Insurance Bureaucracies Will Lose Over the Next 5 Years (And How to Beat Them)

The insurance industry has tolerated slow-moving bureaucracies and their intentional technological ignorance for too long.

"But Ryan, the insurance industry is risk-averse by nature."

Nope.

We don't get to use that excuse anymore.

I've been part of the insurance industry for 19 years, and I bought the "risk-adverse" argument for a long time.

Not anymore.

"But Ryan, you don't understand the severity of their technical debt."

Technical debt is only a problem because generations of insurance leadership have kicked the technology can down the road to maximize their own on-paper performance.

No leader relishes the opportunity to pitch their board of directors a zero-revenue project that will only benefit future generations within the company.

This is why so few have...

"But Ryan, these companies make profit, claims get paid, everyone makes money. Why fix something that isn't broken."

While this might be the only reasonable argument for our Luddite culture, the answer is simple: Artificial Intelligence.

AI will break bureaucracies.

Glacial speed can no longer be heralded as a virtue.

Decisions can no longer be run through five committees, a dozen lawyers, and an entire floor of middle managers who prioritize keeping their jobs over serving the customer.

Accountability deflection because “the process” didn’t work, or “the market” shifted unexpectedly can no longer be tolerated.

...and be clear, the size of the organization doesn't matter.

Many of you will think I'm indicting carriers; I am not.

There are huge carriers with incredible entrepreneurial mindsets and small regionals with ludicrous bureaucracies.

But we also can't let networks, aggregators, E&S/wholesalers, PE-backed roll-ups, and regional agencies off the bureaucracy hook.

The Age of Insurance Entrepreneurs

The insurance universe is a goldmine for companies willing to move fast, break “unbreakable” rules, and leverage AI to obliterate inefficiency.

But most insurance organizations won’t do it.

Why? Because bureaucracy has a stranglehold on their decision-making process.

These are the death throes of an industry drunk on its own outdated playbook.

And AI is the wrecking ball about to change the landscape as we know it...

How Bureaucracies Will Get Left Behind

1. AI Adoption Requires Courage - AI doesn’t just speed things up; it demands better thinking. It automates rote tasks, finds patterns humans miss, and creates personalized customer experiences at scale. But implementing it requires bold moves—slashing processes, retraining teams, and betting on unproven models. Bureaucracies? They’ll form a task force to “evaluate AI use cases” and spend three years debating the ROI of chatbots.
2. The Status Quo Is Their Kryptonite - While bureaucracies debate policy language, entrepreneurial organizations use AI to predict customer needs, detect fraud in seconds, and underwrite policies in real-time. They’re winning because they value speed over perfection. Insurance is a risk industry, but ironically, bureaucracies refuse to take any.
3. The Talent Exodus Is Real - The best people in the industry want to work for companies making moves—not organizations stuck in 1999 (I'm getting old). Entrepreneurial companies attract top talent by offering something better than a bloated hierarchy: the opportunity to make a difference. Bureaucracies? They’re still rewarding tenure over results.

How the Entrepreneurial Mindset Will Beat Bureaucracies

You don’t need to outspend the bureaucracies.

You need to outthink them.

Here’s the playbook for the next five years:

• Adopt AI at warp speed. If your underwriting process still involves Excel sheets and faxes, congratulations—you’re their perfect victim. Invest in AI tools that automate repetitive tasks, improve risk assessment, and provide customer insights in real-time. The technology is here today. Use it.
• Empower decision-makers. Kill the endless approval loops. Create small, agile teams with the authority to experiment, fail fast, and pivot. Bureaucracies suffocate innovation. Entrepreneurial organizations make it their heartbeat.
• Focus on outcomes, not process. Customers don’t care about your process; they care about results. AI can deliver those results faster, better, and cheaper. Every second you spend preserving your “proven workflows” is a second someone else spends stealing your customers.

The Rub

The next five years will create a massive divide in the insurance industry.

On one side: slow-moving bureaucracies clinging to old ways, losing customers and talent. On the other: entrepreneurial-minded companies reinventing the industry through AI, customer experience and speed.

Look, two years ago, I would have felt differently about this topic, but the CMO of Linqura , I've seen things I can't unsee.

Please do not make the mistake of thinking that company size, time in business, or legacy are indicators of future performance.

?? I believe traditional laggards, with the right leadership, will rapidly deploy tools and resources and solidify their position in the market for another hundred years.

?? I also believe that seemingly "Tech-forward" companies will hesitate to make the next generation of investments necessary to maintain their place in our ecosystem.

Insurance world domination belongs to those who embrace risk, not those who shy away from it.

Which will be which? Who knows...??♂?

What I do know is that we are participating in a legendary moment in the history of the insurance industry.

...and I for one, am proud to be part of it.

Yours in insurance,

Hanley

P.S. How will the winners and losers in insurance be determined in your mind? Is AI the deciding factor or am I completely missing the point? Let's discuss??