Where Insurance Budgets Are Growing Fastest in 2026

Margin pressure, underwriting volatility, and rising customer expectations are forcing carriers to decide not just how much to spend, but where that spend will have the biggest impact.

Insights from a recent microsurvey of our insurance newsletter audience reveal a clear hierarchy emerging across the organization, with analytics and underwriting modernization at the center of next year’s budget growth.

Data & Analytics Leads Overall Spend Increases

Across all respondents, Data & Analytics is the top area slated for budget growth, cited by 44% of participants. This reflects the industry’s continued push toward more disciplined pricing, improved risk selection, and better portfolio steering—especially in an environment where small underwriting errors are quickly magnified.

Close behind, Distribution and agent tools account for 31% of planned budget increases. Even as digital channels mature, insurers continue to invest in broker enablement, CRM modernization, and tools that improve quote-to-bind speed and producer productivity.

Executive Focus: Underwriting Technology Takes Priority

At the senior leadership level, priorities shift meaningfully. Among C-suite respondents, Underwriting technology emerges as the clear leader, with 50% identifying it as the primary area for budget growth.

This underscores a strategic push to modernize core underwriting systems—embedding automation, rules engines, and AI-assisted decisioning to improve loss ratios while scaling efficiently. For executives, underwriting technology is no longer just an operational upgrade; it’s a margin defense strategy.

VPs and Directors: Balancing Growth and Execution

Among VPs, investment priorities split evenly between Data & Analytics and Distribution / agent tools, each at 50%. This reflects a focus on execution—using data to drive performance while equipping frontline teams with better tools to compete for profitable growth.

Directors take a more diversified approach. Half prioritize Distribution and agent tools, while the remaining budget growth is split between Claims automation and Data & Analytics. These choices point to near-term operational wins: faster claims handling, reduced leakage, and improved service levels.

Owners Go All-In on Analytics

For owners, the signal is unmistakable: 100% identify Data & Analytics as the top area for budget growth. For this group, analytics is the foundation for better decision-making across underwriting, claims, and capital allocation—especially critical in smaller or more concentrated portfolios.

The Bigger Picture

The takeaway is clear: while budget priorities vary by role, data is the connective tissue across every major investment theme. Underwriting technology is rising rapidly at the strategic level, distribution tools remain essential for growth, and claims automation continues to offer targeted efficiency gains.

For insurers planning 2026 budgets, the winners will be those that treat these investments as part of a unified operating model—rather than isolated technology projects.