Insurance company Admiral partners with Google Cloud for digital transformation push

Insurance services provider Admiral is shifting its core operations to the Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and working with the tech giant to improve how its customer-facing app works.

The collaboration means Google is now Admiral’s strategic cloud partner, and will work with the firm to move its core insurance policy administration and digital systems to GCP, as part of a push to accelerate the time it takes the company to bring new products and services to market. “The collaboration will enable Admiral to accelerate time-to-market for new products and services by deploying containerised cloud applications and adopting new software development practices,” said Admiral in a statement.

The company also further revealed that it plans to draw on Google Cloud’s data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to improve the service it offers customers and the efficiency of its operations.

“With our customers at the heart of everything we do, Admiral is delighted to join forces with Google Cloud to help us achieve our strategic goals,” said Admiral chief information officer Alan Patefield-Smith. “Google Cloud’s cutting-edge tech and expertise allows us to accelerate our digital transformation journey and helps us to deliver forward-thinking customer experiences.”

Admiral’s digital transformation will be based on four pillars. The first is data and AI, as part of a push to enable “data-driven decision-making” across the company, followed by what the company terms “digital experiences”. The latter will see Admiral taking steps to deliver more personalised digital experiences to its customers, including offers and tailored services, while leaning on GCP to improve its customer-facing apps, websites and contact centres.

The third pillar is operations, which refers to the switch-up in hosting arrangements for Admiral’s core policy management and billing systems, as these are now all run out of the Google Cloud.

The final pillar concerns cloud skills, and will see Admiral work with Google to train its employees in off-premise technologies, as well as data analytics, to help the company “take advantage of the latest cloud technologies and deliver innovative products and services to its customers”, the company statement added.

Helen Kelisky, managing director for UK and Ireland at Google Cloud, said Admiral is an “innovative insurer” and has been responsible for being the first to market in its sector with various new technologies and services.

“We are proud to support its continued commitment to giving its customers the very best products and services across its insurance portfolio,” she said. “We look forward to strengthening our existing relationship with Admiral to help it accelerate its change strategy and deliver even better experiences.”