The Next Insurance Accelerator: Unlock Productivity Gains with AI

AI is emerging as a powerful productivity accelerator for insurers, boosting revenue and cutting costs by enhancing self-service customer experiences, doubling agent productivity in information retrieval and sales enablement, and streamlining underwriting and claims through platforms like iSuite and AIDP. Specifically, AI-powered super apps and chatbots automate customer interactions, while decision-support use cases such as lapse prediction and fraud detection enable data-driven retention and risk management. However, realizing this value requires navigating ethical, privacy, and transparency challenges, therefore insurers are encouraged to adopt responsible AI practices and partner with experienced technology providers like FPT.

Written by

Nguyen Vu Quynh Trang

Published on

October 15, 2024

Forecasts suggest that AI could add up to $1.1 trillion in annual value to the global insurance industry [1]. Within that broader opportunity, applying Generative AI (Gen AI) solutions to insurance distribution alone is expected to generate about $50 billion in value per year across the industry and help individual insurers increase revenue by around 20% while reducing costs by roughly 15% [2].

This value creation is primarily driven by higher productivity, more streamlined processes, improved customer service, and more data-driven decision-making enabled by AI applications.

Enhancing Customer Service with Gen AI

AI applications, particularly Generative AI (Gen AI), are expected to generate substantial savings for the insurance industry by automating customer service and enabling a more digital, seamless and undisrupted experience.

According to BCG, the largest cost savings from Gen AI applications in insurance are projected to come from productivity gains in customer service, accounting for as much as 60% of total cost savings [3]. By automating routine interactions, AI allows insurers to streamline operations and reduce expenses while maintaining consistent service quality.

AI also enables customer self-service for tasks that previously required agents' direct involvement, such as handling customer inquiries and receiving claim requests. The emergence of AI-powered customer super apps has significantly streamlined service processes while simultaneously elevating user experience. In these super apps, AI-powered chatbots allow customers to retrieve information effortlessly and around the clock, without having to contact human agents.

These capabilities create multiple operational and experiential benefits for insurers and policyholders, including:

Freeing up agent capacity so employees can focus on more complex, high-value customer needs.
Accelerating the processing of customer inquiries and claim-related requests.
Improving overall customer satisfaction through faster, always-available support.

A world-leading insurance group headquartered in Asia has, for instance, partnered with FPT to implement an AI-powered super app. As a result, the insurer has successfully digitalized over 90% of its customer services and achieved an impressive 80% of customer inquiries resolved on the first call, demonstrating the tangible impact of Gen AI on service quality and efficiency.

Boost Agent Productivity & Improve Sales Performance

In the insurance industry, agents must master and deliver accurate information on a wide range of products. This information-gathering process is highly time-consuming: according to BCG, as much as 35% of agents' time is spent collecting details on policies, terms, and related documents. AI, particularly GenAI, is emerging as a powerful solution, with the consulting firm estimating that GenAI applications can double agent productivity for these data retrieval tasks [4].

GenAI-powered chatbots can summarize lengthy documents, pinpoint precise answers, and provide concise explanations within seconds, saving agents hours of manual policy review. Global insurers have started experimenting with this approach, including a leading life insurer that adopted FPT's AI-Agent Digital Platform (AIDP).

The AI chatbot integrated into AIDP not only accelerates data retrieval for agents but also supports them throughout the sales cycle. Key capabilities include:

Providing tailored suggestions on lead management and recommended follow-up actions to convert prospects.
Generating digital scripts for approaching potential customers more effectively.

These features enable the insurer's agents to enhance performance and close deals more efficiently. As a result, the company increased its contribution to sales growth from distribution channels to up to 28% and raised the number of MDRT agents by 25% after one year of AIDP adoption.

AI is also expected to strengthen decision-making and guide business strategies by providing data-driven evidence. One prominent example in insurance is lapse prediction, which forecasts high-risk policyholders who are likely to terminate their contracts at the next due date. This type of application is already available on the market, with FPT's iSuite recognized as one of the leading solutions.

iSuite enables insurers to perform lapse predictions using input data such as policy attributes, payment history, and customer behaviors. The solution leverages AI to compare the key differences between high- and low-risk customer groups, calculate lapse scores, and identify policyholders with a high probability of termination.

By providing lapse prediction insights, iSuite helps insurers define proactive retention measures and redirect sales strategies before customers cancel their policies. Combined with additional capabilities for underwriting and claims processing automation, iSuite has earned international recognition, including the AI & Machine Learning Innovation Award at the 2026 InsurInnovator Connect (IIC) Asia Awards.

Streamlining Underwriting and Claims Processing with Automation

Underwriting and claims processing are critical to insurers' performance, yet they are often highly manual and time-consuming, causing delays in decision-making. These prolonged processes can significantly affect both employee productivity and customer satisfaction, ultimately determining an insurer's competitiveness.

Research shows that inefficiencies in these workflows translate into substantial business impact:

Underwriters spend up to 40% of their time on non-core activities, contributing to an estimated efficiency loss of up to $160 million over the next five years.
Declining customer satisfaction with the claims experience is a major trigger for switching carriers, putting $170 million in premiums at risk by 2027 [5].

Against this backdrop, insurers face a pressing need to automate underwriting and claims processing. Several leading players have already embarked on this journey, using AI and rule-based systems to shorten turnaround times, free up underwriters for higher-value work, and improve customer experiences.

Enhancing Underwriting and Claims with iSuite

One large finance group in the Asia-Pacific region has adopted FPT's iSuite solution to augment its underwriting and claims operations. When customers submit policy applications or claims with the required documentation, integrated OCR technology automatically scans the documents and populates the necessary fields in the applications. Requesters simply review the pre-filled information and sign off.

Once submissions are completed, the solution works alongside the existing rule-based engine. For requests that cannot be fully processed by the rules engine, iSuite leverages AI to calculate risk-based scores and compare them against predefined thresholds. Applications and claims classified as low risk are automatically issued and paid, with instant notifications sent to requesters. High-risk cases are routed to staff for further assessment.

This approach has delivered measurable gains for the finance group:

Six‑figure annual volume of claim requests automated through a unified digital insurance platform.
Claims handling time has been reduced dramatically, from two days to just two minutes from submission to payment.
Reduced up to 8% in costs by detecting fraudulent claims.

Unlocking AI's Potential in Insurance with Caution

While AI offers profound potential for insurers, its implementation raises significant concerns around ethics, privacy, and data transparency, particularly when handling highly sensitive information such as medical records. These issues have prompted insurers worldwide to move carefully, with 52% of surveyed CEOs identifying ethical challenges as the biggest obstacle to AI implementation [6]. Navigating this landscape is complex, as AI regulations and guidelines are evolving rapidly.

Nevertheless, ignoring AI altogether can erode insurers' competitiveness and expose their operations to greater risk. A prudent way forward is to collaborate with experienced technology providers who combine deep insurance domain knowledge with a strong commitment to responsible AI, such as FPT. With over 25 years of experience, FPT has supported more than 1,100+ global companies, including 130+ Fortune 500 clients. The company actively advocates for responsible AI, working with partners such as Landing AI, Mila, and members of the AI Alliance to help shape guidelines and best practices.

Learn more about FPT at: https://fptsoftware.com/industries/bfsi

Frequently Asked Questions

How much new value can AI and generative AI create for the global insurance industry, especially in distribution?

AI and generative AI could add up to $1.1 trillion in annual value to insurance. In distribution alone, GenAI can generate about $50 billion a year, helping individual insurers lift revenue by around 20% while cutting costs by roughly 15% through productivity, automation, and better decisions.

In what ways can AI boost insurance agent productivity and sales performance?

AI can halve or better the time agents spend gathering policy and product data by summarizing documents and surfacing precise answers instantly. Beyond research, AI can suggest next-best actions, generate sales scripts, and support lapse prediction, helping agents close more deals and improve sales growth and MDRT ratios.

How can AI and generative AI transform insurance customer service and cut service costs?

AI and GenAI can automate most front-line customer interactions via self-service portals, super apps, and chatbots. This delivers 24/7 support, faster responses, and higher satisfaction while driving major savings, with up to 60% of GenAI-related cost reductions coming from customer service productivity gains.

How can AI streamline underwriting and claims processing while improving customer satisfaction?

AI combines OCR, rules, and risk scoring to automate data capture and decisioning in underwriting and claims. Low-risk cases can be processed straight through in minutes instead of days, cutting non-core work, reducing leakage and fraud, and lifting customer satisfaction while protecting millions in premiums at risk.

What ethical, privacy, and transparency risks should insurers watch when deploying AI?

AI in insurance touches highly sensitive data and complex decisions, creating risks around bias, privacy breaches, and opaque models. Over half of insurance CEOs see ethics as the biggest AI hurdle. Insurers need clear governance, evolving regulatory alignment, and expert partners who prioritize responsible AI practices.