波士顿咨询-保险行业采用统一智能体核心的依据 The Case for the Unified Agentic Core in Insurance

ALAGENTS

TheCaseforthe

UnifiedAgenticCoreinInsurance

Gugfelmn,aicadoPalozsso,NicolasLbpezPolo,chstophFisc,Ncolas

ARTICLEOCTOBER21,20268MINREAD

Alisreshapingeveryindustry,butinsuranceisespeciallyexposedbecauseitisamongthemostdataintensive.ThequestionforCOOsandCIOsisnolongerwhatagenticAlcandobutwhat

decisionstheymustmaketotransformtheircoresystemsoit'scapableofscalingandcapturingthetechnology'sfullbenefits.Itisauniqueopportunityforinsurancetechleaderstoguidetheagentictransformation,andchoosingtherightcoremodernizationarchetypeisvitallyimportant.

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Bynow,mostinsurancecompaniesareatleastpilotingagenticAIsolutions.Manyarestartingtoscalethem,andafewindustryleadersarealreadyreapingclear,measurablebenefits.BasedonBCGexperience,commercial

propertyandcasualtyinsurance

,forexample,candrasticallycut

underwritingcyclesfrom10to20daysto1to2days,whileclaimscanbenefitfromasignificantincreaseinstraight-throughprocessingofupto70%to90%,aswellascontributingtomaterialimprovementinlossratio.Giventhispotential,manyindustryleadersarelookingforwaysto

incorporateagenticelementsintothecore.

TheThreeArchetypesforCoreModernization

Therearethreeprimarywaystotransformcoresystemsbyintegratingagenticelements:keepinganexistingcoreplusanagenticplatform,usinga“skinnycore”plusanagenticplatform,and

choosingaunifiedagenticcore.Eacharchetypecapturesvalueatadifferentpace,andeachcarriesitsownleveloftransformationrisk.

ExistingCorePlusAgenticPlatform.Thisapproachkeepsthelegacycorelargelyunchangedwhiledeployinganagenticlayerthatconnectssecurelytocoresystemsanddata.

Advantage:Thefastestroutetoimpactwiththeleastamountofdisruption,sincethelegacycorestaysuntouched.

Tradeoff:Legacycoreandintegrationcomplexityconstrainbenefits,andduplicateorchestrationlayerstendtobuildupovertime.

SkinnyCorePlusAgenticPlatform.Thisarchetypereducescorescopebymovingcustomerinteraction,workfloworchestration,businesslogicandrules,automateddecisionmaking,

documentprocessing,andpartnerorchestrationtotheagenticplatform.Rawdata,financialprocessing,reinsuranceaccounting,regulatoryreporting,andtheaudittrailstayinthecore,integratingwiththedataplatform.

Advantage:CapturesmostAI-enabledvaluewithoutwaitingforfullcorereplacement.

Tradeoff:Transitioncomplexityrelatedtoarchitecturalchoices(suchaswhattoretain,shift,orreplace)andtheadaptationofdatastructuresandintegrators.

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UnifiedAgenticCore.Withthisapproach,deterministiccoreandagenticcapabilitiesare

designedanddeployedtogetherasasingleAI-nativestackintegratedwiththeexistingdataplatform.

Advantage:Createsthemostfuture-proof,AI-nativearchitecture,withcoreandagentsdesignedasonesystemratherthantwo.

Tradeoff:Involvesthehighesttransformationeffortandrisk,requiringbroadercoreredesign,strongerengineeringcapacity,andalongerpathtovalue.

Vendorsthatoffercoresystemplatformsforinsurancecompaniesarealreadyrollingoutagenticcapabilities.Forexample,inAugust2026,GuidewireintroducedanagenticframeworkthatgivesinsurersthetoolstobuildandruntheirownAIagentsontheGuidewireCloudPlatform.Duck

Creektookasimilarroute,launchinganagenticAIplatformbuiltonaninsurance-specific

intelligencelayerwithfine-tunedlanguagemodels,machinelearning,andrule-basedreasoninggroundedineachcarrier’sowndataandconfigurations.

Thisactivitymighttemptinsurerstowaitforvendorstobuildplatformmodelsthatsuitthem.Yettherearethreeargumentsagainstwaiting:

ThevendorrolloutofAI-enabledplatformscouldbetooslow.

Thosewhobuildtheoperationalanddatafoundationfirstwillhaveacompetitiveadvantage.Avendorplatformbuiltforgeneralusewon’tincludeaninsurer’sowndataontology.

MakingtheCasefortheUnifiedAgenticCore

Ofthethreearchetypes,onlytheunifiedagenticcoresolvestheunderlyingintegrationproblemswithexistingsystemsanddataplatforms.Whilethealternativesdoprovideatemporary

productivityboostasagentshelpdevelopersbuildfaster,theyaddextralayersonanexistinglandscape.Withtheunifiedagenticcoreapproachthereisonesystemratherthantwoormore

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thatmustbeintegrated,withdeterministiccomponentsandagentic(probabilistic)componentsoperatingonthesamesubstrate.

Ofthethreearchetypes,onlytheunifiedagenticcoresolvestheunderlyingintegrationproblemswith

existingsystemsanddataplatforms.

Someadvantagesofaunifiedagenticcoreinclude:

Fasteriterationbecauseprocesschangesoccuratasingleconfigurationpoint

Sharedlearningbecauseagentsaccumulateknowledgefromthesamedataassetsthatsupporttransactionalprocessing

Lowerruncostsbecausetheunifiedagenticcorerequiresfewerredundantlayersforhighavailability

Robustcontrolbecausegovernanceandhuman-in-the-loopgatesareembeddedendtoend

SolvingtheOrchestrationProblem

Fortheunifiedagenticcoretofunctioneffectively,insurancecompaniesneedtoorchestrateagentstoensuretheyfollowtherightsequenceofactionsataspecifictimeanddon’tact

independently.Thisisespeciallytruewhenprocessesrequirecoordinationacrossmultipleagents.Underwritingintegratesexternaldata,riskassessment,pricing,andacceptance

decisions.Claimsmanagementcoordinatesfirstnoticeofloss(FNOL),triage,damageassessment,frauddetection,settlement,andrecovery.

Withoutanorchestrationlayer,autonomousagentsmaycontradictoneanother,duplicateefforts,orstallwaitingforinputsthatnooneanticipatedproviding.Agenticorchestrationaddressesthisthroughathree-tiercontrolhierarchy:

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Anorchestrator(the“brain”)isameta-agentthatgovernsprocessflow.Itknowstheoverallstateofaprocess(aclaim,anunderwritingsubmission,oracustomerrequest,forinstance)anddecideswhichagenttoactivate,inwhatsequence,withwhatinputs.

Specialistagentsmanagespecificsubprocesses(includingFNOL,damageassessment,liabilityevaluation,andreservemanagement),eachwithautonomyboundedtoitsownperimeter.

Subagentsandcapabilitiesexecutegranulartaskssuchasextractingtextfromadocument,callinganexternalAPI,andcalculatingareimbursementvalue.

Thisthree-tierdesignallowsforthereuseofagentsacrossbusinessunitsandlinesofbusiness(forexample,aninsurercanshareaclaimstriagespecialistagentacrossdifferentlinesof

business),supportsauditingateverystagegate,andaddshumanoversightwherecomplianceorriskrequiresitwithoutslowingtheoverallprocess.

FollowingtheProcessBlueprint

Themechanismthatmakesthishierarchyfunctionalistheprocessblueprint,acentralconceptintheunifiedagenticcorearchitecture.Theblueprintdefinesthestructuralboundariesof

execution:whichstagesexistinaprocess,whatmusthappenbeforemovingbetweenstages,whichagentscanbeusedateachstage,andwhatoutputsareexpected.

Theprocessblueprintisthesinglepointofconfigurationforworkflowsandagents,definingwhenexecutionmustfollowfixedrules(suchaswithmandatorystagegates,certifiedcalculations,andauditableoutputs)andwhenagentshaveautonomy(suchaswithambiguitymanagementand

personalizedcustomerdialogue).

Theblueprintisanexecutableartifact.Theplatformreadsitatruntime,feedstheapplicationdatabase(whichmaintainstheauthoritativestateofeachprocessinstance,capturingboth

deterministictransitionsandagenticactions),andisverifiedbytheaudittrail.Itservesasthecontractbetweenbusinesslogicandagenticexecution.

BuildingtheDataOntology

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Inadditiontoimplementingtheunifiedagenticcore,techleadersneedtoensurealltheagents

arespeakingthesamelanguage.Otherwise,eachagentspeaksitsowndialect,givingdifferent

meaningstothesamesetofconcepts.Datawillbetransformedateveryhandoff,meaningwillbelostintranslation,anderrorswillpropagate.

Techleadersneedtoensurealltheagentsare

speakingthesamelanguage.Otherwise,eachagent

speaksitsowndialect,givingdifferentmeaningstothesamesetofconcepts.

Withoutasharedlanguage,howcanafrauddetectionagentknowthata“car”inasubmissioncorrespondstothesame“vehicle”inmotorvehicleregistrationauthoritydataandisthesame“auto”inthecustomer’sclaimreport?Howcanapricingagentknowthatthecoverageitis

evaluatingalreadyhasanassociatedexclusioninthesystemofrecord?

Insuranceontologyistheanswer.Itprovidesashared,machine-readablerepresentationofthe

insurancedomain.Someexamplesincludeentities(policy,risk,claim,party,coverage,and

premium),relationshipsbetweenentities(apolicycontainsoneormorecoverages,aclaim

belongstoapolicy,apartymaybeeithertheinsuredortheclaimant),attributes(types,

constraints,andunitsofmeasure),andbusinessrules(coveragecannotexceedagivenlimit,andaclaimmustbenotifiedwithinacertainnumberofdaysofthelossevent).

Theontologyisalivingdatainfrastructurethatevolveswiththebusinessandwiththeknowledgethatagentsaccumulateovertime.Itisgovernedascodeandcanbemaintainedbysegregatingitacrosssubbusinessdomains.Forexample,aproductmayberepresenteddifferentlyfroma

customer’sperspectivethanfromanengineeringperspective,witheachviewdefiningauniquesetofsubobjectsandattributes.Becausetheontologyisdeeplyembeddedinthecoreand

constantlyevolving,it’snotsomethingthatcaneasilybeoutsourced.

Whiletheneedforacommonlanguageisintuitive,it’sworthsummarizingtheprofoundbenefitsofhavingone:

SharedComprehensibility.Regardlessofwhobuiltit,eachagentusesthesamedefinitionsofbasicconcepts,eliminatingmanualtransformationbetweensystemsanddrastically

reducingintegrationbugs.

ContextualReasoning.Anagentreasonsoversemanticallyrichconcepts,notrawdata.Thisimprovesreasoningqualityandreduceshallucinations.

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EmbeddedGovernance.Agoodontologyembedscompliancerules(suchastheEU’sGeneralDataProtectionRegulation)asconstraintsondataorrelationships.Anagentattemptingtoaccesspersonaldataoutsideitsauthorizedscopeisblockednotbyanexternalfirewallbutbythestructureofthedataitself.

ContinuousImprovement.Whenagentslearnfromexperience,theydosooverashared

vocabulary.Insightsaccumulatedbyamotorfrauddetectionagentpropagateautomaticallytothepropertyfrauddetectionagent,becausebothoperateonthesameconceptof“claimfraudpattern.”

ForCOOs,CIOs,andothertechnologyleaders,thebusinesscaseforagentic-drivencore

transformationisnolongerinquestion.Theshiftisalreadyunderway,andthewindowtoshapewhatgetsbuiltwillremainopenformonths,notyears.

Inthefaceofthistimepressure,techleadersshouldrecognizethattheyowntwokeydecisionsrelatedtothistransformationthatcannotbeoutsourced.Thefirstischoosingtheright

architecture.Althoughbuildingaunifiedagenticcoreinvolvesmoreeffortandrisk,broadercoreredesign,strongerengineeringcapacity,andalongerroutetovaluethanotherapproaches,webelieveitisthebestlong-termoptionformostinsurers.Theseconddecisionisbuildingand

managingthedataontology.Makingthecorrectchoicesinthenextfewmonthswillputtheorganizationonaclearpathtosuccess.

Authors

FabrzioPessina

ManagingDirector&SeniorPartner

Milan

NicolásLópezPolo

ManagingDirector&Partner

Madrid

RobertoBosisio

ManagingDirector&Partner

Milan

ChristophFritsch

ManagingDirector,BCGPlatinion

Vienna

NicolasGuglielmi

Principal

Milan

RiccardoPallozzi

PlatinionAlTechArchitectureDirector

Milan

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