Insurance sector to double AI budgets, fueling BPO growth: Wipro study
DELHI, INDIA — The global insurance sector is poised for an AI boom, with 81% of firms planning to increase spending on artificial intelligence within the next year, according to a new Wipro report.
This surge presents significant opportunities for business process outsourcing (BPO) providers to offer AI-powered solutions in underwriting, risk assessment, and customer experience enhancement.
Insurance industry betting big on AI transformation
Wipro‘s “The AI Advantage: Building Tomorrow’s Insurance Enterprise” report reveals that insurers plan to more than double their AI budgets—from 8% to 20% of IT spending within 3 to 5 years.
The study of 100 business leaders from United States insurance companies reveals that 92% view AI as critical for maintaining a competitive edge, particularly in customer personalization.
Underwriting emerges as the prime AI application area, though only 46% have extensively implemented it currently.
Insurers anticipate AI will improve risk assessment accuracy, enhance compliance, and boost customer retention, creating multiple service opportunities for tech-enabled business process outsourcing (BPO) providers.
Implementation challenges create outsourcing opportunities
The report identifies major adoption hurdles, including the integration of legacy systems and a lack of AI expertise, with 44% of smaller insurers lacking formal AI policies.
This skills gap is driving 47% of insurers to invest in upskilling and hiring new talent, presenting a clear opportunity for BPOs with AI capabilities.
Wipro’s Ritesh Talapatra notes, “AI adoption is no longer optional, it is essential to future success.”
BPOs can position themselves as ideal partners offering pre-built AI solutions for underwriting, compliance-ready platforms, and managed services that bridge the talent gap through staff augmentation models.
Wipro is one of India’s leading tech companies, known for its expertise in digital transformation, artificial intelligence, and data analytics. The company recently ranked #3 in the OA500 2025, an objective index of the world’s top 500 outsourcing companies.
