The life and annuity insurance market is changing quickly. Demand for retirement-income products is rising, customer expectations are shifting, and carriers are being asked to modernize operations while managing cost, complexity and compliance. U.S. annuity sales reached $231.3 billion in the first half of 2026, a record for the period, while individual life insurance new annualized premium reached $17.5 billion in 2025, up 10% year over year. [1][2]
For carriers, that growth creates a practical challenge: how do you increase operational capacity without adding layers of manual work?
This is where AI is beginning to change the conversation. Rather than waiting for large-scale core transformation, insurers are looking at how AI can work across the systems they already have. Deloitte’s 2026 insurance outlook points to this shift, highlighting the need to move from AI experimentation to practical use cases while addressing legacy technology, data foundations and human-AI collaboration.[3]
A New Approach to L&A Operations
Sutherland and Solvrays are partnering to bring that thinking to life and annuity third-party administration (TPA) operations.
The joint offering combines Sutherland’s L&A domain expertise, licensed TPA capabilities, digital engineering prowess and experience running global operations at scale for 80+ insurance carriers with Solvrays’ agentic AI orchestration platform. Together, we are creating a single, accountable model spanning process (re)design, AI implementation, TPA operations and continuous improvement.
The offering automates workflows from intake and validation through policy administration, case management, cash management and correspondence. It is designed to work across existing environments, including legacy platforms, without requiring a wholesale replacement of core systems.[4]
That matters because the challenge is rarely one isolated task. A request may arrive through email, IVR or a portal; information must then be classified, validated, checked against business and state-specific requirements, processed in a policy administration system and ultimately reflected in correspondence.
The partnership connects those steps through modular AI agents that can read and classify documents, extract data, apply rules, route work, interact with legacy systems and generate correspondence. [4]
The objective is simple: fewer handoffs, less re-keying and more of the workflow handled end to end.
From AI Pilots to Production
For insurers, the next test for AI is not whether it can demonstrate potential, but whether it can operate reliably within the business.
The Sutherland-Solvrays model is built around that operational reality. The joint proof of concept was validated in eight weeks with a live LIDP Titanium integration, while new workflow agents can be deployed in under 48 hours. For the validated use case, the solution achieved 100% automated workflow execution and zero manual handoffs across the core straight-through processing flow. [4]
Human expertise remains part of the model. Analysts oversee outcomes and manage exceptions, while AI handles repetitive navigation and processing.[4]
“Insurers do not need another AI pilot operating at the edge of the business. They need AI embedded into the workflows that serve policyholders every day, with the governance and accountability required to run those processes reliably. This partnership brings together Sutherland’s life and annuity operating expertise and Solvrays’ orchestration technology to create that practical path to adoption.”
— Banwari Agarwal, CEO -BFSI, Retail & CG, Travel, Transportation, Logistics and Hospitality, Digital Business Services, Sutherland
“I’ve seen firsthand that the biggest opportunity with AI isn’t simply adopting new technology—it’s making it work across the complexity of real insurance operations. That’s what makes our partnership with Sutherland so exciting. Together, we’re combining Solvrays’ intelligent orchestration platform with Sutherland’s deep insurance and operational expertise to help carriers connect AI, people, data, documents, workflows, and existing systems. Our vision is straightforward: help insurance organizations move from AI experimentation to measurable operational impact—without requiring them to rip out the systems they already rely on.”
— Bobbie Shrivastav, Co-Founder & CEO, Solvrays
Building the Next Generation of Insurance Operations
The opportunity for carriers is bigger than automating individual activities. It is about creating an operating model that can become progressively more intelligent without forcing the business to start over.
With retirement needs evolving, demand for life and annuity products growing, and the U.S. population aging, the pressure on providers to increase operational capacity will only intensify.
The Sutherland and Solvrays partnership are built for that environment: combining insurance domain expertise, agentic AI and operational delivery to help carriers modernize workflow by workflow, while keeping the systems they depend on.
References
- LIMRA, U.S. Annuity Sales Set New Quarterly Record, Totaling $123.9 Billion in the Second Quarter of 2026, July 27, 2026.
- LIMRA, U.S. Individual Life Insurance New Premium Tops $17.5 Billion to Set New Sales Record in 2025, March 19, 2026.
- Deloitte, 2026 Global Insurance Outlook.
- LIMRA, 2025 Protected Retirement Income and Planning Study
