Martin Hübner
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Contextuary Advisory · Independent AI strategy advisory for insurers

AI strategy for mid-sized insurers. An independent basis for decisions on make-or-buy, prioritisation and delivery in IT.

Insurers face AI offers from every side — and have to decide without anyone in-house having done it before. Within a few weeks I deliver a sound basis for the decision: which initiatives will hold up, what to buy and what to build in-house, and how IT needs to be set up so that AI gets from pilot into production.

Arrange an initial conversation → About the 2027 study

Where most houses stand

  • Pilot projects are running, but nothing reaches production.
  • Vendors promise AI features in core systems, portals and claims processes — without an independent view of which of them will hold up.
  • Developers and service providers already use AI tools, without rules for quality, traceability and data protection.
  • The EU AI Act, DORA and the GDPR interlock; no one holds the overall view.
  • The data is not ready for AI — and no one in-house knows exactly how far from ready it is.
  • The board expects a strategy — IT has neither the capacity nor the comparable experience to deliver it.

AI initiatives rarely fail on the technology. They get stuck between pilot and production — on accountability, data, governance and unexamined vendor promises.

Services

Four formats, one method. Independent of vendors and implementation partners, at fixed prices.

Entry

KI-Entscheidungscheck (AI Decision Check)

Duration 4–6 weeks · fixed price from €20,000 plus VAT

A sound basis for the decision: which of your AI initiatives will hold up, what to buy and what to build in-house.

  • Decision paper with a clear recommendation, options and consequences
  • Presentation of the results in one meeting with IT leadership and the board
  • Evaluation along six dimensions
  • Conversations with IT and the business units, review of your system landscape and vendor offers

Should it become clear after the first week that the check will add no value, I stop and charge only for the first week.

KI-Zielbild & Roadmap (AI Target Picture & Roadmap)

Duration 8–12 weeks · fixed price on request

From findings to a workable target picture — and the way there.

  • Prioritisation of initiatives and make-or-buy for each use case
  • Business case for the board
  • IT set-up with which the house does its own AI-assisted development or steers vendors and integrators
  • Governance model with roles, decision rights and evidencing — framed by the AI Act, DORA, the GDPR and insurance supervision

KI-Betriebsmodell-Review (AI Operating Model Review)

Duration 1–2 weeks · fixed price per review on request

An outside view of your ongoing AI or modernisation initiatives — quarterly or at milestones.

  • What needs to change in the next three months
  • Where costs arise without progress
  • Whether the target picture, responsibilities, operations and incentives point in the same direction

Strategischer Sparringspartner (Strategic Advisor Retainer)

2 days a month or 1 day a week · fixed monthly fee, minimum 6 months

An independent sparring partner for IT leadership and the board; responsibility and decisions stay in-house.

  • Preparing board decisions
  • Evaluating vendor offers
  • Reviewing delivery practice and governance, following the market and regulation
  • On request, advising the person taking on AI governance in-house, until the role is established

I advise and recommend; implementation lies with your organisation or with partners of your choice. On request, I name suitable partners — without commission and with no stake of my own in the implementation.

Arrange an initial conversation →

Method

Every basis for a decision is built with the same method: structured conversations with IT and the business units; a review of the system landscape, the initiatives and the vendor market; an evaluation along six dimensions — and a clear recommendation with its reasoning, options and consequences. Comparable across houses, and therefore more telling with every engagement.

  1. Value portfolio

    Use cases, benefit, feasibility, strategic fit

  2. Data and system maturity

    Data availability and quality, core system, integration paths

  3. Make-or-buy and the vendor market

    Build, buy, wait or drop; vendors, lock-in

  4. Governance and regulation

    AI Act, DORA, GDPR, internal control, evidencing

  5. IT delivery and operating capability

    Development or vendor management, AI-assisted work, quality assurance

  6. Organisation, accountability and incentives

    Responsibilities, decision rights, incentives between IT and the business

Independent of vendors and implementation partners — advice in the client's interest.

I recommend; steering stays in-house.

2027 study

KI-Entscheidungen in der IT mittelständischer Versicherer — Stand, Hürden, Prioritäten 2027 (AI decisions in IT at mid-sized insurers — state of play, obstacles, priorities 2027)

Around 25 structured conversations with IT leaders at mid-sized insurers on the state of play, obstacles and decision practice around AI. Results and comparisons are anonymised. Participants receive the results before publication — and see where their house stands relative to the others. Taking part: 30 minutes, by phone or video.

Take part in the study →
About

Martin Hübner

Contextuary Advisory is the name I work under.

I have worked in IT for 18 years, seven of them as an external architect and tech lead in more than a dozen companies — five of them in insurance and financial services, including regulated payments and distribution environments. Twice I have brought AI features into production; once I moved a development team to AI-assisted ways of working and built the governance for it. My way into the insurance industry was a data warehouse at a mid-sized mutual insurer.

What a view across a dozen organisations shows: when AI initiatives fail, it is mostly because of unclear accountability, data that is not ready, governance that comes too late, and vendor promises no one has assessed independently. Recognising these patterns early — and making recommendations that hold up inside the organisation — is the work.

Hamburg · on site across DACH · German, English

Contact

Initial conversation

30 minutes, without obligation. I clarify with you which decision is pending and whether a Decision Check makes sense.

Arrange by email → Connect on LinkedIn
contact@martinhuebner.me Hamburg · on site across DACH German, English