An ongoing journal on standards, regulation, security and artificial intelligence — written from the perspective of operational insurance IT.
RClassic or RNext? Why specialist maturity determines the right standard generation
A contribution to standardisation and interface architecture in German insurance IT
20 years of BiPRO – this anniversary was at the heart of BiPRO Day 2026 at the Dorint Kongresshotel Düsseldorf/Neuss. With around 500 participants, over 40 speakers, and more than 300 member companies, the association has long become the central authority for digital standards in the insurance industry. However, alongside a retrospective, and artificial intelligence, another forward-looking topic dominated the presentations: the relationship between the established standard generation RClassic and the newer generation RNext.
AI Meets BiPRO Standards: Why Structured Interfaces Are Essential for Automated Case Processing
Artificial intelligence was the dominant topic at BiPRO Day 2026 – and precisely in the anniversary year when BiPRO e.V. celebrated its 20th existence. At first glance, this may seem surprising: Why is a two-decade-old interface standard needed when modern AI systems can supposedly process unstructured data? However, the BiPRO community at the event took a clear opposing stance: Artificial intelligence does not replace standards – it makes them more important than ever. This is because powerful AI systems require structured, quality-assured, and semantically unambiguous data to function reliably.
Why BiPRO is not an IT project but a matter for the boardroom
In many smaller brokerages and insurance companies, the question of BiPRO connectivity is still delegated to the IT department – or to the external service provider who already looks after the broker management system (MVP). That is understandable, because BiPRO sounds technical: interfaces, standards, data formats. Yet this reflex regularly leads to an expensive misconception. BiPRO is neither a law nor a finished product that you simply buy and install – it is a voluntary industry standard whose benefits only unfold through deliberate entrepreneurial decisions.
API-first in insurance: why interface architecture decides time-to-market
For a long time, APIs were regarded in the insurance industry as a purely technical detail – a means of connecting systems internally. That view has fundamentally changed. APIs are no longer merely technical tools but highly strategic corporate assets that directly influence revenue growth, innovation and market positioning. The global market for API management is estimated at more than 16 billion US dollars in 2026, with an annual growth rate of around 34 per cent (Source: Orbilontech) – an indicator of how far API architecture has evolved from an IT-internal question into a business topic in its own right.
Certified, but secure? What ISO 27001 & TISAX truly mean for insurance IT service providers
Any IT service provider operating in the insurance sector can hardly avoid security certifications. Tenders demand them, clients set them as a contractual prerequisite, and board members often refer to them as proof of "audited security". However, in practice, there is often confusion about which certificate is actually relevant for which purpose – and what a certificate can achieve, but also what it cannot. In particular, the confusion between ISO 27001 and TISAX regularly leads to misunderstandings in the insurance industry.
DORA in Practice: What Insurers and IT Service Providers Really Need to Consider in 2026
Since 17 January 2025, the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) has applied directly in all EU member states. For banks, insurance companies, payment service providers, and other financial undertakings, this marked the end of a multi-year preparation phase. However, in 2026, the nature of the regulation has noticeably changed: pure documentation obligation has become active supervision. BaFin has unequivocally declared 2026 a test of endurance – the focus is no longer on whether DORA has been implemented, but how stringently.
Legacy Systems in Core Insurance: Modernise, Replace or Encapsulate?
Insurance companies were among the pioneers of digital data processing – and that is precisely what is increasingly becoming a burden. The industry's early adoption of technology means that many core insurance systems have grown organically over decades instead of being fundamentally modernised. The result: highly complex, hard-to-maintain system landscapes that no longer meet today's requirements for flexibility, speed and external collaboration. Even seemingly simple adjustments can cause enormous effort, because data is held redundantly and has to be maintained in many places at once.
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