If you work in insurance, you’ve probably spent a few nights worrying about the “big one.” The “big one” could be any loss scenario — a hurricane, a cyberattack, or a nuclear verdict — that would overwhelm your staffing and financial reserves, raise questions about your underwriting and rating, and create anxiety about your company’s future.  

These nightmarish events can occasionally happen in real life and put insurers out of business. But often, the bigger threats are emerging risks that go undetected and, over time, can significantly reduce insurer growth and profitability.     

Top emerging risks for 2025 

At any given time, there are dozens of emerging risks that insurers need to monitor closely. But there are a few in recent years that have gained the most attention. These risks include:  

  • Natural catastrophes and climate change: With rising sea levels, warming temperatures, and continued development in high-risk areas, the costs of natural disasters are skyrocketing and making it harder for insurers to assess risks effectively and provide the coverage that property owners need.  
  • Inflation and the economy: It’s up for debate whether the pandemic, tariffs, or economic policy is to blame, but the reality is that many products and services — including home and auto repairs — have become more expensive in a relatively short amount of time. These increases in claim costs are difficult to track and have led to significant rate hikes across multiple lines of insurance.
  • Cyber risks: Cyberattacks are constantly evolving, as criminals look for new targets and ways to access confidential information. The average cost of a data breach was $4.88 million last year, according to IBM — a 10 percent increase from a year earlier and the highest total ever. And that’s not even counting the many cyber losses that are “hidden” or included in other commercial lines claims.  
  • Geopolitical instability: Ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, Russia and Ukraine, and Pakistan and India are creating disruptions in supply chains, manufacturing, and trade around the world. The instability and rapid changes in war can have significant impacts on the global economy and the insurance industry.   
  • Talent drain: Experienced underwriters and claims professionals are continuing to retire, leaving many insurers struggling to develop effective automation and attract top talent. AI, both generative and agentic, could greatly reduce the time spent on key tasks, if it’s developed and managed by technology professionals who understand the complexity of the insurance industry . 

How a modern policy system can help address emerging risks 

Fortunately, a modern Policy Administration System (PAS) can help track a wide range of emerging risks and develop products to address market needs.    

When looking for a PAS, it’s important to find one that is easy to integrate with multiple data sources and features: 

  • Built-in, easy to use business intelligence (BI) tools, including dashboards and reporting capabilities, that provide transparency into your overall book of business. If data suggests that specific markets and materials have been more sensitive to inflation, the PAS needs to be able to update products to quickly account for changing economics.
  • A proven risk management information system (RMIS) that tracks emerging risks across the enterprise and serves as a single source of truth. A modern RMIS can support every phase of risk management, including analyzing exposures and costs, allocating insurance, and managing renewals.   
  • Workflow automation and AI to help reduce time-consuming tasks and free up experienced staff for more thought-intensive work. There’s no reason to scan or search through hundreds of pages, when AI can do it for you.  
  • Product development tools that make it easy to respond to emerging risks with new insurance programs. Since emerging risks change frequently, it’s critical to have tools that enable insurers to launch new products in weeks, not months.  
  • Document management solutions that can help personalize communications with policyholders about emerging risks. Whether the risk is already addressed in a policy or will be addressed soon, it’s critical to share that information with policyholders as soon as possible. 

The Origami risk Difference 

Origami Risk’s cloud-native, multi-tenant SaaS platform enables insurers to integrate analytics about emerging risks from a variety of sources and quickly develop new coverages, rates, and pricing. The system contains modules for policy administration, billing, claims, risk management, document management, loss control, and business intelligence — all under one unified platform and database architecture.  

Learn how Origami’s policy administration solution helps underwriters deal with emerging risks.