TAL prioritises data and AI with "largest-ever technology deal"

Australian life insurer TAL is set to consolidate its data in Azure and build a suite of AI tools in close collaboration with Microsoft.

TAL CIO Hinesh Chauhan.

The five-year agreement with Microsoft is touted as TAL’s “largest ever technology deal”.

Microsoft also said in a statement that it would “jointly invest in TAL’s engineering capability”.

The target endstate for TAL, according to Microsoft, is to “unify its data in Azure and weave AI into the fabric of its operations …. reimagining how an insurer works from the inside out,” 

CIO Hinesh Chauhan said that TAL and Microsoft had a “longstanding partnership”, but that the expanded agreement would help the insurer “significantly scale and speed up our innovation in products and services.”

TAL already has some AI tools live, including a chat-based knowledge assistant for employees to use, and an “AI-powered post-call summarisation tool”.

Chauhan indicated that customer-facing AI could be next, saying that “building experiences customers love” is on the horizon.