Walking the expo floor at an InsurTech conference can feel overwhelming. With over 100 vendors touting AI-powered automation for underwriting, service or claims, it’s easy to get lost in the buzz. As one vendor candidly put it, “We’re all doing the same thing, just with slightly different marketing.”

This begs a critical question for carriers, third-party administrators and others seeking improved efficiency: How do you evaluate and select the right InsurTech vendor partner?

Many approaches are suggested, each with its own pros and cons:

• Award Winners: Some suggest looking at vendors that have received prestigious industry honors, especially ones which emphasizes the importance of customer testimonials. While free to research, genuine customer-backed awards are rare, and annual cycles mean a “winner” could be outdated in today’s fast-moving tech landscape.

• Industry Analyst Reports: Reputable independent analyses can provide a quick overview. However, these often come with a price tag and can quickly become obsolete as technology evolves.

• Proofs of Concept (POCs): For those with more time and resources, offering several vendors a POC can identify if their sales pitch matches their actual delivery. While great for distinguishing “sizzle from steak,” POCs are resource-intensive and can have mixed results. As one carrier recently shared, it ran an agentic AI-focused POC, inviting five companies after evaluating dozens, and shockingly, three could not even complete basic data extraction, a fundamental requirement.

So, how can you navigate this complex landscape without wasting time, money or worse, damaging your reputation with customers due to a vendor’s misstep?

A Three-Step Process

Step 1: Curate Your Shortlist With Confidence

Start by identifying 5-15 InsurTech companies that claim to solve your specific problems. Then, critically cull this list down to only those that prominently feature a handful of existing, reputable clients on their website or in press releases. This initial vetting essentially leverages your competitors’ or industry peers’ experiences, giving you a pre-vetted starting point. You can find these initial names by reviewing award winners, reading industry reports and seeking recommendations within your professional network.

Step 2: Conduct Insightful Demos and Ask the Right Questions

Invite 3-5 of these pre-vetted companies for live software demonstrations. Prioritize vendors who first seek to understand your specific pain points and needs before launching into their sales pitch. During the demo, ask pointed questions that reveal their true capabilities, reliability and extensibility.

• Implementation Time: “How long did each of your last three implementations take, from kickoff to the first claim, policy or submission processed?” Despite the disparate variables that can affect these timelines, hearing the vendor detail actual results can reveal potential hidden complexities.

• Release Schedule: “What’s your typical release schedule?” A frequent release schedule (e.g., monthly) indicates continuous improvement and responsiveness to market demands.

• Configurability: “How configurable are your offerings?” Give strong preference to solutions where most features are instantly configurable without requiring custom coding. This saves significant time, money and headaches, ensuring a seamless fit with your existing systems and workflows.

• Extensibility: “How has your solution set evolved over time and where do you see it going over the next 12 months?” Unless you’re in the market for a point solution and have the resources to manage a growing number of vendors, it can be useful to find vendors that do more than one thing well, so as your needs evolve, they might just have you covered and without having to worry about yet another integration or pane of glass.

• Security: “Is your company SOC 2 Type 2 or ISO 27001 compliant?” One of these levels of compliance should be table stakes if a vendor intends to process or store your customer data. In addition, depending on the data and use case in question, it’s also important to ask how they adhere to HIPAA, CAN-SPAM, TCPA, CCPA and GDPR regulations.

Please note that a firm need not check all of these boxes for them to be capable or have a solid offering. This can be especially true for earlier-stage companies still getting off the ground. The key is to find a company with a team that you can trust and who you believe you’d enjoy working with. That last part is key because it’s rare for the implementation of a new technology to be free of any hiccups big or small.

Step 3: Secure Unbiased Reference Checks and Make Your Call

For your top choice (or top two if there’s no clear winner from Step 2), complete reference checks with two existing customers. Ideally, these should be “back channel” reference checks, where you reach out to their customers directly without an official introduction from the vendor. This allows you to gather unfiltered, unvarnished feedback. Ensure these reference customers have been with the vendor for at least 12 months, as this provides a comprehensive view of their day-to-day interactions, handling of special requests and ongoing stewardship.

While there’s no magic eightball for selecting the perfect InsurTech partner, investing a modest amount of effort upfront using this structured approach significantly increases your chances of avoiding wasted time, money and potential reputational damage.