Another year of ITC Vegas is in the books! 2025's conference brought the energy, the innovation, and plenty of "aha" moments. Walking the halls felt different this year. There was a palpable sense that the insurance industry has reached an inflection point where conversations shifted from innovation to implementation. From agentic AI to climate risk and customer communication, clear patterns emerged about where this industry is heading.
So, what were the big themes at ITC 2025? Let's dive in:
No surprise here, artificial intelligence dominated the conversation! These autonomous systems are already making independent decisions and processing claims documents in seconds, with advanced models driving major improvements in pricing accuracy in the underwriting process.
But here's the catch: while these systems are brilliant at analysis, they're struggling to communicate their decisions effectively to policyholders. We have cutting-edge AI technology making instant risk assessments, yet customers receive the same generic notifications they would have received years ago. Carriers are realizing that preventing escalation through better communication has become critical for the claims process and reducing claim resolution times.
The solution? Intelligent, automated communication systems that translate complex AI decisions into messages that feel personal and empathetic. The carriers getting this right are implementing proactive updates before customers even ask, leading to significantly fewer escalations and higher customer satisfaction. Imagine trustworthy AI technology that's not just smart but actually knows how to talk to people!
If there was one frustration that came up repeatedly, it was tool-sprawl. The insurance industry has more technology than ever, with data analytics spread across platforms. But guess what? Many systems still don't talk to each other. That's why integration, and even more importantly, orchestration, has become one of the hottest priorities right now for operational efficiency.
More than any flashy feature, insurance companies are laser-focused on connectivity. They want technologies that plug in seamlessly, trigger actions automatically, coordinate data across systems, and enable event-based automation across channels and platforms. Pretty straightforward, right? Innovation is no longer judged by what a system can do on its own, but by how well it plays with others, especially across policy, claims, servicing, distribution, and communication.
This shift reveals something important: disconnected innovation isn't really innovation at all. The industry is now prioritizing flow over fragments, and that's a game-changer.
The focus isn’t necessarily on what to modernize. Everyone already knows the answer: outdated systems, fragmented workflows, brittle integrations, and channel limitations. The new focus is how fast modernization can drive tangible outcomes.
The insurance industry is clearly exhausted by multi-year digital transformation programs that deliver too little, too late. This year, the conversations revolved around modular change, compressed timelines, and modernization that doesn’t shut the lights off mid-project. Carriers want tools that can snap into place, not swallow the roadmap. MGAs want agility without chaos. And everyone wants measurable progress, quickly.
The organizations that stood out were those talking about modernization as a continuous discipline, not a one-time renovation. The winners won’t be defined by who has the best architecture diagrams, but by who can roll out improvements in weeks, not quarters, without breaking their operations along the way.
The final theme that echoed throughout ITC was the evolution of customer experience. The insurance sector is moving beyond one-off touchpoints and UI refreshes. Instead, experience is being re-designed as an ongoing, proactive journey that minimizes effort and maximizes clarity.
Whether the topic was claims management, onboarding, billing, or servicing, the direction was consistent: don’t make customers or agents chase information. Meet them where they are. Automate updates. Personalize communication. Use event-based triggers to reduce confusion. Give people relevant information before they ask for it.
Experience is no longer the wrapper around the product but instead has become part of the product itself. And the organizations that make interactions simpler, faster, and more transparent will win loyalty and efficiency at the same time.
ITC 2025 proved that artificial intelligence is not slowing down, and the momentum behind insurance innovation is unstoppable. This year showed us that automation and personalization are no longer competing priorities, they're two sides of the same coin. From AI-driven communication to channel-flexible engagement, the insurance industry is transforming in ways that put customer experience front and center.
SPLICE Software offers solutions to boost customer engagement through text, chat, calls, and email. With our applications like Thrive™ and Talk™, insurance companies can start implementing AI right away and improve operational efficiency. SPLICE can help implement an AI chatbot to automate frequently asked questions and even collect customer feedback at the end of a workflow. To learn more or see a demo, reach out to us today!