AI is no longer optional for insurers; it’s essential.
Yet most organizations remain stuck. Legacy systems, fragmented data, and competing priorities make progress slow and painful. Conventional approaches like Robotic Process Automation (RPA), standalone AI tools, or hiring consultants often fail to break through these barriers. As a result, real automation feels perpetually out of reach.
But there is a faster, more practical path. One that doesn’t depend on perfect data, large-scale system overhauls, or years-long project timelines. One that can start delivering measurable results this quarter.
Automation is no longer optional in insurance
Automation is not new to the insurance industry. Technologies like RPA and AI tools have been in use for years. But today, scalable, high-impact automation has become a strategic necessity.
Manual operations are crushing margins
Insurers rely heavily on human effort to manage core processes like claims, underwriting, policy admin, compliance, and MTAs. Much of this high volume, repetitive work is still handled by large internal teams or BPOs. These functions often account for 30–40% of operational costs, applying constant pressure to already thin margins, especially in lines with high loss ratios.
AI-first insurers are raising the bar
While traditional insurers battle with complexity, a new generation of AI-first players is scaling faster, leaner, and more efficiently by relying on software instead of headcount. Their ability to learn and improve rapidly puts them on a compounding advantage curve. Competing with them requires a step change in cost structure and operational agility, and automation is the clearest path to both.
Why most insurance automation fails
Insurers don’t lack motivation to automate. The challenge lies in execution.
Operational efficiency often takes a back seat to compliance and risk management. On top of that, insurance IT ecosystems are notoriously complex, with dozens of systems and custom integrations. These realities make fast, flexible AI deployments difficult.
And existing solutions fall short:
- Consultants aren’t accountable for outcomes. They create strategies, not solutions. Execution is left to you, along with the risk, which often leads to multi-year timelines and limited accountability.
- RPA only solves the easy problems. It’s built for simple, repetitive tasks. It forces teams to manually dissect workflows, patch gaps, and coordinate handoffs between bots and people, slowing everything down.
- AI point solutions don’t scale. They’re designed for narrow tasks and require clean, structured data to work. They struggle with edge cases, can’t handle judgment-based decisions, and make escalation and oversight a major operational challenge.
In the end, companies are left with fragmented tools, sunk costs, and unfinished automations that don’t scale, and don’t deliver learnings for future automation.
A smarter, faster model for insurance automation
At Unitary, we’ve built a new model for automation that’s already driving real results for insurers. It strategically combines human expertise with AI agents to scale automation quickly, without compromising on quality. Unlike traditional approaches, it works seamlessly with legacy systems and doesn’t require months of data cleanup. That means you can get started fast and see impact even faster.
Our approach is grounded in three core principles:
- Start small, deliver value fast
Use off-the-shelf AI agents that operate like humans, navigating complex, multi-touchpoint legacy systems without the need for deep integrations or upfront data transformation. This lets you prove value early and learn what works before committing to larger investments.
- Design for human-AI collaboration
Focus on getting the blend right between AI agents and human workers. Define clear rules for when and how AI should escalate tasks to humans, and build feedback loops so humans can continuously improve AI performance. This approach maintains quality while steadily increasing efficiency.
- Make automation teams accountable for outcomes
Hold your automation team directly accountable for results, like higher accuracy and reduced manual effort. When the team is accountable for the outcomes, they will better understand the work and be more motivated to improve it continuously.
A step-by-step playbook to get started now
Here’s how to launch automation this quarter:
Step 1: Build a hands-on, cross-functional team
Bring together people who understand the operations and have the technical skills to build with AI. Avoid handoffs between departments; make this a single, accountable team.
Step 2: Benchmark current performance
Before automating, understand the baseline. How accurate are your agents? How much time do tasks take? Use this as your benchmark to measure success.
Step 3: Reduce human effort, maintain accuracy
Use LLMs and AI agents working in existing tools to chip away at manual work while keeping quality stable. Don’t aim for 100% automation on day one. Start by automating just 1% of cases, but deliver something that works today, not in theory.
Step 4: Establish continuous feedback loops
Drive rapid iteration. Even automating an additional 0.1% of work each day adds up fast. Momentum builds confidence and compounds learnings.
Step 5: Invest in system changes
When you’ve proven value in production, then make system changes for scale. Avoid premature overhauls.
Build or buy? Why insurers partner with Unitary
You can build this in-house. The tools are available. But success depends on practice, judgment, and staying ahead of the curve.
The real question is: what do you want to own? If your goal is to realize the benefits of automation rather than build automation tech, then buying makes more sense than building.
At Unitary, we help insurers unlock the value of automation, fast.
We don’t just provide tools, we deliver outcomes. Our approach blends AI agents with human oversight to handle entire workflows from end to end. You get results immediately, without integrations, delays, or operational disruption.
Here’s how we work:
- We handle full workflows, not just isolated tasks
- We deliver guaranteed accuracy and cost savings from day one
- We work directly in your existing tools, all we need is logins
If you need automation that delivers real results this quarter, not next year, let’s talk.
