Property and casualty insurers are expected to shift from their current state of “detect and repair” to “predict and prevent” over the next decade, transforming every aspect of the industry in the process, according to a new report by consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

And this new state is expected to affect everyone from the consumer to the broker and further.

“The pace of change will accelerate as brokers, consumers, financial intermediaries, insurers, and suppliers become more adept at using advanced technologies to enhance decision making and productivity, lower costs and optimize the customer experience,” states the report.

While the industry will be focused on artificial intelligence and other technology trends, it won’t be an insurer’s IT team that gets projects moving. Rather, states the report, new trends will be led by board members and customer-experience teams who invest the time and resources to build a deep understanding of the technologies.

Buying insurtechs and forging partnerships

The report states that some insurers are already beginning to take innovative approaches such as starting their own venture-capital arms, buying up promising insurtech companies and forging partnerships with leading academic institutions.

As projects move forward it will be data, both internal and external, that will be the most valuable asset for insurers. But hiring the right people will be just as important.

“The insurance organization of the future will require talent with the right mind-sets and skills. The next generation of successful frontline insurance workers will be in increasingly high demand and must possess a unique mix of being technologically adept, creative, and willing to work at something that will not be a static process but rather a mix of semi-automated and machine- supported tasks that continually evolve.”

The report notes that it will be the insurers that view disruptive technologies as opportunities rather than threats that will thrive in the industry in 2030.