A majority (51 per cent) of the UK’s insurers are frustrated by outdated legacy systems and over half think they are missing out on business growth opportunities as a result of mediocre IT systems.

A survey of 500 senior leaders in the UK’s insurance and reinsurance markets for INSTANDA, a policy platform InsurTech, found that the most have only middling levels of confidence in the capability of their existing IT systems, with 45 per cent reporting that their systems were only ‘quite able’ to meet customer expectations.

The survey also revealed the impact of COVID-19 on digital transformation in the industry, with 68 per cent of insurers stating they were more likely to move part or all of their business over the cloud due to pandemic, while 70 per cent of business-facing respondents agreed that digital transformation would be accelerated.

There was also a disconnect amongst the views of respondents in product and marketing teams when it came to IT provision - 51 per cent claimed to feel frustrated by outdated legacy systems. A total of 52 per cent were of the view that they were missing out on business growth opportunities because of their existing IT systems.

By contrast, based on those reporting that their current systems were ‘extremely able’ to deliver desired business outcomes, IT teams remained consistently more optimistic than their business-facing counterparts.

Tim Hardcastle, chief executive and founder of INSTANDA, said: “This overriding acceptance of mediocrity is particularly concerning, and a significant mindset shift is needed.

"Insurers must accelerate their pivot towards digitising their product development, distribution and operational strategies to meet rapidly changing customer needs, otherwise
they are at risk of a complete disconnection from their customers and teams.”

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