Insurance companies recorded the fastest gains in AI readiness globally, jumping 8 points to 48.6 out of 100, according to Accenture's inaugural AI Progress Barometer. The surge reflects a shift from experimentation to full-scale execution, with insurers redesigning claims processes and modernising data foundations to automate more of the value chain.
The Barometer tracks AI readiness across roughly 3,000 of the world's largest companies, scoring them from 0 to 100. Ten of the 18 sectors measured showed improvement over the past six months. Insurance led the pack, followed by travel (+5.7 to 46.7) and consumer goods (+5.2 to 43.7).
From experimentation to execution at scale
Gavin Stephenson, Accenture's Data & AI lead for EMEA, said, "This progress reflects a shift from experimentation to execution at scale. A growing number of European companies are beginning to reinvent business processes with AI, while cleaning their data and skilling their people. For instance, insurers are not just deploying AI on top of existing processes but are redesigning how work gets done-straightforward claims can be automated from damage assessment to payment, while complex cases get flagged for a human expert. This redesign is only possible with clean, integrated and accessible data underneath, and with a workforce that is properly trained."
For insurance companies, that means investing in AI for Insurance skills across the organisation. The shift from bolting AI onto existing workflows to rethinking entire processes demands that claims handlers, underwriters, and data teams all understand how to work with intelligent systems.
European companies improved their AI readiness scores by 1.6 points, outpacing North America's 1.1-point gain. Still, North American firms hold a higher average score-48.9 versus Europe's 43.1.
Enterprise-wide reinvention, not plug-and-play
Mauro Macchi, CEO for Europe, Middle East, and Africa at Accenture, said, "Europe is clearly building real momentum in AI, mainly driven by its largest companies. They understand that for AI to deliver more value, faster, it requires enterprise-wide reinvention, not just plug-and-play adoption. This means rethinking operating models, redesigning how work gets done, strengthening their data and technology foundations, and most importantly ensuring leadership engagement and proper governance and change management. The speed of execution will define Europe's future competitiveness."
Macchi's point about governance and leadership engagement goes to the heart of what separates AI experiments from AI-driven business transformation. For insurance leaders, that means building strategies that align data readiness with business goals-an area where AI for Executives & Strategy becomes critical. Without that alignment, even the most advanced models fail to deliver return on investment.
Among individual countries, France (+5 to 43.1), the United Kingdom (+4.8 to 44.5), and Spain (+4.6 to 39.9) recorded the largest improvements in AI readiness.
Why this matters for insurance professionals
The Barometer's findings confirm that insurance is at the front of the AI adoption curve, but the real work is just beginning. Claims automation, underwriting triage, and fraud detection all depend on clean, integrated data-not just on deploying models. For insurance professionals, the priority is clear: invest in data modernisation and workforce training to turn AI readiness into measurable business outcomes. Companies that treat AI as a bolt-on will fall behind those that redesign the work itself.
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