Suncorp has confirmed a five-year deal with Microsoft to help accelerate its use and adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and Azure public cloud. 

The pair will extend their existing partnership – a cloud-focused deal confirmed in early 2023 – to support more rapid integration of AI at scale across the insurer’s operations.

The deal includes further adoption of Azure OpenAI, a suite of AI models which include GPT-4, and Microsoft 365 Copilot, the bigtech’s generative AI service. The progressive rollout of these technologies is expected to “boost efficiency in claims processing for customers and enhance day-to-day work experiences for employees”, Microsoft said.

The bigtech recognised Suncorp as among the first financial services organisations in Australia to successfully migrate more than 90 per cent of its technology workloads to public cloud environments – providing a strong foundation, it says, for progressive AI adoption.

“Our partnership with Microsoft sets the bar for the industry and will deliver real benefits,” said Suncorp chief information officer Adam Bennett. “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.”

He added: “The pace we were able to move was unprecedented and is a testament to the commitment throughout all levels of both organisations”.

According to Microsoft, Suncorp is now actively exploring 120 GenAI use cases across its operations, with 20 of these expected to be deployed in the current financial year.

Among these include ‘Smart Knowledge’, a GenAI-powered, real-time assistance tool for frontline customer service staff. The tool leverages thousands of procedures, underwriting guidelines and knowledge articles to deliver relevant information to Suncorp’s contact centre teams.

Previously, Suncorp noted, each employee would need to review multiple documents and fields across different systems – a process that could take up to 30 minutes depending on the complexity of the claim.

Azure OpenAI is also being used to produce simplified status summaries of insurance claims for employees, including a summarisation of next steps to progress claims.

“This innovation has reduced the time claims managers spend searching across systems, resulting in between five and 30 minutes saved per claim review depending on claim complexity.”

Microsoft noted that the use of Copilots is a key part of Suncorp’s AI enablement plan, one that is accompanied by extensive training and support from the bigtech.

“This includes Suncorp’s company-wide AI+U virtual learning series designed to ensure everyone in the business can better understand and start using AI-based tools.”

Bennett added: “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.”