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Does culture outweigh code? The paradox of insurance innovation
October 2025
Key takeaways from IIC Asia 2025 on balancing technology with culture, trust, and workforce readiness.
Technology is no longer the hard part for insurers in Asia. AI, generative models, and new forms of automated decision-making are already here, capable of reshaping everything from underwriting speed to claims processing. Digital platforms have evolved too – moving beyond basic online sales into embedded, ecosystem-driven distribution that meets customers where they are.
The bigger test now is whether organisations can adapt quickly enough, build trust with their customers, and carry their employees along with them. Without that balance, even the most advanced systems will fall to live up to their promise.
These realities ran through both days of the InsurInnovator Connect (IIC) Asia 2025 conference late last month, with conversations suggesting that the future of insurance will be decided not by who has the best tools, but by who can embed them into organisations, workflows, and relationships in ways that feel both seamless and credible.
Disruption is now constant
For decades, disruption was framed as rare – an occasional technological breakthrough or regulatory shift that jolted the market. Now, we see it almost daily. From the rise of generative AI to the shifting expectations of digital-native customers, insurers are facing a steady stream of changes that reshape the landscape in ways large and small.
This reality means transformation can no longer be treated as a project with a neat end date. Adaptability itself must become a core capability, an ongoing discipline rather than a time-limited initiative.
The question then is no longer if or when disruption will occur, but how ready insurers are to respond when it does. And if the tools for change already exist, why does progress sometimes feel so slow?
Customers driving the change
One reason is that customer expectations are evolving more rapidly than institutions can keep pace. A widening generational divide is reshaping distribution models. Younger customers expect the same frictionless digital experiences they receive from banking, shopping, or streaming. Older customers still prize the reassurance of human touchpoints.
For insurers, this duality demands a multi-channel approach. Advisers remain essential, not because technology cannot replace them, but because trust and empathy cannot be automated. Their role, however, is shifting. Paperwork and calculations will increasingly be handled by AI, freeing advisers to focus on tailored guidance and long-term relationships.
Bancassurance, too, is evolving. What was once a form-heavy process is being reimagined as embedded insurance that surfaces seamlessly during life milestones – marriage, children, retirement. Customers will no longer accept insurance as an afterthought, expecting it to be integrated into their financial journeys from the outset.
Technology and AI: From pilots to proof
Technology is more than capable of meeting these expectations. Generative AI, in particular, promises to make digital channels feel more human. Underwriters, for example, can utilise AI-generated scenarios and summaries to make faster decisions. Claims can be triaged and processed with greater efficiency. Customer service can be supported with conversational interfaces that personalise interactions at scale, without losing the human oversight that ensures fairness and accuracy.
Yet the industry has struggled to convert potential into performance. Too many AI pilots never progress beyond experimentation, and boards grow impatient when innovation fails to deliver measurable outcomes.
To this, AI initiatives must serve strategy, not spectacle. Success will come from focusing on a handful of high-value use cases, such as boosting adviser productivity, streamlining claims, or enhancing customer experience, where ROI is clear. Scattershot pilots may showcase innovation, but they rarely move the needle. Scaling thoughtfully and with discipline is the path to lasting impact.
Culture and the workforce bottleneck
If technology explains what is possible, workforce culture explains why adoption lags. Much of Asia’s insurance operations are still staffed by people whose careers were built in transactional roles. Their expertise is valuable, but their comfort zones are rooted in the past. Moving them into more analytical or strategic positions requires a cultural shift, not just additional courses.
Employees’ concerns about AI replacing them are also very real. The answer is not to deny these fears, but to demonstrate how automation removes low-value work and elevates staff into roles that require judgment, empathy, and creativity.
But cultural transformation is more complex than digital transformation. Training by itself is insufficient. Incentives, career pathways, and leadership behaviours must all reinforce adaptability and learning. Without that, even the best reskilling programmes falter, and employees slip back into old mindsets.
Equally important is attracting new talent. The industry will need people from diverse backgrounds if it is to reinvent itself. Yet insurance is competing with tech firms, start-ups, and other sectors that are often viewed as sexier and more exciting by young professionals. To win that competition, insurers must redefine their value proposition as employers: highlighting the social purpose of protection, the opportunity to work on cutting-edge technology, and the chance to shape an industry in transition.
Trust: The currency that underpins everything
All of this ultimately comes back to trust. Customers must trust that their data is secure, that digital platforms are reliable, and that insurers will deliver on their promises. Employees must trust that new technologies will enhance, rather than threaten, their careers. Regulators must trust that innovation is being deployed responsibly.
Trust cannot be automated. It has to be built through transparency, inclusive rollouts, and consistent delivery. In an industry whose entire purpose is to provide security, trust is the foundation on which everything is built. Technology can strengthen that, but it cannot replace human empathy and oversight that make insurance meaningful.
The discussions at IIC Asia 2025 point to a demanding but clear conclusion: The future of insurance in Asia will not be determined by who has the most advanced tools, but by who can integrate them with the greatest agility, cultural readiness, and trust.
The industry is not short of innovation. What it needs is balance – technology anchored by culture, digital speed guided by human empathy, and ambition tempered by discipline. The firms that can strike this balance will not only keep pace with disruption, but also set the pace for how insurance in Asia evolves over the next decade.
And perhaps that is the paradox of innovation – even in conversations about the newest technologies, it is culture, trust, and fundamentals that stand out as the main differentiators.
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