NEXT-GEN DIGITAL INSURANCE PLAYBOOK

AI-Enhanced Strategies for Rapid and Effective Modernization

Insurers at a Crossroads

The insurance industry is rapidly entering a new period of transformation, enabled and powered by AI. Those not embracing these changes will, over time, be unable to price risk competitively, operate efficiently, or respond as quickly as their peers. The legacy systems that most insurers still operate on are too brittle and too large to manage the pace of change required by the business, let alone embrace AI.

Your Call to Action

This playbook dives into how embracing new methods of modernization—as proven by other industries—can significantly enhance your insurance firm’s speed, capability, and cost efficiency. At Publicis Sapient, we adopt these modern ways of working to help you build next-generation technology and data platforms, so that you can become an insurer that is agile, low-cost, innovative, and delights your customers.

Current Hurdles for Insurers

Slow launch of new propositions
High and unpredictable costs of change
Fragmented and slow digital transition
Difficulty in converting data into meaningful insights
Challenges in shifting call center traffic to digital channels
Increasing competition from digital-native companies
Talent shortages as older developers retire and entry-level developers are not learning legacy tech stacks any longer

Core Reasons Behind the Challenges

Legacy complexity: processes, tech debt, and costs
Platforms nearing end of life
Skills gaps in modern technology
Limited experience with modern ways of working
Siloed and fragmented data
Organizational silos leading to different teams on different systems
Modernization projects are often large and difficult to manage

How Technology is Powering Solutions

More affordable and accessible modern tech and data platforms
Abundance of inexpensive, real-time data
Enhanced ability to personalize experiences with data
Advanced analytics and AI providing rapid, deep insights
Gen AI boosting speed and reducing costs of tech delivery
Low-cost assembly models proven by other industries
Tools offering transparency in delivery

The Benefits of Modernization

Customers: Deliver new, digital-first experiences that delight and retain customers, while increasing self-service and digital channel adoption.
Growth: Accelerate the launch of new products and propositions, and enter new markets faster.
Change: Increase the speed, predictability, and transparency of change, while reducing risk and cost.
Colleagues: Empower teams to focus on high-value work, not repetitive manual tasks, and attract and retain top talent.
Risk: Improve risk selection and pricing with better data and AI-driven insights.
Costs: Reduce technology and operational costs by modernizing platforms and automating processes.

Three Pillars of Next-Gen Insurance Modernization

Operating Model

How you organize, govern, and deliver change. Modern operating models are product-centric, cross-functional, and focused on rapid, iterative delivery. They are designed to maximize the value of technology and data investments, and to empower teams to deliver better outcomes, faster.

People

How you attract, develop, and retain talent. Modernization requires new skills, new ways of working, and a culture of continuous learning and improvement. It’s about building teams that are adaptable, collaborative, and focused on delivering value to customers.

Tech & Data

How you build, manage, and use technology and data. Modern platforms are cloud-native, API-driven, and designed for rapid change. They enable real-time data access, advanced analytics and AI, and seamless integration with partners and ecosystems.

Operating Model: Governance and Leadership

Governance and leadership hold teams accountable and inform delivery and change organization.
Delivery and change organization ensures efficient execution and agile transformation, owning the process and informing software development.
Software teams deliver robust and scalable technology solutions.

People: Evolving Team Structures

Move away from change teams and multiple technology teams.
Shift to dedicated domain teams focused on improving agreed measures on a weekly basis.

Who	Priority Area
Product owner	The team and their outcomes
Domain architect	The architecture and its costs
Domain teams	Building the right solutions

Teams require a balanced mix of domain knowledge and technical skills, enhanced by training and strategic partnerships.

Tech & Data: Modern Engagement and Core Services

Engagement services for customers and partners: Customer management, partner management, marketing, finance, digital services, and more.
API and real-time streaming and event management underpin all services.
Core services to implement lines of business: Motor quote, policy, and claims services; home quote, policy, and claims services; and others.
Technology services to support the business: Cloud, API management, identity, data streaming, data science, and more.

Tech & Data: Three Key Components

1. Self-Contained Microservices

Performs a specific business task with a clearly defined owner
Capable of evolving its technology stack without disruptions
Maintains full control over its own data
Supplies APIs, events, and data products to consumers
Integrates seamlessly with other services

2. Single Data Platform

A data marketplace that facilitates an integrated view across all services
A single source of truth, organized by customer for consistency and accuracy
Enables owners to publish data easily and frequently
Supports powerful analytics and comprehensive reporting

3. Rapid Data Flow

Data is central to all business operations
Event-driven and real-time, with batching as an exception
Available for self-service across all levels of the insurer
Adaptable APIs support each service and seamlessly integrate its data

Reimagine the Future with Gen AI and Agentic AI

Gen AI and Agentic AI are transforming how insurers operate, enabling new levels of automation, intelligence, and customer experience.

Gen AI creates content, answers questions, and automates tasks using natural language.
Agentic AI takes this further, acting autonomously to complete complex, multi-step processes across systems.

Real Insurance Use Cases:

Automated claims processing
Personalized customer communications
Intelligent underwriting assistants
Policy servicing automation
Fraud detection and investigation
Regulatory compliance monitoring
New product development

The Goal: To unlock new value by combining Gen AI’s creativity and language skills with Agentic AI’s ability to act autonomously across the insurance value chain.

Accelerate the Core Modernization Journey with Sapient Slingshot

Significant reduction in core modernization cost and time
Reduce risk of knowledge gap of legacy systems by generating specification and test cases from legacy code
Significant improvement in quality by improving code coverage
Strengthen reliability and resiliency supporting increased pace of change
Eliminate legacy code design issues and code smells during the modernization process

A Proven, Low-Risk Approach to Modernization

A new approach to modernization is needed—one that is fast, low-risk, and proven to deliver value at every step. Our approach is based on four key steps, each designed to deliver rapid results and minimize risk.

Step 1: Rapidly Map and Understand Your Legacy Estate

Automated code and data analysis
Identify business rules, dependencies, and risks
Generate documentation and test cases

Step 2: Design and Build the Target State

Define the future architecture and operating model
Prioritize high-value domains for modernization
Build cloud-native, API-driven services

Step 3: Incrementally Migrate and Modernize

Migrate business domains one at a time
Run legacy and modern systems in parallel
Decommission legacy components as you go

Step 4: Continuously Optimize and Innovate

Leverage data and AI for ongoing improvement
Enable rapid launch of new products and services
Foster a culture of continuous learning and innovation

Step 1: Case for Change

Platform modernization efforts fail when the ambitions are poorly defined or misdirected.

Critical Success Factors:

A clear case for change that fully unlocks potential and gains commitment from the full leadership team
Understanding key success factors or lessons from similar transformations
Clear principles and guidelines to steer the approach
Understanding how AI solutions will be used to accelerate the journey

Checklist:

[ ] Compelling case for change
[ ] Buy-in from the full senior leadership team
[ ] Clear understanding of major shifts required
[ ] Agreed-upon principles to guide design and delivery
[ ] Confirmed investment to initiate the program
[ ] Appointed delivery leadership team

Step 2: Build Momentum

Without the right preparation, modernization programs cannot succeed.

Critical Success Factors:

A delivery roadmap with surefire early value to return on high initial investments
A modern architecture that doesn’t recreate the issues inherent in the legacy platform
Essential elements like cloud and strategic data capabilities implemented from the start

Checklist:

[ ] Program team established
[ ] Foundational enablers in place
[ ] Roadmap confirmed
[ ] Critical milestones set and linked to benefits case/OKRs
[ ] Teams established with strong momentum toward initial launches

Step 3: Minimize Risk

The first release is pivotal to proving the modernization program and learning for subsequent releases.

Critical Success Factors:

Launch essentials such as an accurate delivery model, complete go-live requirements, and an achievable roadmap
Reducing integration complexity, often with non-technical solutions like product rationalization

Checklist:

[ ] Innovative “steel thread” launched to prove the architecture and delivery model
[ ] Iterative release approach confirmed and proven through initial launches
[ ] Mechanisms in place to transform existing operations as the new platform expands
[ ] Value assurance mechanisms in place to track achieved vs. target outcomes
[ ] Sign-off for continued investment

Step 4: Scale and Sustain

Ensuring the safe shift from legacy to modern platforms is a real challenge. It’s critical to prepare appropriately and use a full spectrum of levers to mitigate risks.

Critical Success Factors:

Accurate migration sequencing to reduce risk and avoid disruption for customers and colleagues
Building and maintaining organizational understanding and support

Checklist:

[ ] Progressive modernization mechanisms established to de-risk migration
[ ] Majority of insurer services now operate on the new platform
[ ] Modernization has achieved its target ambitions
[ ] Organization can sustain change and is more adaptable to changing market conditions

Where Are You on Your Modernization Journey?

Every insurer is at a different stage of modernization. Understanding where you are today is the first step to unlocking value and accelerating your journey.

Misaligned, requires unlocking
Mature, requires supercharge
Feeling the pain, opportunity to leapfrog
Great progress, but needs to scale

Unlock: Aggressively maximize returns on your investment

Optimize: Harness your platform’s power across the business

Modernize: Invest in cutting-edge tech to surpass competitors

Scale: Grow the platform while maintaining agility

Publicis Sapient is Here to Help

Our proprietary AI platform, Sapient Slingshot, drives enhancements in productivity, efficiency, speed, and quality. Blending advanced code generation with agentic AI and an enterprise-level code library, our engineers are able to create high-impact solutions—supporting everything from modernization to development and testing.

Slingshot features various AI agents that can automate complex development processes, drawing from a Publicis Sapient code repository to deliver industry-specific solutions rooted in our extensive client work.

Our agile engineers designed, built, and trained Slingshot with an internal instruction-tuned large language model that enables precise, high-quality results. They know the ins and outs and are equipped to harness its potential.

Publicis Sapient, powered by Sapient Slingshot:

Enhanced developer productivity
Fewer instances of human error
Automatic documentation and increased transparency
Streamlined development process
Expanded test coverage
Fewer code defects

Sapient Slingshot Key Features

Extensive code library: An exclusive code library enriched with 20+ years of domain and industry expertise, a comprehensive IP catalog, and robust data models.

Proprietary AI agents: Specialized AI agents that can automate complex application processes within the SDLC.

End-to-end software engineering:

Automated code generation and logic simplification
Advanced code reviews, unit test support, and precise code accuracy
Automated documentation and real-time assistance
Seamless integration with project management tools, ensuring security and privacy

Contact

Abhishek Bhattacharya
abhishek.bhattacharya@publicissapient.com

Daniel Cole
daniel.cole@publicissapient.com

Ben Ruddle
ben.ruddle@publicissapient.com

Zachary Scott
zachary.scott@publicissapient.com

Daniel Sinni
daniel.sinni@publicissapient.com

For more information, visit: www.publicissapient.com