Suncorp has announced a five-year partnership with Microsoft to accelerate the use of artificial intelligence and cloud technology across its operations.
The partnership will see the integration of AI at scale, utilising tools such as Azure OpenAI and Microsoft 365 Copilot to enhance efficiency in claims processing and improve employees' work experiences.
Suncorp has moved over 90% of its technological workloads from data centres to public cloud environments, positioning it to leverage new AI capabilities. The insurer has been actively exploring 120 AI use cases and plans to implement 20 of these within the current financial year.
Among the already deployed solutions is Smart Knowledge, designed to provide Suncorp's contact centre teams with relevant information during customer interactions by reasoning across thousands of articles. This initiative aids in reducing customer's waiting time by supplying necessary data promptly.
An additional AI-driven service employing Azure OpenAI has been introduced to offer a consolidated view of each claim. This innovation has successfully decreased the time spent by claims managers in searching through systems, cutting review time by five to 30 minutes per claim, depending on complexity.
Adam Bennett, Chief Information Officer at Suncorp, expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership's development. "It's very exciting to see GenAI move from experimentation phase to full scale production across the enterprise and start to have a real impact for our customers and our people," Bennett said. He continued, "Our partnership with Microsoft sets the bar for the industry and will deliver real benefits. Having established the right foundations through cloud migration, engineering excellence, digitisation and automation, we are now working together to safely deploy GenAI as scale and transform our end-to-end operations."
Bennett highlighted the efficient collaboration between Suncorp and Microsoft teams, stating, "The pace we were able to move was unprecedented and is a testament to the commitment throughout all levels of both organisations."
In ensuring the ethical use of AI technologies, Suncorp has formed an AI Steering Committee. This body centralises governance and provides oversight over the adoption of AI use cases, ensuring that robust risk management protocols are in place.
Steven Worrall, CVP, Microsoft ANZ, Microsoft, commended Suncorp's approach, declaring, "It has been really impressive to see the responsible and sophisticated approach Suncorp has taken in understanding how AI can be used to fuel innovation and to transform the way its people work."
Additionally, Suncorp has rolled out Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot to enhance operational efficiency within specific teams. These tools are essential components of Suncorp's broader AI strategy, supported by extensive staff training and the AI+U virtual learning series.
Commenting on the transformation, Bennett noted, "This initiative is not just about technology, it's about building the future of insurance, and our people are at the heart of this transformation. AI is empowering our employees, making them better equipped to deliver exceptional customer outcomes while also gaining more satisfaction from their work by reducing time spent on mundane tasks."
