1. AI: From Hype to Tangible Progress (and the Rise of Agentic AI in Payments)

AI dominated the conversation at ITC Vegas. It was impossible to walk the expo floor or attend a session without hearing about its potential to transform underwriting, claims, and customer experience. Yet, beneath the buzz, a more grounded discussion is emerging not just what AI can do, but where it’s genuinely being applied in the insurance value chain.

Across the event, there was a clear shift from speculative use-cases toward measurable, embedded AI applications, models being used to triage claims, streamline onboarding, detect anomalies, and improve operational throughput. The focus is moving away from pilots and proof-of-concepts toward production-grade AI that enhances day-to-day processes.

Within that broader theme, Agentic AI stood out. Rather than single models performing isolated tasks, Agentic AI involves a network of intelligent agents that can collaborate, reason, and act autonomously across systems.

In the context of payment processing, this concept offers huge promise. Imagine AI agents that can continuously monitor fund movements between brokers, MGAs, carriers, and reinsurers, validating data, reconciling exceptions, initiating payouts, or escalating anomalies automatically. That’s the next frontier: intelligent automation of financial operations, where machines don’t just calculate, they coordinate.

As adoption matures, the conversation is becoming less about AI as a standalone innovation and more about how it underpins trusted, efficient financial ecosystems a topic that’s close to home for Diesta.

2. Payments: The Next Frontier for Insurance Modernisation

Payments was another recurring theme and rightly so. While most sectors have transformed how they move money, the insurance industry remains encumbered by outdated processes and fragmented systems.

There’s been rapid progress among external providers such as Stripe, GoCardless, and OneInc, all of whom are redefining how funds enter the insurance value chain. Yet there remains a massive opportunity to modernise how funds move within the ecosystem between agents, brokers, MGAs, MGUs, carriers, and reinsurers.

For an industry built on trust, accuracy, and timing, the ability to reconcile, transfer, and account for premiums and claims efficiently isn’t just operational housekeeping it’s a strategic advantage. As innovation in payments catches up with other parts of the value chain, we’ll see faster settlement cycles, reduced leakage, and ultimately stronger trading relationships.

This is an area where Diesta continues to focus helping firms modernise their financial operations, bringing automation, visibility, and control to complex premium flows.

3. Modular Ecosystems: Collaboration Over Consolidation

A defining shift in technology philosophy was the growing embrace of modular ecosystems. Instead of trying to build one platform that does everything, more vendors are focusing on their area of specialism, becoming best-in-class in one domain, and then integrating with others through APIs and shared data frameworks.

This reflects the reality of how the insurance market operates a network of interconnected participants, each bringing distinct expertise to the table. Modern insurers increasingly want flexibility: the ability to plug in, replace, or enhance specific capabilities without having to re-platform their entire operation.

And that’s precisely where ITC Vegas shines. The conference acts as an incubator for collaboration a place where technology vendors, carriers, and partners can meet, explore integrations, and build out the next generation of connected solutions. Across the Lloyd’s Lab area and the broader expo floor, there was a tangible sense of partnerships forming and ecosystems taking shape.

At Diesta, this approach aligns closely with our philosophy. Our platform is designed to slot into broader ecosystems, connecting reconciliation, sub-ledger accounting, payouts, and network modules, enabling participants across the insurance value chain to work seamlessly together.

The future of insurance technology isn’t consolidation, it’s collaboration. The real innovation lies in modular integration, where the best systems work side by side to deliver operational excellence and customer value. Watch Diesta for some exciting new partnership announcements to come.