Digital Payments Reshape Insurance Competition

Succeeding in insurance payments requires building scalable ecosystems, One Inc CEO Ian Drysdale writes in a new PYMNTS eBook, “2025’s Over/Under: The Bets That Paid Off.”

The insurance industry has undergone a seismic transformation over the past five years, evolving from traditional paper-based processes to a digitally driven ecosystem, where payments, digitalization and connectivity now define carrier and MGA competitive advantage.

The Expected: Complexity Would Provide the Edge

One of the developments we prepared for was the increasing specialization of insurance payments. Insurance isn’t commerce. It’s not utilities. It’s not tax. It’s a web of premiums, claims, refunds, commissions, liens, subrogation, state regulations, data dependencies and complex workflows that multiply at scale. We believed that multi-industry payment platforms would struggle as both volume and client requirements increased, and that insurers would ultimately choose depth over the generic.

One Inc developed deep integrations into core systems supported by payment orchestration across ACH, digital wallets, credit and debit cards, and emerging rails. We adopted a network strategy that treats payers, payees, vendors, lienholders and servicers as valued stakeholders. We also focused on providing compliance at scale, including banking, card network programs and state level regulations by line that others couldn’t operationalize.

We believed the market would reward operational credibility over thin UX overlays that don’t have the capabilities required to fully digitalize insurance payments. As volumes grew, insurers gravitated toward partners who could absorb complexity rather than abstract it away.

The Unexpected: How Fast the Center of Gravity Would Shift

What we underestimated wasn’t the direction of change but the speed of it. First, insurance payments quickly became strategic starting in 2020 when printing checks from an office was no longer feasible. Second, boards and CEOs started viewing payments as an efficiency multiplier as well as a customer-experience and generational requirement. And critically, while we knew the digitally enabled ecosystem of a vast network would be imperative to success, it mattered sooner.

Once scale was reached, connectivity itself became the client demand. The value wasn’t just software; it was who was already connected. These shifts created opportunities to adjust course in real time by tightening focus, sequencing initiatives more aggressively, and by saying no to adjacent ideas when they distracted from the core network.

The Insurance Payments Industry Isn’t About Chasing Trends

Succeeding in insurance payments requires mastering complexity and building scalable ecosystems. Strategically, we’ve doubled down on what we do best, which is enabling insurers to thrive in a fragmented, high-stakes environment. That meant innovating in ways that matter, like real-time payments, AI-driven insights and deeper core systems integrations. It also meant leaning into partnerships, whether with banks, core systems providers, or systems integrators, to ensure we’re not just a vendor but a cornerstone of the insurance ecosystem.

As we move into 2026 and beyond, our focus remains clear. We will innovate with purpose, scale with discipline, and deliver client-validated value that compounds over time. The insurance industry is evolving rapidly, and we’re proud to help our partners navigate challenges and seize the opportunities that lie ahead.