Across the Life, Accident & Health insurance industry, one challenge continues to stand out: how to turn transformation ambition into real, measurable outcomes. For many carriers, legacy core systems still limit agility, increase complexity, and make it difficult to deliver seamless, customer-centric experiences across the full lifecycle, from quote to claim. These themes were front and centre at our recent FINEOS Customer Connect event in Sydney, where we welcomed over 80 customers, partners, and colleagues for a day of shared insight, practical experience, and forward-looking discussion.
Moving beyond legacy constraints
We opened the day with a keynote from CEO Michael Kelly, who highlighted the growing urgency for insurers to modernise legacy environments. As customer expectations rise and operational pressures increase, disconnected systems are no longer sustainable. FINEOS AdminSuite was positioned as a modern, purpose-built platform designed to unify operations across the business, enabling carriers to simplify complexity, improve efficiency, and create a more connected experience across the end-to-end policy lifecycle.
Delivering transformation that works in practice
A key theme throughout the day was the shift away from “big bang” transformation towards more incremental, outcome-driven approaches. In a candid discussion, Debra Basaraba (Guardian Life) and Judy Ambrose (EY) shared practical lessons from large-scale transformation programmes. They emphasised the importance of defining a clear strategy, aligning leadership, and delivering value in stages, while maintaining strong governance and a “one team” approach across business, technology, and partners. Their perspective reinforced a critical point: successful transformation is not just about technology, but about aligning people, process, and priorities around clear business outcomes.
Embracing digital, data, and AI
Technology innovation is accelerating rapidly, and insurers are increasingly investing in digital capabilities, data, and AI to stay competitive. AWS shared insights into the broader trends shaping the industry, from rising claims complexity and regulatory demands to the growing role of cybersecurity, generative AI, and data-driven decision-making. Cloud adoption continues to play a key role in enabling scalability, resilience, and faster innovation. Looking ahead, the evolution toward more autonomous, agentic AI systems is expected to further transform how insurers operate, make decisions, and engage with customers.
Designing experiences around life events
Bringing transformation to life, Miloje Stavanovic (Unum) shared how their digital transformation is centred on delivering more intuitive, life-event-driven experiences. He highlighted a common industry gap: while organisations often believe their processes work well, customers frequently experience them as complex and fragmented. By adopting a digital-first model, supported by automation and analytics, Unum has been able to streamline lower-complexity processes while focusing human expertise where it matters most. This approach not only improves efficiency but also enhances customer satisfaction during critical moments.
A shared commitment to progress
We closed the day with a customer panel featuring leaders from Australian Retirement Trust and icare NSW, who shared their experiences navigating transformation, from overcoming legacy challenges to driving meaningful change within their organisations. What stood out across all discussions was a shared commitment to progress, grounded in practical execution, collaboration, and a focus on delivering real outcomes.
FINEOS Customer Connect Sydney reinforced an important industry reality: transformation is no longer optional, but achieving it requires the right combination of technology, strategy, and partnership. At FINEOS, we are proud to support insurers on this journey, helping them modernise legacy systems, connect the full quote-to-claim lifecycle, and deliver better outcomes for their customers.
We look forward to continuing these conversations at our upcoming FINEOS Connect event in New York this June.
