Allianz UK, part of the financial services group Allianz SE, has introduced a generative AI tool, BRIAN, to help underwriters respond to customer enquiries, enhancing speed and confidence in decision-making processes.
Following a successful pilot, it is now operational within Allianz Commercial. BRIAN digests underwriting guides and allows underwriters to ask specific questions and receive concise and accurate responses.
Since roll-out in January, BRIAN has reportedly been asked over 13,000 questions and saved an estimated 65,000 minutes or 135 working days in information gathering.
It is also said to provide valuable insights into underwriters’ questions and motivations, and has been named in honour of Benjamin Blackie, who played a guiding role in the early stages of the company’s development.
The firm stated that BRIAN is particularly beneficial for junior underwriters to familiarise them with vast documentation and ensure smoother navigation.
The tool is currently used by all property and liability underwriters across Allianz UK commercial offices, with plans to expand to all underwriters by the end of the year.
Benjamin Blackie, Transformation Business Owner at Allianz UK, commented, “What sets BRIAN apart is its dual functionality. It provides a concise answer and includes a direct link to the specific section of the guidance document used to generate the response, allowing underwriters to delve deeper if needed. Typically, our underwriters spend around two hours a week looking for information on internal documents. With BRIAN it takes just seconds.
“This is not about replacing decision-making, but equipping people with better tools to access information they need at the moment they need it. With the extra time saved, underwriters can focus on deeper risk analysis, enhancing customer relationships, refining pricing strategies, and staying updated on emerging market trends and regulatory changes.”
He continued, “In a remote world with lots of hybrid working, not every underwriter gets to sit next to a senior underwriter every day who just so happens to know where things are – so it’s called BRIAN so every underwriter can have what I had when I first started.”
About the Author
