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Unleashing the sum of AI’s potential in the insurance industry hinges upon automating the back end to manage repetitive and rules-based functions.
Operations like manual reconciliation, customer service, underwriting administration and claims triage are quickly falling under the responsibilities of AI, not only to keep up with industry trends, but to allow insurance workers a chance to focus on higher-value, strategic work.
Recently, PropertyCasualty360.com spoke to Curt Hess, U.S. executive president of Vitesse, about the state of technology in the insurance business. With more than 25 years of experience in fintech and global banking, Hess oversees all aspects of the company's U.S. operations, guiding strategy and growth initiatives as it expands into the North American insurance market.
PropertyCasualty360.com: What’s impacting the industry right now?
Hess: After a decade of talking about “insurance transformation,” the industry finally has the technology it needs — as we heard loud and clear at ITC. But the real bottleneck isn’t innovation. It’s readiness.
Billions have been poured into insurtech, yet the core financial infrastructure of insurance — how money moves, settles and reconciles — still runs on legacy systems. I like to use the analogy of managing a checkbook, where you had to manually balance everything after the fact. Believe it or not, insurance still operates much the same way. That manual approach creates issues across the entire value chain, for carriers, captives, MGAs, TPAs, brokers, and beyond.
Vitesse’s recent State of Claims Finance 2025 report underscores this readiness gap. Only 1% of insurers say collaboration between claims and finance is “highly effective.” Nearly eight in 10 (79%) cite internal process complexity as a major blocker, and 78% say friction with brokers, TPAs, or banks slows the movement of funds.
In a capital-tight environment, two-thirds (66%) of insurers report difficulty accessing funds when needed. The data shows it isn’t the technology holding the industry back — it’s the operating model around it. For the first time, insurers face real pressure to modernize the financial infrastructure behind their operations. Rising capital costs, regulatory scrutiny, and margin pressure mean inefficiency isn’t just inconvenient — it’s risky. Embedded financial infrastructure has now matured enough to finally close the loop between underwriting and capital flow.
The next phase of growth in insurance isn’t about disruption — it’s about readiness. The winners won’t be those with the flashiest tech, but those who can integrate new platforms into legacy frameworks without tearing everything down. Transformation is no longer about “can the tech do this?” It’s about “can the industry use it?”
PropertyCasualty360.com: How will small business carriers be impacted if they can't afford to upgrade their core financial infrastructures?
Hess: It’s a misconception that modernization requires a massive, all-at-once overhaul. Small business carriers don’t need to replace their entire systems to stay competitive. They can augment what they already have, using partners like Vitesse to bridge gaps and bring real-time visibility, automation, reconciliation and payment capabilities to existing frameworks.
In many ways, that’s why we exist: to give carriers a modern financial infrastructure that integrates into legacy systems, without the disruption or cost of a full rebuild. Doing nothing, however, is a risk. Carriers that can’t automate or move funds in real time will struggle with inefficiency and reduced profitability. Policyholders and claimants now expect immediacy; they want funds and resolutions today, not tomorrow. A modular, partnership-driven approach to upgrading allows carriers to move faster, serve customers better, and future-proof their operations.
PropertyCasualty360.com: What human roles are likely to be impacted by the ever-increasing use of AI? Will the positions be removed or upskilled?
Hess: AI will have the biggest impact on roles that are repetitive or rules-based, such as manual reconciliation, customer service, underwriting administration and claims triage. Those functions can be automated, allowing people to focus on higher-value, strategic work.
It won’t remove roles outright; it will change what those roles look like. Finance and operations teams, for example, will shift from executing tasks to analyzing insights and making informed decisions. The organizations that thrive will be those that see AI as an opportunity to upskill their people rather than replace them. The skill set will evolve too. Instead of just crunching data, people will need to interpret it and act on it. Even technical roles will require new levels of AI proficiency. The industry needs to invest in continuous learning so that employees can adapt and work effectively alongside new technology.
PropertyCasualty360.com: What key infrastructure upgrades are most vital in 2025 to accommodate AI?
Hess: Before insurers can truly take advantage of AI, they need to move beyond the highly manual, spreadsheet-driven environments that are still common today. The first step is getting the basics right — connecting systems and creating clean, reliable data flows.
The key priorities include modern APIs and integrations to connect policy, claims and payment data seamlessly.Centralized treasury and payment platforms to provide real-time visibility and faster transactions. Cloud-native data infrastructure to enable scalable analytics and forecasting. Security and compliance frameworks to make sure AI is used responsibly in a regulated environment.
Most insurers are still modernizing their back-end systems to enable these capabilities. Once they have it, AI can drive real gains in productivity and decision-making. The real opportunity lies in modernizing the back end, where much of the industry’s complexity and inefficiency still sits.
PropertyCasualty360.com: What will small business insurance carriers look like in 10 years?
Hess: In ten years, small business carriers will operate more like fintechs than traditional insurers. They’ll be lean, tech-driven, and built around embedded financial infrastructure that manages liquidity, risk, and customer experience in real time.
Manual processes will disappear. Treasury and finance functions will be predictive instead of reactive, and liquidity management will happen instantly across borders and currencies.
I also expect more consolidation in the market. As efficiency and cost pressures grow, smaller carriers will need to specialize around niche risks to stay profitable. Those that remain too broad will likely be absorbed by larger players. Carriers will increasingly rely on partners to handle treasury, payments, and compliance so they can focus on underwriting and customer relationships. Over time, insurers will shift from being claims processors to becoming true risk partners, using data and analytics to help clients prevent losses before they happen.
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