Why the Future of Insurance Depends on Better Decisioning Platforms

“Define tomorrow.” It’s a big topic for Earnix this year, one that we’re focusing on at this year’s Earnix E^xcelerate conference and one that we’ll focus on in this dedicated blog series.

The insurance industry is changing rapidly, driven by outside factors as well as emerging technologies. In this article we’ll focus on the role we believe agentic AI will play in the near future, the need for better decisioning platforms, and how these two technologies can support each other.

The Future Starts Now: Agentic AI

One of the most significant developments on the horizon is agentic AI — a game-changer that goes beyond the single-question-and-answer style we see with most large language models (LLMs) today. Instead of just responding to prompts, agentic AI takes on multi-step tasks, works toward specific goals, and can transform entire processes from end to end.

Consider these potential agentic AI use cases and how they can change conventional insurance processes:

• Personalized pricing: Imagine AI that can analyze a customer’s behavior, history, and other data to create highly personalized prices in just seconds. To do this effectively, agentic AI must be supported by strong data governance, secure infrastructure, and comprehensive modeling frameworks. With these foundations in place, AI can run thousands of pricing simulations, weigh their impact on profitability and retention goals, and recommend the best pricing strategy.

• Real-time rating: In the past, traditional rating tables might get updated quarterly or even annually. Yet now agentic AI is capable of constantly monitoring information such as loss data, demographics, and market shifts, so it can adjust risk factors in real time based on the latest trends. New monitoring capabilities on the horizon are expected to push this real-time responsiveness even further.

• Smarter underwriting: Agentic AI can also automatically pull insights from public records, credit scores, IoT data, and more. It can recommend policy changes or adjust quotes on the fly, helping underwriters make faster, better decisions. As data integration tools continue to evolve, expect new offerings to make this level of underwriting intelligence more accessible and scalable.

• Customer retention: Retention used to hinge mostly on pricing, yet without highly effective decisioning, insurers risked minimizing profitability or contributing to too much turnover. Agentic AI changes the game by analyzing behavior patterns, spotting early signs of churn, and even initiating personalized outreach to keep customers engaged – all while keeping human decision-makers in the loop to manage the overall process.

Agentic AI represents a larger shift for insurers where they continue to embrace new technologies including the current focus on smarter, more effective decisioning platforms.

Smarter Decisions, Better Results

As more insurers embrace digital transformation – and leave behind the traditionally Microsoft Excel-based, manual workflows that once defined the industry – they’re uncovering powerful new ways AI can elevate the entire decision-making process.

Today’s intelligent decision platforms bring automation to the forefront, streamlining everything from pricing and rating to underwriting, claims, and customer service. These platforms combine AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics to turn massive amounts of data into actionable insights. The result? Internal teams are empowered to work faster, make more consistent decisions, and deliver better outcomes across the board.

But it’s not just about speed. These platforms also enable more equitable, transparent, and data-driven decisions – essential in building trust with customers and meeting growing regulatory expectations. And because the technology continues to learn and improve over time, decisions only get better as more sourced data – including both structured and unstructured inputs and performance data – flows through the system.

The value is clear – even for insurers still early in their digital journey. In fact, recent research from Forrester found that 82% of global insurance executives agree that their organization would benefit from a centralized decisioning platform. As adoption grows, these platforms will become not just a competitive advantage, but a business necessity.

Smarter Decisioning in Action

AI is transforming how insurers approach pricing by introducing dynamic, data-driven precision that was previously out of reach. Traditionally, pricing models were built on historical data and updated infrequently, making them slow to adapt to changing market conditions or customer behaviors. Relying on the past alone locks these models into outdated assumptions, and with today’s dynamic conditions, history is no longer a reliable predictor of future risk.

With AI, insurers can better harness real-time data from a variety of sources, including customer behavior, telematics, claims history, geographic risk indicators, and even macroeconomic trends to improve efficiency and automation. Machine learning algorithms continuously analyze this data to detect patterns, predict risk, and develop ideal pricing strategies on the fly. The result is not just more accurate pricing, but pricing that evolves with the market.

For example, an AI-powered pricing engine could simulate thousands of potential pricing scenarios, testing each against profitability, customer retention, and competitive benchmarks. It then selects the pricing strategy – not just for underwriting accuracy, but also for business outcomes like retention and growth. This level of sophistication helps insurers stay competitive, increase customer satisfaction, and maintain profitability in a rapidly changing environment.

Examining New Insurance Trends

Agentic AI as a key component of  intelligent decisioning platforms, is one of the key innovations redefining what's possible in insurance. These technologies work together to accelerate processes, boost accuracy, and unlock new competitive advantages for forward-thinking insurers.

We’ll be exploring these trends – and many others – in this blog series on the future of insurance. If you’re looking for more information, make your plans to join us at the upcoming Earnix E^xcelerate conference, where the industry's brightest minds will gather to share strategies, success stories, and a vision for what’s next.