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The insurance sector is no stranger to complexity. But at our recent roundtable with senior leaders across underwriting, claims, and transformation, one theme came through loud and clear: the real risk isn’t external. It’s internal.
Despite investments in digitization, many insurers are flying blind when it comes to their own internal expertise. And as more experts retire, move on, or simply become harder to reach, the cost of not capturing that knowledge is growing by the day.
10 Key Takeaways from Our Insurance Roundtable
Here are 10 hard truths we learned at the roundtable, and how the smartest insurers are starting to respond.
1. "We only realize what we’ve lost six months after someone leaves."
This insight cuts deep. Documentation efforts often fall short, and by the time a knowledge gap is felt, the expertise is long gone.
2. "We’ve tried documentation. It helps no one when it’s not in context."
This recurring theme shows that static documents don’t capture the lived experience and real-world application of knowledge that practitioners need.
3. "The people who could answer those questions don’t have time. Or they’ve left."
Both availability and retention are threats to continuity, especially in knowledge-heavy functions like underwriting and claims.
4. "We’re asking people to act like mentors with zero incentive. It doesn’t scale."
Experts are fatigued and disengaged. Without recognition or support, organizations can’t rely on their willingness to share knowledge.
5. "Even if the knowledge exists, good luck finding it when you need it."
This sums up the fragmentation problem. Knowledge scattered across Outlook, Teams, and SharePoint becomes effectively invisible.
6. "ChatGPT gives you 80% of the answer. But in our business, that last 20% matters most."
Trust and precision are non-negotiable. AI must support decision-making, not replace expert judgment.
7. "We lose deals or delay settlements because people don’t know fast enough."
Timeliness isn’t just about speed—it impacts revenue, customer satisfaction, and risk exposure.
8. "We had someone do a full offboarding doc. No one ever opened it."
Capturing knowledge post-exit doesn’t work if no one uses it. Passive documentation fails to deliver value.
9. "People still believe if they share knowledge, they lose power."
Cultural barriers remain a hidden obstacle. Knowledge hoarding persists when incentives and recognition don’t promote sharing.
10. "If I could just know who the best person is for a question right now, that would change everything."
The vision is clear: a dynamic, living expertise network that routes questions to the right people at the right moment.
Why This Matters Now
The numbers speak for themselves: over the next 15 years, half the current insurance workforce will retire. That’s over 400,000 roles unfilled. The result is an unprecedented erosion of institutional knowledge.
This hits hardest in specialty and reinsurance, where expertise, not data, drives decisions. And where internal complexity and global collaboration make expertise even harder to track.
A Better Way: Combining Human AND Artificial Intelligence
At Starmind, we believe the future of insurance performance lies in connecting your people to each other’s knowledge—in real time. That means embedding a layer of human + artificial intelligence into the flow of work.
By mapping who knows what across daily collaboration and core insurance systems like Teams, Guidewire, and more, Starmind builds a self-updating expertise network. It helps underwriters, claims adjusters, and risk engineers get fast, trusted answers—from real people with proven experience.
To support this transformation, we announced our strategic partnership with CAPCO, who will work closely with our clients to define the right functional layers, integration depth, and operating model around expertise access. Together, we help insurers:
- Assess where knowledge is trapped and where it flows
- Build scalable knowledge-sharing frameworks
- Integrate critical expertise into the existing processes and tools
This layered approach helps organizations turn what was once tribal knowledge into a fully accessible, business-critical asset.
Real Impact Across Functions
Underwriting: Faster and more accurate pricing with access to peer insights on complex risks.
Risk Engineering: Live field intelligence on emerging risks, like cyber or climate impacts.
Claims: Tap into similar case experience instantly—even if the original expert is no longer around.
Final Word
What came out of our roundtable wasn’t just a list of challenges. It was a shared recognition that the problem is real, growing, and solvable. The smartest insurers are already investing in making internal knowledge a strategic asset.
It’s time to stop treating knowledge loss as a side effect of turnover. It’s a core operational risk. And it deserves the same level of urgency, investment, and strategy.
Want to see how real-time expertise access can change your organization? Let’s talk.
