We sat down with Sal Dell’Anno, Vice President & Global Insurance Industry Lead for insurance at CGI to discuss the outcomes of CGI’s 2024 Voice of Our Clients (VOC) Program, which is part of CGI’s annual strategic planning process. They hold in-depth interviews with business and IT executives to gain insights into the trends and priorities affecting their organisations. In our discussion, we dive into how the future of the insurance industry will be shaped by a complex interplay of different factors.

What factors will shape the industry and how can insurers thrive?

Sal: “Insurers that are agile, adaptable, and customer-focused are likely to thrive in today’s evolving landscape. The constant change we’re seeing is driven by a complex interplay of technological, regulatory, social, and economic factors. To appeal to a new generation of consumers, insurance companies need to do more than develop new products and channels. They also need to leverage every aspect of their ecosystem to grow their business talent and drive both their technology transformation and climate change initiatives.

Can you think of an insurer that already meets most of these requirements?

Sal: “The Chinese Ping An Group was founded in 1988 with a focus on financial services. They’ve grown into a major internet company with diverse business areas and today, they’re relevant in almost all areas of everyday life in China. Insurers around the globe need to have a strategy in place for leveraging their ecosystem to grow their business and offer customers customised products at an optimal price.”

Where do you think the insurance industry is heading?

Sal: “As I mentioned, a range of factors makes the industry dynamic, so industry players need to be agile and adaptable. Future challenges that I see are disintermediation (cutting out intermediaries), traditional insurance becoming a commodity, and shifting buying behaviours. According to CGI’s 2024 VOC research, the top innovation investment over the next three years for executives in both Property & Casualty and Life & Pension insurance sectors is artificial intelligence (AI). In the future, a successful insurer will leverage data and AI to develop customised products and services across the lifecycle of the customer. AI revolutionises the industry by driving faster underwriting, customer interactions and product augmentation. Insurers need to transform digitally and hyper-personalise their offerings via data, AI and predictive analytics. Insurtechs who aren’t limited by legacy technology will be more agile than traditional insurers and better able to innovate across the insurance value chain.”

How can CGI help insurers?

Sal: “CGI is one of the largest IT and business consulting services firms in the world. We’re also the partner and expert of choice for P&C and life insurers, brokers and agents across the globe, including 7 of the top 10 global insurers and more than 200 clients worldwide.

Our insurance professionals are dedicated to helping insurers become digital organisations across all areas of their business, including people, processes and technology. We deliver end-to-end digital capabilities and services— from building digital roadmaps to implementing core digital strategies such as data analytics and cyber insurance, to designing and managing core systems transformation.

We have 40 years of insurance experience that includes policy, claims and billing system implementations and we developed innovative solutions like CGI Ratabase, the industry’s leading rating and product configuration software. We also manage the annual delivery of more than 15 million risk information product transactions and process more than $50 billion in premiums through the systems that we manage for our clients. Based on our deep experience, we’re able to help insurers deliver a seamless customer experience through core platform modernization and digital transformation.”