Internal restructuring is increasingly being seen as a way of driving efficiency and growth amongst insurers and reinsurers.
A study of senior IT decision makers from London, European and global reinsurers and commercial and specialty insurers has pointed towards a changing attitude.
While insurers and reinsurers have historically avoided restructuring efforts and the effects these have on their organisation's culture, the current economic environment, the blurring of the roles in the supply chain, the emergence of new technology and continued regulatory pressure are responsible for a growing trend.
According to the first annual Insurance Industry Insight Report from Agencyport Software, agility, a global outlook, the need for good data, digitisation and interconnectivity are all highlighted as ways of staying relevant in the market.
Commenting, Phil Race, managing director of Agencyport Software Europe, said: "What we are talking about here is data enrichment, not the Big data everyone is talking about, this is about the correct use of metrics.
"We have seen some real technology led profit killers in the insurance markets, such as companies using algorithms which take pricing to the bare bones of the margins. Systems are just not as efficient as they could be."
Most (67%) European and London market insurers said current systems limitations were the main barrier to growth, while 72% of all respondents cited internal data quality as the key challenge in leveraging data for business.
Craig Beattie, senior analyst at Celent, the author of the report, said: "Like a perfect storm, internal and external forces are reshaping the industry.
"There is a fundamental shift in some, but not all, insurers in the market - culturally, in terms of leadership, attitude, data and technology, coupled with the wider influences on the markets, the increasing capabilities of local competitors, the rise of the influence of data, algorithms and models, that represents the two storms that have converged to shape the new normal."
