Insurance Leaders Confront Data Integrity at ACORD Connect 2026

The two-day summit marked the organization's first in-person gathering since 2019, focusing on the intersection of data, truth, and trust. While 65% of participants consider their data AI-ready, more than half identified the sheer complexity and variety of information as the primary barrier to establishing institutional trust. Attendees prioritized scalable, reliable architecture over traditional solutions like staff training or governance protocols.

Discussions throughout the conference challenged the notion that proprietary data formats provide a competitive edge. Instead, experts argued that adopting common standards acts as a baseline requirement for excellence, while true differentiation remains rooted in underwriting and claims expertise. Participants also noted that human oversight is becoming an insufficient safeguard, as the speed of AI-driven decision-making increasingly outpaces manual verification capacity. The event concluded with a call for industry-wide alignment to standardize data exchange, aiming to mitigate the risks caused by fragmented systems and inconsistent interpretations across global insurance markets.