Insurers will help maximize their return on AI investments by adopting an enterprise-wide strategy, rather than just focusing on select and segmented areas, which splits the ownership and investment, according to research from Accenture.
“AI capability remains concentrated in small groups, with limited enterprise-wide upskilling across underwriting, claims, actuarial and operations,” said Accenture, the tech consulting firm, in its report titled “How insurers drive revenue by deploying AI with intent.”
The report noted that fewer than one in four (23%) insurers have achieved enterprise-wide integration of AI deployment. In most cases, the enterprise as a whole is missing out, said the report, suggesting that it’s time for companies to take a more “holistic approach” to their AI investments.
“Doing so would drive revenue growth, business expansion and productivity targets far more purposefully…,” the report found.
“For example, sharpening pricing models or streamlining underwriting improves performance locally—but without feeding those insights into distribution, product design and cross-sell strategies, insurers forgo the compounding growth effect that comes from linking risk intelligence directly to revenue decisions.”
By orchestrating AI across a company, it is possible to find connections among initiatives and anchor “every activity to measurable business outcomes,” the report said.
Accenture explained that organizations that scale AI effectively, aiming to drive enterprise-wide gains, “will bring new products to market faster.”
“They will operate with more productive and AI-literate workforces. They will build capabilities that are embedded across the enterprise, making them harder to replicate,” the report continued. “Ultimately, the advantage will not come from adopting AI, but from how deliberately it is scaled across the business.”
“[I]nsurers need to move away from an ‘AI everywhere’ approach toward one that deploys ‘AI with intent’ to reinvent the business,” the report said.
“Our research shows that while AI is already delivering real revenue gains for insurers, most are leaving value on the table,” said Ravi Malhotra, Global Insurance Industry Lead at Accenture, in comments accompanying the report.
“They need to shift from isolated pilots to enterprise-wide intelligence – treating AI not as a technology program, but as a driver of growth, with clear links from strategy to execution to create measurable P&L impact,” he continued.
