TAL inks three-year AI and cloud agreement with Microsoft

Australian life insurance company TAL has entered into a three-year deal with Microsoft to leverage the tech giant's cloud and AI capabilities.

The agreement builds on an existing partnership, with TAL gaining access to new technologies, including Azure OpenAI for its engineering capabilities.

TAL aims to use generative AI to enhance customer and employee experiences.

One use case of the partnership will be to leverage Azure OpenAI to streamline insurance claims processing, according to TAL.

This will be done through a search assistant called 'Claims Assist Knowledge Search' for TAL's claims and customer service teams to tap into a knowledge bank and respond to customer queries faster.

TAL is also developing a solution that automates manual indexing of emails using a combination of AI and robotics to improve efficiency and accuracy.

The deal includes increased employee access to several Microsoft Copilot solutions, making TAL one of the first organisations in Australia to deploy Copilot at scale, according to the insurer.

“Our partnership with Microsoft is an investment in advanced technology to make the experience our customers, partners, and employees have with us, better,” said Hinesh Chauhan, CIO at TAL.

“This agreement demonstrates how TAL is adopting technology to lead on digital in the life insurance sector. The partnership approach allows us to benefit from Microsoft’s leading AI technologies like Copilot for Microsoft 365 while also collaborating closely to develop our own solutions for our customers, partners, and employees.”

An additional 2,000 licences for Copilot for Microsoft 365 will be rolled out following strong results in time savings and operational efficiencies from TAL's participation in an early access program that started in October last year.

TAL engineers will also have access to GitHub Copilot, using it to check their coding and enable the development of solutions for customers and partners.

The broader Copilot roll-out will be underpinned by TAL's adaptive framework for the responsible and safe use of AI.

TAL employees will have access to Microsoft's Enterprise Skills Initiative, to support broad uptake and skills development in AI, cloud computing and data management.

“Our continued collaboration with TAL highlights the incredible potential of AI, cloud computing and data to transform life insurance in Australia," said Steven Worrall, managing director at Microsoft Australia and New Zealand.

"The company has already gained a first-mover advantage in generative AI adoption through our Copilot for Microsoft 365 Early Access Program, and we are excited to explore more ways to enhance customer engagement and enrich employee experiences.”