Insurance firms are fixated on scaling fast, but speed means nothing if expertise gets left behind.
In 2023, the global insurance industry grew by an estimated 7.5%, reaching a total premium income of €6.2 trillion. But without a solid game plan, scaling too fast and throwing tech at the problem can backfire.
Alex Meier (pictured), CEO of Axis Insurance Managers, has built his company around this very principle. Since stepping in as CEO in 2010, Meier has championed a strategy that prioritizes depth before breadth, ensuring that Axis scales without sacrificing specialization. By putting specialization first, he’s proving that you don’t have to sacrifice expertise to grow.
"Maybe just kind of take a step back. The way that we look at our business, we separate it between what I call more complex commercial insurance and more general commercial insurance," he said. "A lot of the focus is on the complex. We think it's really important to specialize. Especially in the P&C space by industry vertical, as opposed to other lines of business, you really need specialty."
One way to achieve this is through dedicated practice groups, structured at both national and regional levels.
"We’ve built what we call practice groups, and we’re focusing on that nationally. We look to bring in a national leader, and then we want to have regional teams – boots on the ground in the particular regions that they serve. That allows us to go a lot deeper with our clients,” Meier said.
Traditional insurance structures, weighed down by layers of management, no longer make sense, he said. The key to scaling without sacrificing service is ensuring experts stay client-facing.
"I think it allows us to scale from the perspective that it makes it more efficient," Meier said. "The people who are doing the insurance work – the experts – can work with our clients. And the head office function? That exists just to support our insurance people so that they can do what they do best. We call it 'highest and best use.'"
"The way that we’re looking at technology, our main focus is: How do we help our people be more productive? How do we take away some of the work that our staff needs to do from an administration perspective, from a processing perspective, that isn’t their highest and best use? How can we automate that?" he said.
Automation plays a major role in increasing efficiency, but Meier was clear that different types of insurance require different technological solutions.
"When we think about it from a more transactional perspective, that's a slightly different perspective. That’s where we continue to look at technology. How can we allow customers to self-serve where it’s quite simple and they don’t need as much risk management advice, they don’t need as much coverage differentiation? We’re looking at it through those two separate lenses,” Meier said.
Risk management, however, remains an area that cannot be easily automated.
"Each practice is going to be different. That is difficult to automate, that’s difficult to scale – other than making sure you've got the right expertise and the right resources in the region so that we’re able to have that holistic conversation with our client,” he said.
“It’s about taking that holistic approach, educating the customer on the process, educating them on a particular vertical or industry that we have a lot of experience in, and how can we prevent those losses from occurring."
"We really want to dig deep into industry verticals. For example, under professional financial services, lots of different players are involved. One area we focus on is lawyers. We have a great product. We also have a great service and team of people that understands that business,” Meier said. “That allows us to expand, because we already have that knowledge, we already have a very strong product, and that allows us to scale that through further distribution.
"It’s about adding new people throughout the country, in different regions, and then expanding our footprint – whether it’s architects, engineers, mortgage brokers, realtors."
AI is another piece of the puzzle, but Meier doesn’t see it replacing human expertise anytime soon.
"There’s a clear distinction between transactional and complex insurance needs. If we’re talking about more microinsurance, smaller policies, I think having something where they can simply transact that business makes sense,” he said. “But for customers, people with complex businesses, for the foreseeable future, we’re going to need to continue to provide full risk management [and] spend the time with them to understand all of their risks."
Despite advancements in AI-driven underwriting, he believes personal relationships will remain critical.
"For those clients, whether it's their business, their home, their art collection—you name it—so that we are providing the right solutions for them, I don’t see that changing in the foreseeable future,” he said.
Ultimately, insurance firms that successfully scale won’t be the ones that blindly chase growth, but those that strike the right balance between efficiency and expertise.
"Scalability in insurance isn’t just about expanding reach – it’s about doing so without losing depth," Meier said. "Technology is important, but expertise remains irreplaceable. The industry is evolving, and firms that can balance both sides of the equation will be the ones that come out ahead."
