Insurers are easy to name and slow to sign.

Software deals with insurance carriers and MGAs are worth an estimated €40–500k a year for a point solution such as fraud, claims triage or underwriting AI. Core policy, billing and claims platforms sit higher, at an estimated €250k or more a year. MGAs and smaller brokers usually buy smaller and decide faster, in an estimated 1–9 months. These are illustrative ranges from Panelhop research.

An insurance carrier’s software buying group usually spans 10–16 people across the business, IT, security, procurement, finance and legal, an illustrative range from Panelhop research. Most of those seats can veto. Across B2B industries, Forrester puts the average buying decision at 13 people. German and Austrian insurers add a works council, and MGA deals add the capacity provider behind the MGA.

Insurance AI pilots at carriers usually stall because no business owner, success metric or production price was agreed before the pilot began. The innovation team that ran the pilot rarely holds production budget. Leading insurers cap proofs of concept at about 60 days and set success metrics upfront, according to an Alvarez & Marsal and InsurTech NY study. Where pilot budgets are centralised or episodic, a finished pilot can wait 6–12 months for a decision.

To reach an insurer’s core system shortlist, engage before the RFP is written. Carriers replace a core system rarely and lean on selection advisers, analyst reports and peer references to build the longlist. Watch pre-RFP signals at named carriers: a new CIO, a merger, an end-of-support date or a contract expiry. Panelhop’s Signal Desk (in-market accounts, weekly) flags those signals, and your reps own the first touch; analyst relations and RFP writing are outside Panelhop’s services.

An insurer’s security and third-party risk review typically takes 1–3 months, an illustrative range from Panelhop research, and often starts only after the sponsor’s verbal yes. Carriers ask for SOC 2 Type II or ISO 27001 evidence, MFA and a subcontractor list. EU insurers add the contract to their DORA register, and UK insurers may notify the PRA. Starting the review at discovery takes it off the critical path.

Insurance software vendors with a short runway are better served by MGAs, which decide faster and buy smaller. Vendors that can fund long cycles can start with carriers, which pay more. Most MGA deals have a hidden approver: the fronting carrier, reinsurer or Lloyd’s managing agent behind the MGA’s capacity must accept the system and its bordereaux. Whichever comes first, run separate stage models for MGAs and carriers.

Dated public events show when an insurance carrier is in market for new software: a merger, a new CIO, an end-of-support notice or a contract expiry. Carriers, Lloyd’s firms and MGAs can be listed from regulators’ and market bodies’ records, so vendors can watch every named account. Intent data helps only when someone acts on it account by account. In Panelhop research, tag scans found an account-identification or intent tool on the websites of only 3 of 20 software vendors selling to insurers, a lower bound.

To get a meeting with a Chief Claims or Chief Underwriting Officer at a P&C insurance carrier, tie the first touch to a trigger at that carrier. Good triggers are a new CIO, an end-of-support date or loss-ratio pressure in one line of business. Carrier executives rarely answer generic insurtech pitches. Lead with the line’s loss or expense ratio rather than the technology, and map the budget owner before the innovation team books the demo.