TAL has entered a five-year expansion of its strategic partnership with Microsoft, in what the Australian life insurer describes as its largest technology deal to date. The agreement is aimed at consolidating TAL’s data on Microsoft Azure, developing AI tools for core operations, and building internal capability in data and engineering. The program focuses on embedding cloud and artificial intelligence across claims and support functions and introducing training initiatives to increase employees’ use of AI tools. The move comes as large enterprises move AI from pilot projects into day-to-day workflows, while still grappling with underutilisation and “pilot fatigue,” according to recent research from Deloitte.
Hinesh Chauhan (pictured left), TAL’s chief information officer, said the investment is intended to prepare the insurer’s workforce for changing customer and regulatory demands. “We’re investing in the tech and in building skills that will help our people respond to the next generation needs of Australians. Expanding our longstanding partnership with Microsoft means we can significantly scale and speed up our innovation in products and services all underpinned by TAL’s principles for ethical and responsible AI, ensuring a secure operating environment for our customers, partners, and people,” Chauhan said.
Under the revised partnership, Microsoft will jointly invest in TAL’s engineering capability to consolidate data on Azure and support further development of AI-enabled operations. TAL already has several AI applications in production, particularly in the claims area. One existing initiative is a chat-based knowledge assistant that draws on TAL’s internal knowledge base to answer queries from claims staff. Since launch, the assistant has responded to more than 37,000 claims-related questions, with TAL reporting average time savings of about seven minutes per query and 93% positive user feedback. The same capability has since been applied to human resources and customer service teams.
Another deployed tool is an AI-powered post-call summarisation function integrated with TAL’s core claims platform. It automatically transcribes and summarises claims-related phone calls in real time, generating notes for later review. TAL says the tool has processed and summarised more than 120,000 claims-related calls since going live. Georgina Croft (pictured right), TAL chief claims officer, said the insurer is aiming to use AI to support rather than replace human interaction. “Life insurance is deeply human. Customers contact us during some of the most challenging times of their lives, as they navigate illness, injury, or loss. Our people are shaping the AI tools that enable them to be fully present with customers and deliver a compassionate high-quality experience,” Croft said.
In addition to technology implementation, TAL plans to work with Microsoft on programs designed to build AI skills and awareness of governance requirements across the organisation. “AI is intuitive for some, newer for others, and we’re focused on closing that gap, giving employees an edge in their careers and ensuring they’re set-up to safely use data and AI to help customers and innovate for the future. This is about building experiences customers love, and that our people love to build. Our expanded collaboration will also see our engineers working with Microsoft’s engineers and scientists to develop solutions together to deliver impact faster,” Chauhan said.
Duncan Taylor, general manager for financial services at Microsoft Australia and New Zealand, said the TAL partnership demonstrates how financial institutions are integrating AI with existing operations. “By unifying its data in Azure and weaving AI into the fabric of its operations, TAL is reimagining how an insurer works from the inside out. It’s exciting to see them innovating at this scale, and we’re proud to support TAL as it sets a new standard for customer focused innovation in life insurance,” Taylor said.
TAL’s expanded agreement is taking place as enterprises report broader access to AI tools but uneven uptake. Deloitte’s “State of AI in the Enterprise: The untapped edge” report, released in January 2026, found that sanctioned workforce access to AI tools rose by about 50% in a year, from under 40% to under 60% of workers with access. Among leading organisations, 11% reported near-universal access, meaning more than 80% of staff can use sanctioned AI tools. Despite this, Deloitte reported that fewer than 60% of workers with access used AI in their daily workflow, a proportion that has remained relatively stable. The report concluded that “enterprise AI remains underutilized, and its productivity and innovation potential are still largely untapped.”
On scaling, 25% of surveyed organisations said they had moved at least 40% of their AI experiments into production. More than half expected to reach that level within the next three to six months, indicating a shift from proof-of-concept activity to operational deployment. Deloitte also warned of a “proof-of-concept trap,” where pilots are easier to run than the work needed to embed AI in production – covering infrastructure, systems integration, security, compliance, and monitoring. AI leaders cited a lack of coherent AI strategies and roadmaps as a driver of pilot fatigue and inconsistent business outcomes. The report noted that 25% of leaders now regard AI as having a transformative effect on their organisations, up from 12% a year earlier. It also found that 84% of organisations are increasing AI spending and 78% of leaders report greater confidence in the technology. However, only 20% said AI is currently driving revenue growth, compared with 74% that expect revenue growth from AI initiatives in the future.
