The insurance industry appears to face three major challenges this year: redefining its relationship with customers and agents, accelerating technological innovation, and improving operational efficiency amid margin pressure and greater risk volatility. That, at least, is the takeaway from Capgemini’s Insurance Top Trends 2026 report, which identifies ten strategic priorities that not only respond to these tensions but also outline the insurer of the future. Below is a summary of the main trends to keep in mind:

1. Real, actionable customer centricity.
   Customers demand personalized, consistent experiences. 60% are willing to share personal data in exchange for more tailored and competitive coverage, and another 60% say they place more trust in insurers that offer consistent omnichannel experiences. In addition, 70% of companies that integrate customer service insights across departments report improved retention. Personalization is no longer just marketing: it becomes a direct growth lever.
2. Empowering agents and advisors.
   The hybrid model is dominant: 67% of people under 40 want digital interaction backed by a human advisor, yet only 16% of insurers offer integrated capabilities to support it. On top of that, 85% of agents consider agile portals and intuitive tools key when choosing which carrier to work with. Channel productivity increasingly depends on unified data and real-time analytics.
3. Winning over younger customers with “insurance for living.”
   The report notes that 32% of young people feel traditional life insurance does not fit their stage of life, while more than 40% are looking for living benefits, such as withdrawals for life events or wellness benefits. At the same time, USD 83.5 trillion in intergenerational wealth is projected to change hands by 2048, with 40% of beneficiaries prioritizing life insurance as an investment vehicle. The challenge is to reshape the value proposition toward modular, lifestyle-centered models.
4. Data as a federated strategic asset.
   70% of insurers identify data quality and integrity as a critical barrier to capturing value. However, 69% are already integrating data into core workflows and 42% use GenAI to democratize access to information. A distributed, well-governed data architecture becomes a prerequisite for faster launches, better pricing and reduced claims leakage.
5. The evolution of underwriting.
   56% of underwriters still rely on static guidelines such as PDFs and spreadsheets, which limits the assessment of complex risks. By contrast, 68% of insurers that implemented advanced underwriting technology managed to lower their combined ratio and improve profitability. Combining predictive analytics with GenAI makes it possible to automate narratives, analyze unstructured documents and improve pricing accuracy.
6. Value-based care in health.
   43% of insurers identify low utilization of preventive services as a cost driver, while more than 80% of U.S. payers say AI improves efficiency in outcome-based care models. Payer–provider collaboration and intensive use of interoperable clinical data are becoming a key strategy to control rising medical costs.
7. Climate resilience and catastrophe management.
   41% of insured catastrophe losses in 2024 came from severe convective storms, and 70% of the world’s population is expected to live in urban centers by 2050, increasing risk concentration. In addition, 71% of insurers already incorporate, or plan to incorporate, their customers’ climate mitigation practices into underwriting models. Advanced climate risk modeling is no longer optional.
8. Legacy system modernization.
   72% of insurers consider integration with legacy systems a significant barrier to innovation, and 50% admit they are behind in phasing them out. At the same time, 78% are betting on the cloud to gain efficiency and agility. Core modernization is the foundation for scaling AI, launching products faster and enabling ecosystems.
9. AI at scale, beyond the pilot.
   49% of insurers have already deployed GenAI fully or partially across different functions. In addition, 46% see its greatest impact in underwriting and risk profiling, followed by claims (20%) and customer service (18%). The challenge now is not to experiment, but to integrate AI across the organization with clear governance and impact metrics.
10. Operational efficiency as an ongoing discipline.
    45% of P&C insurers identify process optimization as the main driver of technology investment, while more than 50% of life insurers prioritize digital portals and centralized CRM to reduce operational friction. Cost pressure, including projected double-digit medical cost increases, makes it necessary to combine automation, analytics and process redesign.