One thing that becomes obvious after spending enough time with insurers: brands aren’t made at the point of sale - they’re made later, in all the small, practical moments where something needs to be fixed or updated (changing a payment date, sorting out arrears, getting an answer on a claim, or updating an address).
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Those interactions shape how customers actually feel about their insurer. They also expose where the core systems hold up (or don’t).

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Insurers put a huge amount of energy into winning new business. New products. Marketing. Digital onboarding. All important, but none of it matters if the day-to-day experience falls over. Loyalty isn’t earned in the flashy moments; it’s earned in the operational ones. And this is where many insurers still struggle.
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The real issue isn’t “efficiency”, it’s the foundations
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A lot of the pressure insurers feel today is structural. Costs keep rising. Regulation keeps increasing. Customer expectations keep shifting. And many insurers are trying to keep up while running critical processes on systems that weren’t designed for how the industry now operates.

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What gets described as “inefficiency” is usually a symptom of architecture that’s too fragmented or too fragile. You see it when a payment fix requires jumping between systems. When a claims update gets lost. When something simple turns into a manual workaround because the technology won’t support the right outcome.

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Operational excellence isn’t about squeezing people harder. It’s about removing the friction that slows them down and frustrates customers. When the basics work, everything else becomes easier.
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What progress might look like

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The insurers making steady progress aren’t chasing huge, risky transformations. They’re taking a more practical path to modernising operations - fixing the real problems customers notice and teams feel every day. A few patterns stand out.

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1. Picking a path that doesn’t stall the whole organisation
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Not every insurer needs to rebuild everything at once. Many start where the biggest operational drag is (e.g. policy servicing or payments) because it’s high-frequency, high-impact, and full of manual work. The common thread is simple: they take an approach that creates momentum instead of disruption.

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2. Automating repetitive work that drains productivity
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Insurers handle a lot of repeatable tasks: reminders, reconciliations, eligibility checks, policy adjustments, arrears workflows. In many organisations, this work soaks up entire teams.

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Automation isn’t about reducing headcount; it’s about cutting out the grunt work and orchestrating repeatable workflows so teams can focus on real problems instead of admin. Turnaround times improve and errors drop simply because people aren’t overloaded.

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3. Using behavioural signals to reduce churn
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One of the most valuable shifts I’ve observed is the move from reactive to proactive retention. By connecting data from payments, policy activity, and customer interactions, insurers can identify early indicators of risk - missed payments, behavioural patterns, or changes in engagement.

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This allows operators to intervene with the right support, whether through payment arrangements, temporary relief, or clearer communication. The outcome is fewer lapses and higher retention rates.

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4. Shortening product and rule change cycles
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Too many product or rule updates get stuck behind technical bottlenecks. Insurers who give teams the ability to configure rather than code reduce those delays significantly. They get changes into market faster and take pressure off engineering.

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5. Giving customers straightforward self-service
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Customers expect to manage their insurance the same way they manage everything else - quickly and without calling anyone. When self-service is properly designed, it reduces call volumes and frees operators to handle the issues that genuinely need a person. It’s one of the clearest examples of operational improvement that benefits everyone.

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6. Connecting systems so data and AI can actually be used

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A lot of insurers want to use AI, but disconnected systems make it hard to trust or scale anything meaningful. AI on top of chaos is still chaos. When data is joined up, everything gets easier - predictions improve, automation becomes reliable, and behaviour across the lifecycle becomes clearer. It also positions insurers to adopt AI responsibly and effectively; a capability that will define competitive advantage in coming years.

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7. Building an ecosystem that can grow

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Insurers with API-driven architectures can move faster, integrate more easily, and test new opportunities without being stuck in long dependency chains. It’s a practical capability that makes growth less painful.

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8. Treating payments as a core customer experience, not back-office plumbing

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Payments touch customers more than almost anything else, yet they’re often overlooked. When people can easily fix arrears, change dates, or update payment methods, the experience lifts immediately. It also removes a huge amount of manual reconciliation and follow-up for staff. It’s a straightforward area to modernise and the impact shows up fast.

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9. Embedding compliance into everyday workflows

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Compliance works best when it’s baked into the process (clear steps, audit trails, consistent actions) rather than something checked after the fact. It reduces risk and gives operators confidence that they’re doing things the right way. Good workflow design solves a lot of compliance problems before they appear.

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Operational excellence as a strategy
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Operational excellence isn’t a back-office topic anymore. It sits at the heart of customer trust, financial performance, and an insurer’s ability to grow. And because most customer impressions are formed in moments of service, the quality of your operations shapes your brand more than any marketing campaign ever will.
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The insurers who move ahead over the next decade will be the ones who focus on the parts of the experience that customers actually feel - fixing the friction points, orchestrating the core processes, and giving their teams systems that consistently support good service. Whether that involves targeted improvements or broader platform change, the common thread is intentional, steady progress.
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So, the real question is simple: When your customers need you, do your operations support good service, or stand in the way of it?
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At Simfuni, we help life insurers modernise these everyday service moments - the ones that shape trust, retention, and brand. And the pattern is always the same, when operational systems support people, insurers build stronger, more durable customer relationships.

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About the Authour ~

Tim von Dadelszen is the Chief Product Officer at Simfuni; an insurtech orechestrating modern life insurance operation