Industry Spotlights | September 11, 2025
By Bill Pieroni, Global Head of Insurance Strategy and AI at DXC
Insurance is entering the agentic age, a new era powered by intelligent, autonomous systems that can perceive, reason, act and learn, redefining how insurance stakeholders operate, compete and grow.
This goes beyond automation; it marks a structural shift that changes the speed, precision and economics of the entire industry.
Across the insurance industry, scaled deployments of agentic AI are already delivering measurable results, according to a DXC benchmark study.
In P&C, for example, underwriting expense ratios are projected to decline by 15 to 20 percent, while claims expense ratios are expected to drop by more than 15 percent. In life insurance, underwriting costs will fall by more than 25 percent, and benefit expenses by nearly 20 percent.
Agentic AI moves beyond workflow automation and analytics. It empowers systems to combine historical, contextual, third-party and synthetic data with connected platforms to coordinate complex processes and make informed decisions. The result
Faster cycle times: Underwriting processes cut by up to 75 percent
Improved retention: Customer loyalty increases by 10 to 20 percent
Higher productivity: Output per colleague more than doubles
Enhanced economics: Marginal cost trends toward zero while precision improves
Markets are moving toward real-time, predictive and adaptive operations. Firms that deploy agentic AI early can capture structural advantages such as lower marginal cost, faster execution and stronger retention that compound over time. Late adopters will struggle to close the performance gap and forgo learning-curve effects.
However, many firms are not ready to capitalize on agentic AI. Legacy technology, disconnected data, manual workflows and fragmented governance can slow execution and block leverage.
These are supported by five key enablers that drive sustainable scale and impact: 1) strategic alignment; 2) organizational readiness and performance management; 3) governance and risk management; 4) process and workflow design; and 5) data and technology enablement.
Agentic AI is here, and the question for industry firms is whether to lead or follow. Acting now unlocks superior economics, faster execution and lasting competitive advantage, while waiting means falling behind as the market moves beyond traditional operating models.
The good news is DXC has the expertise to help clients move from pilots to scaled adoption, and to lead the next phase of transformation.
Bill Pieroni leads global strategy and growth for Insurance Software & Business Process Services at DXC. He has 25+ years of experience leading global organizations in insurance, technology and enterprise transformation.
