This piece is by Tom Ruggieri, CEO, XPT Specialty
Here’s a scenario that plays out dozens of times every day: A broker receives an unstructured submission, spends 20 minutes entering the details into their processing system, then spends another 45 minutes re-entering the same information into multiple portals, only to trigger another round of manual corrections across systems once an underwriter requests updates. Or worse, it’s a completely unstructured submission that is summarized in unstructured text and saved as files in a document management system, never properly entered into a processing system.
This creates a vicious cycle of inefficiency that technology hasn’t been able to solve, and even the new AI solutions do not fully address. ACORD estimates that proper technology integration could save the P&C industry more than $480 billion annually; however, this isn’t a software application problem, it’s a systems problem. We keep buying smarter tools and wondering why they don’t deliver the efficiency gains we expected. Even the most advanced technology can’t overcome infrastructure that forces everything back through manual processes.
The Data Prison Problem – Why Fragmentation Still Holds Us Back
Insurance has always struggled with fragmentation. Unlike capital markets, where standardized products trade seamlessly, our industry has resisted standardization. We’ve built a world where a single type of coverage exists in dozens of different contract variations and even if they use the same ISO contract the applications required are different.
Until recently, this fragmentation was a death sentence for technology advancement. Critical information lived trapped in document management systems, buried in PDFs, Word documents, and Excel spreadsheets beyond the reach of most systems. We had the data all along. It was just locked away where structured data components and data analytics could not access it.
Why New Technology – AI and Web Service API’s Change Everything
Modern AI and data extraction tools change the game. Today’s tools can create structured data to function in all our other processing and analytics software. They can read through those contract variations, understand the relevant similarities, and extract actionable intelligence from documents that have been sitting in digital filing cabinets for years.
But even these advanced tools hit the same barrier: systems that can’t talk to each other. Web services have existed since 2000, yet major insurance companies still lack basic infrastructure for system-to-system communication.
What Actually Works
Start with Strategic Web Service API Connections
The fastest wins come from connecting the critical internal, firm-controlled workflow points where data bottlenecks cost the most time: submission intake, clearance, quote generation, binding, policy issuance, invoicing and claims reporting. Rather than attempting full system integration, focus on building lightweight API bridges at these touchpoints.
Legacy systems often have more API capability than companies realize. Many older platforms can expose data through web services with minimal customization. The trick is working with vendors who understand both modern integration standards and legacy architecture.
Leverage Industry Gateways to integrate with 3rd Party Firms
Processing between firms, i.e. retailer to wholesaler to insurer requires communication pipes. Some have succeeded at doing this on a direct point to point basis but is difficult as there is no one size fits all approach. It is more efficient if we agree on how to communicate and utilize standardized Web Service API Gateway technology for widespread interoperability. Rather than every company building point-to-point connections with hundreds of trading partners, shared Gateways create a hub-and-spoke model where companies integrate once and gain access to the entire network.
These Gateways have worked easily for standard transactions like certificate requests, invoices and claims notifications. They handle translation between different system formats, allowing a broker using a 15-year-old management system to seamlessly exchange data with a carrier running cutting-edge cloud infrastructure. With AI now offering the opportunity to standardize the complex data communication of submissions, quotes, binders, policy issuance and endorsements the industry can leverage these web service abilities to finally integrate.
Deploy Third-Party Integration Partners
Specialist vendors now bridge the gap between legacy systems and modern workflows without requiring internal IT resources. Document processing services can extract structured data from PDFs, emails, and spreadsheets, then feed that information into multiple systems simultaneously. Data normalization services take information from various sources and standardize it for consistent use across different platforms.
Build Flexible Integration Architecture
The most successful interoperability strategies give users autonomy while connecting them through shared infrastructure. At XPT, we’ve found success allowing brokers to continue using their preferred management or policy systems while connecting them to our platform for specific functions like submission clearance, analytics, reporting and quote comparison. They maintain
their workflow preferences while gaining access to efficiency tools that eliminate manual processes. Further we have both worked with external firms and where needed have built internal capabilities to connect via webservice gateways to communicate with retail agencies and insurance markets.
Focus on High-Impact, Low-Risk Implementations
The most effective integration projects start with processes that are manual, high-volume, and low complexity. Certificate requests, quotes, binders, invoices, and standard reporting are ideal candidates because they involve predictable data patterns and clear business rules. These implementations typically show ROI within months rather than years.
The Choice Ahead
The insurance industry stands at an inflection point. These new technologies represent the first tools truly capable of working with our messy, document-heavy, relationship-driven business model. We can either use them to paper over our infrastructure problems or finally solve them.
Those who prioritize connectivity and integration will be best set up for finally unlocking the ROI today’s technology promises. Those who don’t will discover that even the smartest tools can’t overcome systems that refuse to communicate.
The technology revolution everyone’s waiting for won’t come from new tools alone. It will come from companies that make their systems work together – proving that integration, not just innovation, is transforming our industry.
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