New Delhi, Sept. 9 -- As life insurers modernise legacy technology and adopt AI, the focus is shifting from digitising individual processes to building more connected, data-driven customer journeys. At Aviva India, AI is being explored across underwriting, document processing, customer engagement and wellness, while automation is being used to simplify operations and distribution. In an exclusive interaction, Gyanendra Singh, Chief Technology Officer, Aviva Life Insurance, discusses the insurer's technology modernisation, AI strategy, data governance, automation and the future of digital insurance. Edited excerpts.
Q. Given the coexistence of legacy and digital systems in your sector, how far has Aviva India progressed in modernising its core technology stack, and what are the biggest challenges remaining? Singh: Our technology modernisation journey is focused on progressively moving from fragmented, process-led systems towards a more connected, agile and data-driven architecture. This means strengthening our cloud and data capabilities, enabling greater integration across platforms and using automation to simplify journeys for customers, employees and distribution partners. The challenge is to modernise at pace while maintaining the resilience, security and continuity expected of a life insurer.
Importantly, we are already seeing this transformation translate into tangible customer experiences. One example is our AI-enabled Digital Kiosks, which can provide a quick health assessment through a simple face scan. This creates a more engaging customer interaction and helps initiate meaningful conversations around health, wellness and financial protection. Through our Wellness 360 ecosystem, customers can also access AI-powered features such as diet recommendations, health insights and wellness tracking.
Going forward, the priority is to connect these innovations more deeply across the insurance journey rather than deploy technology in silos. Legacy integration, data interoperability and responsible adoption of AI will remain important challenges. For us, modernisation is ultimately not about having the newest technology stack; it is about creating a technology foundation that allows us to innovate faster while delivering simpler, safer and more personalised experiences for customers.
Q. Where is AI currently having the most significant business impact at Aviva India, and what metrics determine whether an AI deployment can scale? Singh: We see AI as an enabler of business outcomes rather than a technology initiative in isolation. At Aviva, some of the most relevant areas are underwriting, intelligent document processing, customer engagement and wellness. The objective is to reduce manual effort, improve decision quality and make customer journeys faster and more personalised.
Underwriting is particularly important because AI can help extract and structure information from documents, identify relevant patterns and support faster decision-making, while keeping appropriate human judgement in the loop. We are also exploring AI-led customer and wellness experiences, including health insights and personalised recommendations.
AI deployments need to be evaluated not simply on adoption, but on measurable improvements in productivity, decision-making and customer experience. For us, scalability is ultimately measured through business KPIs: reduction in turnaround time, straight-through-processing rates, accuracy, customer experience, operational productivity, cost-to-serve and the ability to deploy a use case consistently across larger volumes.
Q. To what extent can life insurance move towards straight-through processing, and what percentage of the customer journey do you believe can ultimately be automated? Singh: I believe a significant portion of the life insurance journey can move towards straight-through processing, particularly where decisions are rules-based, data is available digitally and the risk profile is relatively straightforward. The goal should not be to automate everything, but to automate the predictable while reserving human expertise for complex or sensitive decisions. The biggest opportunity is across onboarding, KYC, document collection and validation, basic underwriting, policy issuance, servicing, renewals and parts of claims.
At Aviva, our experience with digital onboarding and OTC journeys reinforces the principle that removing unnecessary documentation and manual intervention can dramatically reduce friction. However, I would be cautious about putting a single percentage on the entire customer journey because automation potential varies significantly by product, customer profile, underwriting complexity and regulatory requirements.
Q. How is Aviva India modernising its data architecture to leverage extensive customer, health, policy and behavioural data with AI, while adhering to privacy, consent and governance requirements? Singh: Data is becoming the foundation of an intelligent insurer. Our focus is therefore on making data more accessible, structured and usable across the organisation, while ensuring that access is governed according to purpose, consent and business need. The objective is not simply to accumulate more data, but to create trusted data that can support better decisions and experiences.
This becomes particularly important as insurance moves towards more personalised and preventive models. Health, behavioural and policy data can help us understand customer needs better, but its use must always be balanced with privacy, transparency and customer trust. We need strong data quality, lineage, access controls, consent management, monitoring and auditability, particularly when data is subsequently consumed by AI models. Q. How are AI and automation transforming Aviva's relationships with agents and distribution partners? Are you observing measurable improvements in lead conversion, customer recommendations or agent productivity due to technology? Singh: AI and automation are helping us make distribution more intelligent and efficient, while keeping the agent relationship at the centre. Better lead prioritisation, data-led customer insights and automation of routine processes can enable agents to spend more time understanding customer needs and offering relevant advice. We see technology as augmenting the adviser, not replacing the human judgement and trust that remain fundamental to insurance.
At Aviva India, our focus is on using technology to make every stage of the agent and partner journey simpler, from onboarding and lead management to customer servicing and ongoing engagement. It can help agents identify the right opportunities, understand customer needs more deeply and make conversations more relevant. Ultimately, the measure of success is not how much technology we deploy, but whether it improves productivity, strengthens the quality of advice and creates a faster, more consistent experience for the customer.
Q. Considering the regulatory and customer implications of inaccurate recommendations in financial services, what controls has Aviva implemented around Generative AI, and what use cases are intentionally not yet automated? Singh: In financial services, the value of Generative AI has to be balanced with the responsibility that comes with using it. At Aviva India, our approach is centred on strong governance, data privacy, security and human oversight. AI-generated outputs need appropriate validation, particularly where they could influence a customer outcome. We believe accountability must always remain with people, not with the technology. We are therefore thoughtful about where GenAI is deployed. Areas involving personalised financial advice, final underwriting decisions, claims decisions or other material customer outcomes require a higher degree of human judgement and are not areas where we would advocate unchecked automation. Our focus is on using GenAI where it can safely improve productivity, simplify information and support employees and partners, while keeping humans firmly in the loop for decisions that require judgement, empathy or regulatory accountability.
Q. With increasing digital transformation in BFSI, how is Aviva redesigning security around identity, data and third-party risk as it integrates APIs, cloud services and AI applications? Singh: As digital ecosystems become more interconnected, security can no longer be built around a traditional perimeter. At Aviva India, our approach is to embed security into the technology architecture itself, with strong identity and access controls, data protection and continuous monitoring. As we adopt cloud, APIs and AI, the focus is on ensuring that access to systems and data is governed by clear permissions and appropriate safeguards throughout the lifecycle.
Third-party risk is equally important because an organisation's digital resilience increasingly depends on the wider ecosystem it operates in. This requires rigorous assessment of partners, ongoing monitoring and clear accountability for how data is accessed and handled. For us, security and innovation have to move together. The objective is to enable faster digital transformation without compromising customer trust, privacy or operational resilience. Q. Looking ahead 2-3 years, what fundamental changes would you hope to see in Aviva India's technology operations or customer experience, and what major technology programmes or launches are planned to achieve this? Singh: Over the next two to three years, I would like to see technology make insurance increasingly intuitive, responsive and personalised for every customer. The shift should be from digitising individual processes to creating connected journeys, where customers and partners can move seamlessly from purchase to servicing and claims. AI, automation and data will play an important role, but the real outcome we are working towards is greater simplicity, speed and consistency.
At Aviva India, our technology priorities will continue to centre on modernising core platforms, strengthening cloud and data capabilities, expanding intelligent automation and creating more effective digital tools for customers and distribution partners. As our product portfolio evolves across protection, savings and retirement, with a focus on wellness, technology can also help us make these propositions easier to understand, access and service across the customer lifecycle.
Equally important is ensuring that security, resilience and responsible AI are built into this transformation from the outset. Ultimately, technology should become almost invisible to the customer. They should simply experience an insurer that understands their needs, responds quickly and makes it easier for them to protect what matters throughout different stages of life.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from TechCircle.