Stephen Cross, Co-Founder and Group Head of Strategy and Innovation, McGill and Partners examines the impact AI will have in the year ahead.

As 2025 draws to a close, this year has been defined by one of the most profound shifts in our industry: the acceleration of agentic agents and artificial intelligence. For our firm, McGill and Partners, this technological leap has not only been a highlight but a differentiator, underscoring our digital-first principles and commitment to innovation.

Earlier this year, we became the first broker in the London market to embed agentic AI into our Underscore platform through Salesforce. By incorporating an AI agent into Underscore, it further streamlined the placement process, reducing friction and speeding up collaboration between brokers and insurers. More than just a technical upgrade, this milestone is reshaping the insurer-client interface and is setting a new benchmark for digital transformation.

Another exciting development that started in 2025, is the work being done through our partnership with Google. Through our collaboration with X, The Moonshot Factory’s Bellwether team, we’re leveraging Google’s Earth AI technology to enhance disaster response capabilities. This cutting-edge platform delivers real-time insights during disaster events, which will enable us to act with greater speed and precision when our clients need us the most.

AI as the next industrial revolution

These achievements reflect our belief that innovation, when paired with world-class partnerships, builds smarter and more resilient solutions. The proliferation of AI and agentic systems is not an incremental update or a new software cycle; it is the next industrial revolution. This shift is redefining how we understand risk, serve clients, and create value. For those who embrace it, the opportunity is immense. For those who do not, the risk could be existential.

Additionally, the AI revolution has fundamentally altered our relationship with data. For decades, our industry has operated by looking in the rear-view mirror, analysing legacy, backward-looking data to price the risks of tomorrow. Today, new technologies are enabling a critical shift toward leveraging real-time and even forward-looking predictive data.

2026: A varied path for brokers

Looking ahead to 2026, the sector faces a divergent path. The fundamental role of the broker remains crucial, but the outlook is highly nuanced. Firms that embrace technology and modernisation are set to accelerate, powered by the shift to real-time data, predictive analytics, and advanced platforms. Yet, others risk falling behind, constrained by legacy systems and outdated processes.  Plus, technology demands significant investment, and the gap between well‑resourced firms and smaller players has widened.

However, that’s not to say that smaller companies are at a disadvantage. In this environment, bigger budgets and larger spend do not necessarily translate into better outcomes. In fact, agile, smaller firms can often invest in and adopt AI quicker, moving faster than larger competitors weighed down by complexity. Plus, newer entrants to the market, free from legacy systems, are positioned with a clear advantage to build or implement digital operations from the ground up –  just as McGill and Partners did six years ago when we were founded.

Successfully implementing AI will ultimately come down to smart investment and the ability to harness technology in ways that best fit each firm’s strategy. Those who modernise thoughtfully and align digital tools with their operating models will be the ones who deliver superior outcomes for clients.

This is why innovation and digitalisation can no longer be viewed as optional – they are essential. They provide the foundation on which brokers must build on to stay relevant, resilient, and consistently deliver the best outcomes for clients in a rapidly evolving landscape.