Now, in the post-crisis world, advanced analytics has shifted from a promising experiment to a strategic necessity. Customers expect digital precision. Banks and partners demand seamless data collaboration. And insurers are discovering that adaptability powered by insights, automation, and bold decision-making is no longer optional. It’s existential.
A Market in Motion: How Italy Is Catching Up and Catching On
To understand how this shift is unfolding in Italy, executives from ten of the country’s largest insurers together representing about 60% of the market’s gross written premiums (GWPs) shared where they stand. While the sample isn’t exhaustive, their collective voice paints a clear picture of progress, priorities, and pain points in Italy’s evolving insurance landscape.
And the message is unmistakable: advanced analytics has arrived.
Almost every leader interviewed said their organization is now capturing measurable value from analytics. Seven already have robust pipelines of use cases running at scale. One is using AA for most strategic decisions, and another proudly describes itself as “analytics-driven.”
In other words, Italy’s insurance giants aren’t just talking about data, they’re acting on it.
Advanced Analytics Becomes the Beating Heart of Strategy
For six of the ten insurers, advanced analytics now ranks among their top three strategic priorities. Nearly all plan to accelerate their AA investments, with several committing millions annually to keep up the pace.
In fact, four insurers spent over €1 million on analytics initiatives in 2019 alone. And six out of nine who disclosed future budgets expect to spend more than that each year through 2022 with some setting aside between €3 million and €8 million annually.
The ambition is clear: Italy’s insurers are no longer experimenting with analytics; they’re scaling it as a core engine of transformation.
From Pilots to Practice: Use Cases That Prove the Power of Data
Where is analytics making the biggest impact? Unsurprisingly, underwriting and pricing are leading the way. These functions lend themselves naturally to the predictive power of data.
But the adoption model is revealing. Most insurers aren’t overhauling everything at once. Instead, they’re starting small, launching analytics in two or three high-value use cases, learning from the results, and then scaling what works.
Nearly all ten insurers are now using analytics to strengthen fraud detection, but fewer have expanded into areas like lifetime-based pricing or provider steering. The potential is vast, but the journey as always depends on maturity, culture, and capability.
The Barriers: People, Processes, and the Push for Integration
If analytics is the new engine, the biggest challenge is finding skilled hands to drive it.
Executives pointed to a shortage of data-literate talent as the single biggest obstacle. Six out of ten said hiring remains an uphill battle. While every company now uses modern tools like Python and R, few have mastered the operationalization of analytics turning insights into everyday decisions.
Data architecture and governance remain works in progress, too. Many insurers are still trapped in legacy systems or data silos, struggling to connect fragmented datasets or upgrade outdated IT. That puts them at a disadvantage compared to more nimble digital-native competitors and insurtechs.
And then there’s the human factor: middle managers hesitant to trust algorithms, agents wary of automation, and cultures slow to evolve. Even when technology is ready, people often aren’t.
Control: The Imperceptible Gravity
Transparency is crucial in an industry with strict regulations. Regulators want to understand exactly how prices are determined but machine learning models don’t always offer that clarity. In order to explain not only what a model does but also why it does it, Italian insurers are learning to convert the language of algorithms into human terms. This is a necessity for both ethics and competition.
Beyond the Pandemic: Together, We Can Build the Future
Insurers are under tremendous pressure to reduce their rates as the COVID-19 economic aftershocks continue to reverberate throughout Europe.
But paradoxically, that’s also the moment when bold investments matter most.
Italy’s most forward-looking insurers are now exploring open innovation models, forming partnerships with insurtechs, universities, and start-up incubators to boost technical capabilities and discover fresh ideas.
Sourcing the right talent is key.Employing a few data scientists is no longer sufficient; insurers now require data engineers, data architects, and business translators experts who can connect insights to action.
The ecosystem is changing, which is encouraging. For instance, Intesa Sanpaolo, Reale Mutua, and nearby colleges have established a new master’s program in insurance innovation in Turin with the goal of developing the next generation of analytically astute insurance executives.
The Last Crisis’s Lesson
There is a definite pattern from history: businesses who took prompt, decisive action during the 2008 recession fared better. Right now, a similar pattern is developing.
It will not only be about who has the most data in the next few years; it will also be about who uses it the most morally, considerately, and compassionately.
Analytics must not just be a set of instruments but also a systematic, data-driven intuition that informs every choice made by Italian insurers.
Those who can effectively blend technological precision with human empathy will define the future era of insurance, where insight not only increases efficiency but also fosters trust, resilience, and relevance in a world that is always changing due to disasters.
