If you’ve been to an industry event lately, you’ve heard enough about “innovation” to last a lifetime. But the EY Insurance Innovation Intelligence Annual Report (December 2025) just landed, and it’s a bit of a wake-up call for the local market.
The big takeaway? We’re living in a “two-speed market.” While the frontrunners are finally seeing AI and cloud-native tech pay off, some of the biggest names in the business are so bogged down in legacy tech they couldn’t even find time to join the research. They were too busy just “keeping the lights on.”
Here’s the reality of what’s happening on the ground and why you don’t need a multinational’s budget to stay in the game.
Same warnings, different year
A lot of what EY found isn’t exactly a shock-it’s the same stuff we’ve been hearing for years. The report hammers home three things:
- Fix the plumbing, not just the taps: It’s not about sticking a flashy chatbot on a broken process. Real transformation is about using AI and cloud platforms to actually kill off bottlenecks in the back office.
- Partnerships are the new baseline: The old days of “insurers vs. tech startups” are over. If you aren’t part of an ecosystem, you’re on your own.
- The customer is actually the boss: If your systems make life hard for the client, you’re pushing uphill.
The distribution gap is getting wider
The report makes it dead clear: digital insurance distribution is no longer optional. Customers want things fast, seamless, and personalised. If you can’t give them that, they’ll find someone who can.
In Australia, the gap is becoming a canyon. The massive general insurers are burning millions on “core transformations,” which leaves smaller players and brokerages feeling like they’ve been left on the sidelines. But you don’t need to rebuild a mainframe from scratch just to compete.
Why a “Big Six” budget is optional
At uBind, we’ve always said that brokers and smaller firms shouldn’t be left in the dust. A modern digital insurance platform is built to take that technical weight off your shoulders.
Let’s be honest, though: tech isn’t a silver bullet. You can have the smartest AI on the planet, but if your product is average or your team isn’t on board, it won’t work. The goal is to give your expertise the best possible chance to succeed, without the “keep the lights on” nightmares that are currently haunting the big guys.
Join the ecosystem or get left behind
EY spent a lot of time talking about the power of ecosystems. We’re seeing this play out right now, particularly with the surge in embedded insurance. By putting protection right where the customer is-like at the point of sale-insurers are tapping into markets that used to be out of reach.
For brokers, this is a massive opportunity. Using the right distribution technology lets you scale your business and reach people on their terms, rather than waiting for the phone to ring.
The bottom line
The EY report is a reminder that being “stable but slow” is a dangerous place to be. Whether it’s AI-driven underwriting or modular tech, the tools to stay in the fight are now available to everyone, not just the top end of town.
Don’t get stuck just keeping the lights on. It’s time to flip the switch.
Want to see how a digital insurance platform can level the playing field? Chat with the uBind team.