The soft market squeeze: why M&A and AI need to deliver now

On the latest episode of Unstructured Unlocked, we examine why soft markets expose inefficiency across insurance, and why consolidation and AI need to deliver real results. The conversation breaks down what motivates today’s deals, and why promised cost and revenue synergies are so hard to realize. We explore where technology actually moves the needle post-acquisition, with underwriting and claims emerging as the two most critical levers for protecting margins. The discussion also tackles the industry’s biggest AI challenges head-on: data quality versus data standards, why most pilots never scale, and how treating AI as an IT experiment leads straight to “pilot purgatory.” The takeaway is clear: in a soft market, efficiency can’t wait, and experimentation without execution is no longer an option.