Leadership in a disconnected age: why insurance still needs humans
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When people talk about the future of insurance, the language is almost always about disruption. Artificial intelligence. Automation. Platforms. Efficiency. Cost savings.
But in my view, the real risk facing our industry is not disruption. It is disconnection.
Over the past few years, particularly since COVID, the insurance value chain has leaned hard into technology-driven operating models. Remote work, automated call centres, ticketing systems, chatbots, and email-only communication have become the norm. On paper, many of these changes make sense. They promise lower costs, faster processing, and scalability.
Yet when you step back and listen to brokers and clients, a very different story emerges.
They are not asking for more automation.
They are asking for connection.
When efficiency replaces engagement - Disconnection happens when organisations focus so heavily on systems and processes that they forget to ask a simple question: Is this how our clients want to engage with us?
Today, it is increasingly difficult to speak to a real person. Phone systems route clients through endless prompts. Emails disappear into shared inboxes. Meetings default to Teams calls where cameras are switched off and attention is divided.
From a broker’s perspective, this is deeply frustrating. From a client’s perspective, it feels alienating.
The irony is that insurance is, at its core, a relationship business. We deal with risk, uncertainty, and moments of stress. These are not abstract transactions. They are deeply human experiences. And yet we are steadily removing the human layer from the interaction.
The cost of this disconnection is not easily quantified. You only really see the damage once relationships have already eroded, when trust weakens, loyalty declines, and clients quietly move elsewhere.
The post-covid hangover - COVID accelerated trends that were already underway. Remote work became standard practice almost overnight, and for good reason at the time. But many organisations never recalibrated.
In financial services, and insurance in particular, this shift has had unintended consequences. Brokers struggled to reach underwriters or claims staff directly. Clients were told to “send an email and wait for a response.” Internal collaboration weakened. Service levels slipped, not always dramatically, but enough to be felt.
Even now, with hybrid work firmly embedded, many businesses underestimate how much their service culture has changed. When teams rarely sit together, mentorship suffers. Informal problem-solving disappears. The small but vital human interactions that build understanding and accountability simply don’t happen.
Why we keep choosing technology over people - The answer, of course, is cost.
Employing people, training them, and enabling face-to-face engagement is expensive. Automation looks attractive because it promises efficiency without headcount growth. Travel budgets shrink. Offices downsize. Meetings move online.
But what often gets missed is the relational cost.
Saving money by reducing human contact may improve short-term metrics, but it weakens long-term relationships. And in insurance, relationships are not a “nice to have”. They are fundamental to sustainable growth.
“The future of insurance will be shaped by technology, but it will be won or lost on human connection.”
