Commentary/Opinion
'A snail's pace': Brokers and agents sound off on commercial lines' slow tech progress
Despite years of investment and talk of transformation, the insurance industry’s digital revolution is leaving one key segment behind – and brokers and agents are increasingly frustrated, said one CEO.
Oscar Seikaly (pictured), of Florida-based NSI Insurance Group, said commercial lines, arguably the most complex and manually driven segment of the market, remain mired in outdated processes that slow everyone down.
“Commercial is our least favourite line of business because insurance companies are running at a snail’s pace to change the way they do business,” Seikaly told Insurance Business America. “It’s almost like it doesn’t matter how advanced they become… you still have to call someone who has to get an approval from someone else, who has to check with someone else.”
Seikaly has voiced what many brokers and agents have been feeling: the industry’s largest carriers are moving “at a snail’s pace” in modernizing commercial lines operations.
According to a 2025 J.D. Power study, more than half (57%) of commercial lines agents said their carriers meet even their most basic business needs. About a quarter of agents from both personal and commercial lines said they don’t feel valued by the insurers they represent.
AI in Insurance
AI’s Human Impact: Why Insurers Must Protect Their People | Insurance Innovation Reporter
As insurers automate claims and other operations, leaders must ensure AI augments rather than erodes adjusters’ autonomy, competence, and sense of connection.
Insurance companies are racing to implement artificial intelligence (AI) to process claims faster, improve consistency, and cut costs. Executives see competitors adopting AI and feel pressure to keep pace. But there’s a question most companies aren’t asking: what happens to the adjusters and claims professionals who actually do the work? What are the broader implications of AI adoption for human employees and their psychological well-being? This is particularly relevant now as burnout and mental health concerns are prevalent throughout the workforce.
Studies consistently show that 40-50 percent of employees feel burned out at work. The American Psychological Association found that about 3 in 5 employees report negative impacts of work-related stress, including lack of interest, motivation, or energy. Mental health-related absences have increased significantly, with some estimates suggesting they account for 12 billion lost working days globally each year.
When thinking about AI implementation, companies generally take one of two approaches.
John C. Peters, PhD, is Co-founder and Chief Science Officer of Gain Life
4 Pitfalls Holding AI Back | Insurance Thought Leadership
Nearly 95% of insurance AI initiatives never move past pilots; successful insurers prioritize execution.
Generative AI (GenAI) promised insurers quick wins, yet most pilot programs stall out before they can deliver real business value. In fact, a recent MIT study found that nearly 95% of generative AI initiatives never move past the initial pilot stage. Datos Insights, an insurance research firm, concurred.
This isn't just a missed opportunity, though. It's a red flag. With AI moving faster than any technology that insurers have adopted before, failing isn't an option. Companies that can successfully adopt AI are those that learn to fail fast, iterate quickly, and focus on practical applications.
Martin Higgins is the insurance practice lead at Centric Consulting.
Anzen Raises $16 Million Series A to Scale AI Platform for Insurance Distribution
Anzen, the AI-powered platform redefining how commercial insurance is distributed, today announced a $16 million Series A led by Madrona, with participation from Sandbox Industries, SNR, Andreessen Horowitz, and other leading investors. The round brings Anzen's total capital raised to $26 million.
Since its founding in 2021, Anzen has grown rapidly to millions in ARR, serving more than 5,000 retail agents nationwide and processing thousands of submissions each month across Specialty, Excess, and P&C lines. The company has already quoted hundreds of millions in premium, positioning it as the first truly AI-native distribution platform built to handle accounts of any size.
With this funding, Anzen will expand its AI-powered workflows, strengthen its carrier and AMS integration ecosystem, and grow its team to support the rapidly expanding base of agents using the platform.
Breaking the Analog Bottleneck
Commercial insurance still runs on PDFs, email threads, and hours of manual data entry—a trillion-dollar industry constrained by analog bottlenecks.
"We're solving the structural inefficiency at the core of commercial insurance distribution," said Max Bruner, Anzen's Founder & CEO. "This funding accelerates our mission to give every independent agent the technology and market access they need to work every deal, regardless of size or complexity.
"For years, we've been building and using these workflows ourselves as practicing wholesale brokers. We didn't just theorize what the industry needs—we lived the pain and solved it in detail and at scale. Now agencies are flooding in because we've built what others couldn't: a complete AI workspace that actually works for insurance distribution."
News
Grange Insurance Association moves forward with mutual holding conversion
Grange Insurance Association received approval from the Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner to convert from a mutual insurer to a mutual holding company. The structure gives GIA more flexibility to raise capital, invest in technology, and respond to market shifts while keeping policyholders as members.
Policyholders have been mailed voting materials and will vote at a virtual meeting on December 19. Coverage, benefits, and claims remain unchanged, and policyholders retain their membership and voting rights.
“We are pleased to announce that Grange Insurance Association (GIA) has received formal approval from the Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) to convert from a mutual insurance company to a mutual holding company structure.
Consumer Watchdog Welcomes Los Angeles County Investigation Into State Farm's Wildfire Claims
Consumer Watchdog today commended the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the Los Angeles County Office of County Counsel for opening a civil investigation into State Farm's handling of wildfire claims related to the 2025 LA Wildfires, calling the County's step "a vital step to protect wildfire victims." The County's announcement, issued by the Board of Supervisors and County Counsel Dawyn R. Harrison, outlines a formal Unfair Competition Law (Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200 et seq.) inquiry into widespread complaints of delays, underpayments, and denials of legitimate claims.
"Many wildfire survivors have been waiting for nearly a year for help that hasn't come," said Carmen Balber, Executive Director at Consumer Watchdog. "We've received voluminous complaints from consumers that their insurers—including State Farm—have delayed, tried to underpay, or outright denied their claims. The County's investigation finally gives fire victims a chance at real accountability and relief."
As detailed in their letter, County Counsel's Affirmative Litigation and Consumer Protection Division has launched a formal investigation under the Unfair Competition Law into State Farm's practices following the January 2025 Eaton and Palisades wildfires. The investigation letter seeks information on delays and denials of wildfire claims; rotating adjuster tactics that confuse policyholders and complicate claims handling; misrepresentations of coverage; payments for smoke damage and additional living expenses; refusal to disclose estimates and inspection results upon request; and the use of AI tools in review of claims.
Research
Insurify finds 86% of Americans trust AI in insurance shopping
As car insurance premiums remain high across the country, Insurify’s inaugural AI Insurance Report shows that 86% of Americans, or 6 in 7, are ready to trust artificial intelligence to help them save.
Surveyed drivers said they would trust AI to assist them in buying car insurance (51%), from comparing quotes across insurers (76%) to explaining coverage, securing better rates, and creating customized policies (54%), according to an Insurify press release.
“The average American driver pays $2,310 per year for full-coverage car insurance, making it one of the most significant recurring expenses,” the release states. “The report, based on a national survey of 3,002 drivers, shows America’s growing confidence in AI’s ability to simplify a traditionally time-consuming process and willingness to use AI to make smarter, more cost-effective insurance choices.”
Fraud
GEICO accuses Florida clinics of orchestrating $1.3 million PIP fraud scheme
GEICO is taking aim at a network of Florida clinics and medical professionals, alleging a $1.3 million scheme to defraud its auto insurance business through bogus PIP claims.
Filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the action names Millenium Medical Group, Spine & Sport Rehab, Vida Medical Rehab, Ace Medical & Rehab Center, and a roster of individual practitioners. GEICO alleges these defendants orchestrated an operation to submit thousands of fraudulent personal injury protection (PIP) claims, seeking reimbursement for treatments that were unnecessary, never performed, or fabricated.
The filing details how, since at least 2019, the clinics and individuals billed for a range of services - initial and follow-up exams, physical therapy, chiropractic care, and percutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (PENS) treatments - purportedly provided to Florida accident victims. According to GEICO, these services were delivered under pre-set protocols designed to maximize billing, not to address real injuries. The insurer claims that, in many cases, the treatments were medically unnecessary or not performed at all.
Payments
Zelis® Accelerates Expansion into P&C Market with Duck Creek Partnership to Modernize Claims Payments
Zelis® announced its expansion into the property and casualty (P&C) insurance market through a strategic partnership with Duck Creek Technologies
Zelis®, a leading provider of healthcare technology solutions, announced its expansion into the property and casualty (P&C) insurance market through a strategic partnership with Duck Creek Technologies, the global intelligent solutions provider defining the future of property and casualty (P&C) and general insurance.
This collaboration marks a significant milestone for Zelis, further expanding the Zelis Advanced Payment PlatformSM (ZAPPSM) into P&C. With prebuilt integrations to Duck Creek’s Payment Marketplace and Orchestrator, Zelis helps P&C payers deliver faster, more efficient payments to businesses, providers, and policyholders—improving the experience for all.
A leader in healthcare and insurance payments, Zelis brings proven expertise in solving payment complexity across fragmented systems to the P&C insurance market. P&C carriers face mounting pressure to modernize legacy, paper-based disbursement workflows—an especially complex challenge given the intricacies of multi-party payment coordination, layered approvals, regulatory hurdles, and fragmented delivery systems.
“By teaming up with Duck Creek, we’re making it easier for property and casualty insurers to handle claims and premium payments more efficiently,” said Yusuf Qasim, President of Payments Optimization at Zelis. “This partnership is a testament to our growing commitment to supporting the P&C industry in a deeper way. We’re combining our experience in simplifying complex payments with Duck Creek’s trusted insurance platform, so insurers can enhance how they work—without having to overhaul everything they already rely on.”
Awards
Solera’s LoJack Awarded “Vehicle Tracking Solution of the Year” by AutoTech Breakthrough
Annual Awards Program Recognizes Innovation in Automotive and Transportation Technologies Around the Globe
Solera, the global leader in vehicle lifecycle management, today announced that LoJack was awarded “Vehicle Tracking Solution of the Year” in the sixth annual AutoTech Breakthrough Awards program conducted by AutoTech Breakthrough, a leading market intelligence organization that recognizes the top companies, technologies and products in the global automotive and transportation technology sector today.
As the most trusted stolen vehicle recovery system, LoJack is a modern connected telematics platform that brings together drivers, dealers, and nearly 10,000 law enforcement agents and agencies on a single, secure network. LoJack embeds professional-grade tracking directly into the workflows of these public safety partners, delivering data that law enforcement can act on in minutes rather than hours.
People
Breaking News: Neal Not Joining AIG As Previously Planned
In a brief statement, American International Group Inc. said ((John Neal** will not be joining the company as president next month due to personal circumstances.
The statement did not elaborate on the circumstances, stating only that the company reached a mutual agreement with Neal about the change.
He was scheduled to assume the position of president, effective Dec. 1.
Canada
The State of the Canadian Property & Casualty Insurance Brokerage Industry in 2025: Smythe LLP
Smythe Insurance Brokerage Industry Report, 10th edition
For well over a decade now, we at Smythe have endeavored to put together as comprehensive a report as possible on the state of the Canadian property and casualty insurance brokerage industry.
In this report, we share an analysis of survey responses and market data to explore current and emerging trends in the industry, as well as a snapshot of the financial performance of various insurance brokerages across the country.
For our analysis, we also relied on our own proprietary database, which we believe is one of the largest available databases of independent brokerage financial performance information in Canada.
The report also contains a significant amount of editorial opinion based on the collective experience of the Smythe Property & Casualty team, which includes Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA), Chartered Business Valuators (CBV), M&A Advisors and Tax Specialists.
As always, we would like to extend our gratitude to all those who chose to participate in this survey. Our goal with this report is to provide practical insight and contribute meaningful research that supports the long-term health of the brokerage industry. None of that would be possible without the trust placed in us by brokerage owners across Canada. Thank you to those who took the time and effort to complete our surveys and share with us their financial data.
By Alex Wong, Advisory Partner, Smythe LLP, et al