THE APPLICATION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE ANNUITY SALES BUSINESS PROCESSES OF INDEPENDENT INSURANCE AGENTS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20998/2413-3000.2025.11.2Keywords:
business processes; artificial intelligence; machine learning; annuities; independent insurance agents; lead generation; customer needs identification; recommender systems; automation; explainable AI; digital transformationAbstract
This article presents a systematic analysis of the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in the business processes of annuity sales by independent insurance agents and proposes a process-based decomposition of the full customer interaction lifecycle. The following sequential stages are identified: lead generation; client discovery and needs assessment; product research and carrier selection; proposal presentation and consultation; application submission and underwriting; policy issuance and delivery; and post-sale engagement and retention. For each stage, a “mapping” of relevant classes of AI models and methods and their typical functions in decision support and automation is provided. A synthesis of contemporary research shows that analytical models (ML-based scoring, classification, and ensemble approaches) improve lead qualification, customer behavior forecasting, and risk assessment; generative and NLP/LLM-based solutions support work with unstructured data (call transcripts, chat transcripts, correspondence, and documents), enabling parameter extraction, summarization, and the preparation of personalized advisory materials; and agent-based approaches orchestrate workflows within CRM systems and document management. Quantitative indicators of the prevalence of model usage across process stages are presented, reflecting the uneven technological maturity of available solutions. Key implementation barriers are identified, including data fragmentation and heterogeneity, algorithmic bias, limited transparency and explainability, regulatory requirements imposed by the SEC and NAIC, and the complexity of CRM integration. Directions for future research are outlined, including the standardization of approaches, the advancement of explainable AI, and the quantitative assessment of the balance between human expertise and automation at different stages of annuity sales.
References
Precedence Research. Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Insurance Market Size and Forecast 2024 to 2034 Electronic resource. 2025. Available from: https://www.precedenceresearch.com/artificial-intelligence-in-insurance-market
Kaznowska O. A. Impact Analysis of New Technologies on Business Model in Insurance Industry: Artificial Intelligence : thesis Electronic resource. 2023. Available at: https://search.proquest.com/openview/015006b04e34547cc4f392bf8b0c8c7d/1
Malali N. AI, Technology, and Digital Transformation in Life and Annuity Insurance and Actuaries Electronic resource. 2025. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nihar-Malali/publication/390965633_AI_Technology_and_Digital_Transformation_in_Life_and_Annuity_Insurance_and_Actuaries/links/6806575bd1054b0207dbb4e1/AI-Technology-and-Digital-Transformation-in-Life-and-Annuity-Insurance-and-Actuaries.pdf
Rao A., Soofastaei A. Artificial Intelligence in Insurance: Transforming Risk Management and Customer Experience / Advanced Analytics for Industry 4.0. Boca Raton : CRC Press, 2025. doi:10.1201/9781003186823-11.
Pandiri L. The Complete Compendium of Digital Insurance Solutions: Life, Health, Auto, Property, and Specialized Coverage in the Age of AI, Automation, and Intelligent Systems. New York : Apress, 2025.
Ahmad S., Karim R., Sultana N., Lima R. InsurTech: Digital Transformation of the Insurance Industry. Bingley : Emerald Publishing Limited, 2025. doi:10.1108/978-1-83753-750-120251016.
McKinsey & Company. The future of AI in the insurance industry Electronic resource. 2025. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/the-future-of-ai-in-the-insurance-industry
González-Flores L., Rubiano-Moreno J., Gómez G. S. The relevance of lead prioritization: a B2B lead scoring model based on machine learning Electronic resource. 2025. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/390128355_The_relevance_of_lead_prioritization_a_B2B_lead_scoring_model_based_on_machine_learning
Wu M., Andreev P., Benyoucef M. The state of lead scoring models and their impact on sales performance. Information Technology and Management. 2023. Vol. 25, iss. 1. P. 69–98. doi:10.1007/s10799-023-00388-w.
Nygård R., Mezei J. Automating Lead Scoring with Machine Learning: An Experimental Study. Proceedings of the 53rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. 2020. P. 1439–1448. Electronic resource. Available at: https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/1d4e8c2d-4096-4628-b4f8-4f6086aa6b53/content
Brohn F., Löwer M. Predicting lead conversion opportunities with machine learning in small and medium sized enterprises. Procedia Computer Science. 2022. Vol. 204. P. 55–63. doi:10.1016/j.procs.2022.08.007.
Owens E., Sheehan B., Mullins M., Cunneen M., Ressel J., Castignani G. Explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) in insurance. Risks. 2022. Vol. 10, iss. 12. P. 230. doi:10.3390/risks10120230.
Dalessandro B., Perlich C., Raeder T. Probabilistic Modeling of a Sales Funnel to Prioritize Leads. Proceedings of the 21th ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining. 2015. P. 1751–1758. doi:10.1145/2783258.2788578.
Sinha S., Lee Y. M. Challenges with developing and deploying AI models and applications in industrial systems. Discover Artificial Intelligence. 2024. Vol. 4. P. 55. doi:10.1007/s44163-024-00151-2.
Malali N. Automated Machine Learning in Insurance Electronic resource. 2024. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/383428306_Automated_Machine_Learning_in_Insurance
Løberg I. B. Assessments of Digital Client Representations: How Frontline Workers Reconstruct Client Narratives from Fragmented Information. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. 2022. Vol. 33, iss. 2. P. 1–11. doi:10.1093/jopart/muac017.
Stead D. Needs Assessment and Data Analytics: Understanding Your Constituencies. Making Connections: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Cultural Diversity. 2019. Vol. 20, iss. 1. P. 1–17. Electronic resource. Available at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=makingconnections
Das S., Markowitz H., Scheid J., Statman M. Portfolio Optimization with Mental Accounts. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. 2010. Vol. 45, iss. 2. P. 311–334. doi:10.1017/S0022109010000141.
Svensson J., Talovic A. Customer Discovery for Developing Business Models within Established Companies : thesis Electronic resource. 2015. Available at: https://odr.chalmers.se/server/api/core/bitstreams/e60ac621-1025-4465-b820-c9a4544366a5/content
Estabrooks P. A., Harden S. M., Almeida F. A., Hill J. L., Johnson S. B., Porter G. C., Greenawald M. H. Using a customer discovery process to enhance the potential dissemination and scalability of a family healthy weight program for rural communities and small towns. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. 2024. Vol. 21, iss. 1. P. 57. doi:10.1186/s12966-024-01605-7.
Malali N., Madugula S. R. P. Transforming Life and Annuity Sales: A Framework for AI-Powered Digital Transformation Using MCP, Salesforce, And Spring Boot. International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology. 2025. Vol. 12, iss. 2. Electronic resource. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/393328989_Transforming_Life_and_Annuity_Sales_A_Framework_for_AI-Powered_Digital_Transformation_Using_MCP_Salesforce_And_Spring_Boot
Malali N. Advanced AI in Wealth Management: Functional Transformation and Intelligent Orchestration Across the Client Lifecycle. Electronic resource. 2025. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/390947298_Advanced_AI_in_Wealth_Management_Functional_Transformation_and_Intelligent_Orchestration_Across_the_Client_Lifecycle
Fernández-Martínez F., Luna-Jiménez C., Kleinlein R., Griol D., Callejas Z., Montero J. M. Fine-Tuning BERT Models for Intent Recognition Using a Frequency Cut-Off Strategy for Domain-Specific Vocabulary Extension. Applied Sciences. 2022. Vol. 12, iss. 3. P. 1610. doi:10.3390/app12031610.
Na S.-O., Kim Y.-M., Cho S.-H. Insurance Question Answering via Single-turn Dialogue Modeling. Proceedings of the 2nd Workshop on When Creative AI Meets Conversational AI (CAI2). 2022. P. 35–41. Electronic resource. Available at: https://aclanthology.org/2022.cai-1.5.pdf
Jia Y. A Deep Learning System for Domain-Specific Speech Recognition. Electronic resource. 2023. Available at: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2303.10510
Bäckström T. Privacy in Speech Technology. Electronic resource. 2023. Available at: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2305.05227
Wilcox L., Brewer R. N., Diaz F. AI Consent Futures: A Case Study on Voice Data Collection with Clinicians. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction. 2023. Vol. 7, iss. CSCW2. P. 316. doi:10.1145/3610107.
Ahmed N., Saha A. K., Noman M. A. A., Jim J. R., Mridha M. F., Kabir M. M. Deep learning-based natural language processing in human–agent interaction: Applications, advancements and challenges. Natural Language Processing Journal. 2024. Vol. 9. P. 100112. doi:10.1016/j.nlp.2024.100112.
Wu D., Li X. A Systematic Literature Review of Financial Product Recommendation Systems. Information. 2025. Vol. 16, iss. 3. P. 196. doi:10.3390/info16030196.
Zuo Q., Zhou Y., Zhuang S. Optimal Insurance with Rank-Dependent Utility and Increasing Indemnities. Mathematical Finance. 2019. Vol. 29, iss. 2. P. 659–692. doi:10.48550/arXiv.1509.04839.
Birghila C., Boonen T. J., Ghossoub M. Optimal Insurance under Maxmin Expected Utility. Electronic resource. 2020. Available at: https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.07383
Li Y., Liu K., Satapathy R., Wang S., Cambria E. Recent Developments in Recommender Systems: A Survey. Electronic resource. 2023. Available from: https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.12680
Mazzoccoli A., Naldi M. The Expected Utility Insurance Premium Principle with Fourth-Order Statistics: Does It Make a Difference?. Algorithms. 2020. Vol. 13, iss. 5. P. 116. doi:10.3390/a13050116.
Bilbao-Terol A., Arenas-Parra M., Quiroga-García R., Bilbao-Terol C. An extended best–worst multiple reference point method: application in the assessment of non-life insurance companies. Operational Research. 2022. P. 5323–5362. doi:10.1007/s12351-022-00731-z.
Beiragh R. G., Alizadeh R., Kaleibari S. S., Cavallaro F., Zolfani S. H., Bausys R., Mardani A. An integrated Multi-Criteria Decision Making Model for Sustainability Performance Assessment for Insurance Companies. Sustainability. 2020. Vol. 12, iss. 3. P. 789. doi:10.3390/su12030789.
Chakraborty S., Yeh C.-H. A simulation comparison of normalization procedures for TOPSIS. 2009 International Conference on Computers & Industrial Engineering. 2009. P. 1815–1820. doi:10.1109/ICCIE.2009.5223811.
Xiong H., Xu J., Mamon R., Zhao Y. ResPoNet: A Residual Neural Network for Efficient Valuation of Large Variable Annuity Portfolios. Mathematics. 2025. Vol. 13, iss. 12. P. 1916. doi:10.3390/math13121916.
Lim H. B., Shyamalkumar N. D., Tao S. Valuation of variable annuity portfolios using finite and infinite width neural networks. Insurance: Mathematics and Economics. 2025. Vol. 120. P. 269–284. doi:10.1016/j.insmatheco.2024.12.005.
Spedicato G. A., Savino G. Recommender Systems for Insurance Marketing. Variance. 2022. Vol. 15, iss. 1. Electronic resource. Available at: https://variancejournal.org/article/31370-recommender-systems-for-insurance-marketing
International Association of Insurance Supervisors. Application Paper on the supervision of artificial intelligence. Electronic resource. 2025. Available at: https://www.iais.org/uploads/2025/07/Application-Paper-on-the-supervision-of-artificial-intelligence.pdf
Elwyn G., Frosch D., Thomson R., Joseph-Williams N., Lloyd A., Kinnersley P., Cording E., Tomson D., Dodd C., Rollnick S., Edwards A., Barry M. Shared Decision Making: A Model for Clinical Practice. Journal of General Internal Medicine. 2012. Vol. 27, iss. 10. P. 1361–1367. doi:10.1007/s11606-012-2077-6.
Schein E. H. The Concept of Client from a Process Consultation Perspective: A Guide for Change Agents. Journal of Organizational Change Management. 1997. Vol. 10, iss. 3. P. 202–216. doi:10.1108/09534819710171077.
Surve P., Patel Y. AI-Based Presentation Generator. Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research. 2025. Vol. 12, iss. 3. P. a117–a121. Electronic resource. Available at: https://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2503014.pdf
Nguyen Z., Annunziata A., Luong V., Dinh S., Le Q., Ha A. H., Le C., Phan H. A., Raghavan S., Nguyen C. Enhancing Q&A with Domain-Specific Fine-Tuning and Iterative Reasoning: A Comparative Study. Electronic resource. 2024. Available at: https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.11792
Khayatbashi S., Sjölind V., Granåker A., Jalali A. AI-Enhanced Business Process Automation: A Case Study in the Insurance Domain Using Object-Centric Process Mining. BPMDS. 2025. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-95397-2_1.
Namperumal G., Paul D., Soundarapandiyan R. Deploying LLMs for Insurance Underwriting and Claims Processing: A Comprehensive Guide to Training, Model Validation, and Regulatory Compliance. Australian Journal of Machine Learning Research & Applications. 2024. Vol. 4, iss. 1. Electronic resource. Available at: https://sydneyacademics.com/index.php/ajmlra/article/view/124
Toshmurzaevich Y. O. Developing the Underwriting Process in Life Insurance. European Journal of Business and Management Research. 2020. Vol. 5, iss. 6. doi:10.24018/ejbmr.2020.5.6.657.
Mourmouris J., Poufinas T. Multi-criteria decision-making methods applied in health-insurance underwriting. Health Systems. 2022. Vol. 12, iss. 1. P. 52–84. doi:10.1080/20476965.2022.2085190.
Kagan J. Automated Underwriting: What it is, How it Works. Electronic resource. 2025. Available at: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/automated_underwriting.asp
Rosén H. Automation of Medical Underwriting for Child Insurance : thesis. Electronic resource. 2020. Available at: https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1438669/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Jaiswal R. Impact of AI in the General Insurance underwriting factors. Central European Management Journal. 2023. Vol. 31, iss. 2. P. 697–705. doi:10.57030/23364890.cemj.31.2.72.
Gummadi H. S. B. Explainable AI-Enhanced Underwriting Automation for Personalized Insurance Policy Recommendations. European Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology. 2025. Vol. 13, iss. 19. P. 24–40. doi:10.37745/ejcsit.2013/vol13n192440.
Filabi A., Duffy S. AI-Enabled Underwriting Brings New Challenges for Life Insurance: Policy and Regulatory Considerations. Journal of Insurance Regulation. 2021. Vol. 40, iss. 8. Electronic resource. Available from: https://content.naic.org/sites/default/files/JIR-ZA-40-08-EL.pdf
Adam F. F., Hikmah Y. Analysis of the Online and Offline Policy Issuance Process of a Life Insurance Company in Indonesia. Proceedings. 2022. Vol. 83, iss. 1. P. 14. doi:10.3390/proceedings2022083014.
Jeyakumar N. Analysis of the Digital Direct-to-Customer channel in Insurance : thesis Electronic resource. 2017. Available from: https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/110136/987219263-MIT.pdf?sequence=1
Selvadurai B., Huang K. AI Agents in Insurance. Agentic AI: Theories and Practices. Cham: Springer Publ., 2025. P. 279–302. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-90026-6_9.
Mangalam S., Vranic G. Use of New Technologies in Regulatory Delivery. Electronic resource. 2020. Available from: https://www.enterprise-development.org/wp-content/uploads/DCED-BEWG-Use-of-New-Technologies-in-Regulatory-Delivery.pdf
SAP. Enterprise Services for Policy Management. Electronic resource. 2023. Available from: https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_S4HANA_ON-PREMISE/adb89ff8f4844a528ddc137896308793/1ffc63e910fe451cbbae91d333495db8.html?version=2023.003
Malali N. The Basics of Robotic Process Automation in Insurance Claims. Electronic resource. 2025. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/385938020_The_Basics_of_Robotic_Process_Automation_in_Insurance_Claims
Ghaseminejad A., Sedighadeli S. Optimising customer retention: An AI-driven personalised pricing approach. Electronic resource. 2023. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/377567099_Optimizing_customer_retention_An_AI-driven_personalized_pricing_approach
Javed M. K., Wu M., Qadeer T., Manzoor A., Nadeem A. H., Shouse R. C. Role of Online Retailers’ Post-sale Services in Building Relationships and Developing Repurchases: A Comparison-Based Analysis Among Male and Female Customers. Frontiers in Psychology. 2020. Vol. 11. P. 594132. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.594132.
Malali N. From Data to Decisions: Predictive Machine Learning Models for Customer Retention in Banking. Electronic resource. 2024. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/384995568_From_Data_to_Decisions_Predictive_Machine_Learning_Models_for_Customer_Retention_in_Banking
Hoang D., Kousi S., Martinez L. F. Online customer engagement in the post-pandemic scenario: a hybrid thematic analysis of the luxury fashion industry. Electronic Commerce Research. 2023. Vol. 23. P. 1401–1428. doi:10.1007/s10660-022-09635-8.
Islam M. A., Hack-Polay D., Rahman M., Hosen M., Hunt A., Shafique S. The Impact of Customer Experience and Customer Engagement on Behavioral Intentions: Does Competitive Choices Matters?. Frontiers in Psychology. 2022. Vol. 13. Paper 864841. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.864841.
Jacob J., Fredrik E. J. T. Optimizing Customer Retention in Banking Through Advanced AI Technologies. Journal of Information Systems Engineering and Management. 2025. Vol. 10, iss. 31s. doi:10.52783/jisem.v10i31s.5061.
Singh C., Dash M. K., Sahu R., Bandrana A. K. Artificial intelligence in customer retention: a bibliometric analysis and future research framework. Kybernetes. 2023. Vol. 53, iss. 2. doi:10.1108/K-02-2023-0245.
Fatunmbi T. O. Predictive Insurance: Data Science Applications in Risk Profiling and Customer Retention. International Research Journal of Advanced Engineering and Science. 2025. Vol. 10, iss. 2. P. 300–306. Electronic resource. Available from: https://philpapers.org/rec/FATPID
Gandhi P., Kowalski J., Shi P., Singer M. Life insurance: Ready for the digital spotlight. Electronic resource. 2017. Available from: https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Business%20Functions/McKinsey%20Digital/Our%20Insights/Life%20insurance%20Ready%20for%20the%20digital%20spotlight/Life-insurance-Ready-for-the-digital-spotlight.pdf
Ma Y. Data Mining for Enhancing Revenue Generation Capabilities in the Insurance Industry. Eurasia Journal of Science and Technology. 2024. Vol. 6, iss. 7. P. 27–38. doi:10.61784/ejst3053.
AbdelAziz N. M., Bekheet M., Salah A., El-Saber N., AbdelMoneim W. T. A Comprehensive Evaluation of Machine Learning and Deep Learning Models for Churn Prediction. Information. 2025. Vol. 16, iss. 7. P. 537. doi:10.3390/info16070537.
Imani M., Joudaki M., Beikmohammadi A., Arabnia H. R. Customer Churn Prediction: A Systematic Review of Recent Advances, Trends, and Challenges in Machine Learning and Deep Learning. Machine Learning and Knowledge Extraction. 2025. Vol. 7, iss. 3. P. 105. doi:10.3390/make7030105.
Shostak I., Matyushenko I., Romanenkov Y., Danova M., Kuznetsova Y. Computer Support for Decision-Making on Defining the Strategy of Green IT Development at the State Level. Green IT Engineering: Social, Business and Industrial Applications / V. Kharchenko, Yu. Kondratenko, J. Kacprzyk (Eds.). Cham : Springer International Publishing, 2019. P. 533–559. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-00253-4_23.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Our journal abides by the Creative Commons copyright rights and permissions for open access journals.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
Authors hold the copyright without restrictions and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-commercial and non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their published work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.