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AI speeds broker back offices, but quote turnaround still lags
Industry leaders at a panel said automation gains can be lost if quote workflows still take about a week for customers.
AI and digital transformation are making individual brokers and insurers faster, but fragmented adoption can limit the impact for clients, according to leaders speaking at a Dive In Festival panel covered by Insurance Business.
Artificial co-founder and co-CEO David King said that even if a broker can process work in a fraction of the current time, the overall experience can remain unchanged if quotes still take days to return and many responses drag the cycle out to about a week.
King said technology already exists to handle tasks such as ingestion, placement, and appetite codification, but the key bottleneck is connecting those tools across brokers, insurers, and the broader insurance ecosystem. Ed Short, head of digital at Arch Insurance International, added that carriers increasingly need technical specialists working directly with teams inside brokerages rather than relying on traditional placement routes.
Short said Arch’s broker partners now have some level of digital interaction with insurers, though it varies by market. The discussion also emphasized that while AI may take on more routine transactional work, it is unlikely to remove the relationship-driven value brokers provide, freeing broker capacity for negotiation and client conversations.