ISG Report: How AI and Analytics are Reshaping Global Insurance Operations

Insurance carriers are shifting focus from simple data accumulation to contextual intelligence as they embed GenAI and agentic AI into core operations. This transition, highlighted in a new report from ISG, is essential for managing complex risks like cyberthreats and climate change while meeting increasing regulatory demands for AI transparency and explainability in underwriting and claims.

What was announced

The 2026 ISG Provider Lens® global Specialty Analytics and AI Services — Insurance report reveals that insurers are fundamentally reshaping their operating models to handle growing volumes of data and increasingly complex global risks. The research identifies a significant shift toward "agentic AI," where autonomous agents support growth and risk management across the insurance value chain. Underwriting currently receives the largest share of this analytics and AI investment, with carriers adopting intelligent document processing, underwriting copilots, and predictive risk models to evaluate both personal and commercial lines more consistently.

Beyond underwriting, the report highlights a surge in investment for claims triage, summarization, and fraud detection. These capabilities are designed to improve claims performance and customer experience through conversational intelligence and next-best-action recommendations. To support these deployments, insurers are modernizing cloud-based data foundations, connecting traditional policy records with telematics, geospatial information, and third-party risk datasets. The report evaluates 16 providers in the Specialty Analytics and AI Services quadrant, naming Fractal Analytics, Quantiphi, ReSource Pro, Tiger Analytics, and WNS, part of Capgemini, as Leaders in the space. The findings suggest a rising demand for reusable AI components and the growing use of generative AI in actuarial research and reporting.

"Insurance is not short of data; it needs intelligence that delivers the right context when decisions matter most."

Guido Tamburini, partner and head of Banking, Financial Services and Insurance at ISG

The companies involved

ISG (Information Services Group) is a global technology research and advisory firm listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker III. The firm specializes in digital transformation services, including AI, cloud, and data analytics, providing market intelligence and advisory to corporate and public sector clients. Within the insurance sector, ISG focuses on how carriers and MGAs can leverage emerging technologies to modernize legacy core systems and improve operational efficiency. The company’s Provider Lens research series is a widely recognized benchmark for evaluating service providers based on their technical capabilities and market presence.

The report identifies several key players currently leading the specialty analytics market for insurance. This includes WNS, which is noted as being part of Capgemini, alongside specialist analytics firms like Fractal Analytics, Quantiphi, and Tiger Analytics. ReSource Pro is also highlighted for its specific focus on insurance operations. These organizations are positioned as partners that help insurers move away from isolated AI deployments toward a continuous, scalable transformation capability using reusable digital assets.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has closely tracked ISG’s research into the intersection of insurance and artificial intelligence. In October 2026, we covered a report detailing an Insurance BPO Crisis, which found that only 8% of users would renew their contracts as-is due to significant AI shortfalls among providers. This followed our report on Why 83% of Insurers Are Ready to Hand Repeatable Work to Insurance Agentic AI, highlighting a growing appetite for specialized rather than general-purpose AI tools. Additionally, FF News reported on Aspire Systems being named a finalist in the ISG Software Innovation Awards for its work in AI insurance transformation. We also noted ISG’s broader financial services reach when they launched a global banking technology study to evaluate core modernization earlier this year.

What this means from an insurtech perspective

The move toward agentic AI suggests a fundamental shift in the insurance value chain, moving beyond simple automation toward autonomous decision-support. For carriers and MGAs, the pressure is mounting to move away from siloed legacy systems and toward "AI-ready" architectures that can ingest geospatial and telematics data in real-time. This puts incumbent core-system vendors under scrutiny; if they cannot facilitate the "reusable AI assets" described by ISG, they risk being bypassed by specialist providers. Furthermore, the emphasis on explainability highlights a growing tension between the efficiency of GenAI and the strict conduct requirements of insurance regulators, particularly regarding bias in underwriting and claims handling.