A conversation with Celent's Juan Mazzini on where the industry is headed next #
“AI is the most important technology for our industry, and it's closely tied to data, because as human beings, we have real limitations in what we can do with data. With AI, there's no such limitation.”
— Juan Mazzini, Global Head, Celent
Equisoft interviewed Juan Mazzini, Global Head at Celent, where he also leads the firm's insurance practice for EMEA, APAC and LATAM, to get his take on where life insurance is headed. Drawing on more than a decade advising insurers across Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific, Mazzini unpacks how customer experience (CX), distribution, and data strategy are converging, and why artificial intelligence (AI), more than any other technology, is set to reshape the industry over the next five years.
In this video, Mazzini shares his perspective on the questions insurers are asking right now: what customer experience will look like in five years, how distribution is evolving alongside digital partnerships, where data creates the most value (and the biggest obstacles), and which trends — from longevity to embedded insurance — will matter most going forward.
Our guest
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Juan MazziniGlobal Head, Celent (Insurance Practice Lead — EMEA, APAC & LATAM)
Key insights #
- Put the customer at the centre, deliberately. Most insurers already say they do this, Mazzini notes, but doing it well means using structured methods — jobs-to-be-done, design thinking — to map new technology onto the customer journey, rather than simply digitizing what already exists.
- Distribution is going digital, not direct. Simple, "live" products are moving toward digital and embedded models, with partners such as super-app providers acting as a new distribution outlet rather than a bypass of them. More sophisticated, investment-related products are heading toward a hybrid model: human advisors augmented by AI and data.
- Data maturity happens in stages. Insurers typically start by using data for process efficiency, then progress to third-party data for better underwriting, and eventually to hyper-personalization, cross-sell and next-best-action. Getting there takes data literacy, culture change, and replacing decades-old systems never built to manage today's data.
- Legacy modernization is hard, but not optional. Many core systems are 40 to 50 years old and were designed for transactions, not data. Replacing them means migrating entire portfolios, not just standing up something new, which is why some insurers use data lakes and AI models as an interim step.
- Longevity is quietly reshaping product design. Products built around retirement at 65 no longer match reality: many people at 65 have 20 to 30 more years ahead and don't want to retire. Combined with medical advances in prevention, this shifts what "coverage" needs to mean.
- AI is the defining technology, not a replacement for people. Mazzini expects AI to drive efficiency and augment human capability across the value chain, particularly where it's paired with better data. He doesn't expect AI to replace people wholesale, but he does expect it to change which parts of the value chain are done by humans.
About our guest #
Juan Mazzini is Global Head at Celent, where he also leads the firm's insurance practice for EMEA, APAC and LATAM. Over a 35-year career spanning insurance and banking IT, he has led innovative ventures and advises C-level executives on core system selection, partnership strategy, innovation management and market entry. He is a frequent industry speaker, academic instructor, and mentor.
Deepen your knowledge: AI and data in life insurance
- Insurance Influencer Spotlight: Juan Mazzini, Global Head at Celent: Mazzini's own take on where the industry is headed next, from AI strategy to the Celent–GlobalData integration.
- 5 Trends Reshaping Life Insurance in 2026: The trends insurers are prioritizing right now, from agentic AI to accelerated underwriting.
- The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Life Insurance: A deeper look at where AI is delivering value today, and how to adopt it strategically.
- Assessing Data Readiness for AI in the Life Insurance Industry: Equisoft, LIMRA and UCT research on the data foundations an AI strategy depends on.
- A Comprehensive Guide to Customer Experience in the Life Insurance Industry: Equisoft's knowledge hub on building better CX across the policy lifecycle.
