouble and the reputational damage caused by broken promises made out of desperation for logo acquisition is eventually catches up.
Ultimately, 2025 may mark a much-needed recalibration for the tech vendor landscape. Those who can’t demonstrate real, enduring value will be shown the door, while those focused on practical innovation and measurable outcomes will finally get their time in the sun.
A focal shift from point of sale to operational efficiency
For years, insurance companies have lavished attention on customer acquisition and slick buying journeys, but the everything that happens thereafter has been treated like the neglected stepchild – overlooked, undervalued and set aside.
Customer acquisition was the belle of the ball, with entire strategies built around seamless onboarding and first impressions. But once the policy was sold, focus waned. Many insurers, it seems, excel at opening the front door but forget there’s a whole house to run after the welcome party ends.
In 2025, we hope we will see shift towards post-sale optimisation. Insurers will redirect their focus towards operational excellence, particularly in areas like claims, where delays and inefficient processes don’t just irritate customers; they cost real money. Global insurance is no judged on it’s sale, but on it’s ability to execute and deliver value at the most critical of moments.
Nobody ever told their friends all about how great is what buying insurance from X insurer, but plenty will have recounted tales of how easy it was to claim, or how quickly their problem was resolved. And there’s no marketing better than the word-of-mouth from your existing customers.
But to do that, customers with need systems that provided actionable data for continuous improvement, not just about policies but about processes, bottle necks and time sink. Operational efficiency is about, unsurprisingly, the efficiency of your operations, NOT about how much GWP you write or the current new business strike rate. Wouldn’t you rather know, as department head, how long it’s taking on average to get a quote out? Or what screens your team seem to be spending most time on? It strikes me that’d be paramount, similar to process mining, in understanding where your biggest efficiency gains can be achieved.
From there, you need to be able to deploy simplified interfaces and intuitive tooling to automate internal user experience and automate workflows. Key to operational efficiency is reducing friction which is something that historically we’ve been poor at as an industry.
Inflated combined operating ratios are forcing the insurance market to evolve at speed, leaving no room for complacency. The adoption of technology has shifted from horizon planning to an urgent, immediate necessity for those looking to do more than just survive in this difficult market.
Adapt or Lag Behind
If there’s a common thread running through all our predictions, it’s that 2025 won’t be about flashy buzzwords or waiting for change to happen at a leisurely pace. It’ll be about rolling up our sleeves, confronting hard realities, and delivering genuine value – whether that’s through tech adoption, operational efficiency, or simply proving that partnerships and processes can work smarter, not just harder.
The insurance industry is standing at a crossroads. Those who cling to legacy systems, vague promises, and incremental improvements may find themselves left behind. But for those who embrace adaptability, customer-centric thinking, and relentless optimisation, there’s real opportunity to lead the charge.
Gone are the days of shiny pitches and superficial fixes. This year is about depth, clarity, and measurable outcomes. Whether it’s delivering on the much-delayed promises of Blueprint Two, redefining what real value means in consulting, or focusing on the often-overlooked post-sale experience, one thing’s for certain: insurers that prioritise substance over spectacle will be the ones to watch. And at this point we haven’t even touched upon the impact of rising interest rates, climate risks, alternative risk modelling, artificial intelligence (AI), cyber risk or the other many ways the global insurance market is undoubtedly going to chance in the year ahead.
2025 isn’t about playing catch-up for the global insurance industry – it’s about getting ahead and staying there. Time to lead. Time to deliver. Time to thrive.
