Transforming insurance with AI-powered autonomous agents
AI is revolutionising the insurance industry, driving efficiencies and creating personalised customer experiences across the value chain. From claims processing and underwriting to customer service and fraud detection, AI-powered tools are proving invaluable.
The emergence of AI agents is poised to further accelerate innovation. In this article, we’ll explore the impact of these agents on the insurance sector and how organisations are using them to transform business operations.
What are AI-powered agents?
Often referred to as “orchestrator agents”, autonomous AI agents are designed to achieve specific goals with reduced intervention from us. Extracting greater value from existing data, reducing operational costs, automating processes and improving decision-making. They can also learn from past interactions and even execute tasks autonomously.
While these improvements are promising, safety is key to rolling out agentic systems. This means prioritising security, privacy and safety throughout AI development. Drawing on decades of expertise in building AI products, Microsoft is committed to industry-leading practices and capabilities. This includes our Secure Future Initiative and Responsible AI principles, providing a solid foundation to unlock AI’s transformative potential with confidence.
These efforts enable insurers to enhance the customer experience while maintaining outstanding standards of trust and reliability.
Using agents in the insurance industry
Deploying a network of agents can help insurers address intricate customer prompts efficiently. For example, one agent can extract information from a policy administration system, another could specialise in medical records related to customer policies, and a third might access and analyse claims data.
Here are some significant industry use cases.
Transforming underwriting through time-saving
AI-enabled tools in underwriting can automate data ingestion, translate unstructured data into structured data, and help underwriters access and interpret information from multiple, isolated sources.
For example, Markerstudy Group built an app for its claims department on Azure OpenAI to summarise claims calls for handlers. With 300 claims handlers using the app, the organisation saved around four minutes per call – and a total of 7,500 working days.
AI agents can also provide real-time cross-checks, ensure compliance with new regulations, and help underwriters evaluate more policies by removing manual tasks from their workflow. For example, Zurich Insurance Group is using tools like Azure OpenAI to support more accurate, efficient risk evaluations – accelerating underwriting and boosting customer satisfaction.
Automating claims processes and data analysis
Agentic AI can automate the extraction and validation of claims data from forms, emails or portals. It can also cross-reference claim information with policies and coverage terms, and route claims for approval or escalation based on pre-defined rules.
Insurance platform Nsure.com has created a customer copilot which draws data from Microsoft Fabric and helps customers submit payments, review renewal offers and request discounts. Along with text, the copilot offers an interactive voice response option and handles around 60% of customer questions. In scenarios like this, agents can reduce the claims process from weeks to hours.
Improving customer services and empowering employees
With chatbots available 24/7 and capable of understanding natural language, AI agents can increase customer choice, personalisation and satisfaction.
When a customer initiates a claim, they typically complete a form to gather general information and open the damage case. To streamline this process and improve service quality, insurance company DOMCURA has developed an AI-powered agent called Claimens, capable of handling calls, guiding customers through the claim form and outlining next steps.
By handling simple tasks, the agent enables case workers to focus on more complex claims, which helps improve the experience for both customers and employees.
Take the next step with trusted support
With the UK government’s Action Plan emphasising the role of AI in driving economic growth, implementing AI-powered agents is now a key strategic priority and differentiator for businesses.
The value of agents comes from their potential to support complex use cases across business functions, particularly for workflows that involve time-consuming tasks or require multiple sources of data. To get started with Microsoft as your partner, we invite you to co-innovate AI use cases to ensure we’re transforming priority areas.
By leveraging proven solutions, you can streamline processes and improve customer satisfaction while maintaining the highest standards of trust and reliability.
To learn how to build your strategic plan today and discover the five stages of AI value creation, download a free copy of our AI Strategy Roadmap.
Find out more
Read the blog: Insurance in the era of generative AI – use cases that transform the industry
About the author
James has held leadership positions across Microsoft Consumer and Enterprise teams. With a passion for people and technology coming together to drive customer success, he has been at the forefront of cloud and digital transformation for over a decade, developing new revenue streams and significantly accelerating growth.
