How 2025 shifted insurance technology and what to look out for in 2026
.jpg)
If the insurance industry spent the last decade modernising systems, then 2025 was the year it began rethinking what those systems are actually for.
That shift was evident across my conversations with Tial Technologies and its Business Development Director, Thomas Kieck. The discussion moved beyond features, upgrades, and cloud migrations toward a more fundamental question: how should technology orchestrate the modern insurance ecosystem?
The answer has profound implications for 2026.
The end of technology as infrastructure only - For many years, insurance technology was judged primarily on stability and efficiency. Administration systems were back-office engines, processing policies, endorsements, and claims reliably, largely invisible to clients and often taken for granted by intermediaries.
By 2025, that framing had clearly shifted. Administration platforms are no longer passive record-keepers. They are becoming active participants in the insurance value chain, shaping compliance outcomes, customer experience, adviser productivity, and even risk selection.
As Kieck reflected, the evolution from heavy on-premise systems to cloud-based platforms was only the first step. The real change lies in what cloud enables: resilience, interoperability, real-time access to data, and the ability to adapt continuously without destabilising the core.
In 2026, insurers and intermediaries will increasingly judge platforms not by what they do in isolation, but by how well they connect people, data, and decisions.
Regulation has changed the role of systems - Another important shift in thinking during 2025 was the growing recognition that regulation is no longer simply a compliance burden, it is a design constraint.
Modern administration platforms must now prove compliance, not merely support it. Every advice step, transaction, communication, and fee must be traceable, auditable, and defensible. Systems are expected to carry the compliance load that human processes can no longer sustain at scale.
This has changed how insurers and brokers think about technology investment. Compliance is no longer something layered on after the fact. It is increasingly embedded into workflows, data models, and process logic.
Looking ahead to 2026, platforms that cannot demonstrate regulatory alignment by design will become operational liabilities rather than assets.
Client expectations are reshaping system architecture - Perhaps the most visible driver of change is the policyholder. As Kieck noted, customers no longer compare their insurer to another insurer. They compare the experience to their bank, retailer, or streaming service. That expectation is forcing insurers to rethink not just front-end interfaces, but the systems underneath.
Omni-channel access, self-service functionality, and near-instant responses are no longer differentiators, they are minimum requirements. This has driven a move toward unified platforms that support brokers, call centres, digital channels, and automated interactions from a single source of truth.
The implication for 2026 is clear: fragmented systems will increasingly undermine customer experience, regardless of how polished individual touchpoints may appear.
“Technology is no longer just infrastructure. It is becoming the orchestrator of relationships across the insurance ecosystem.”
