AI-Powered Code Analysis Boosts Insurance Efficiency

A leading insurance company faced challenges due to rising industry pressures and outdated legacy systems. They implemented an AI solution that analyzes and explains complex code, leading to a 30% faster understanding for developers. Additionally, AI-powered search tools located relevant code segments 80% faster, saving valuable time.

Client:

Westfield Insurance has been a stalwart in the insurance industry for over 175 years, safeguarding assets worth over $10 billion. Through its extensive network of agents, Westfield caters to a diverse range of clients and provides commercial, personal, surety, and specialty lines of coverage.

Problem Statement:

● Industry Pressures: Rising costs, competition, regulations, economic shifts, and demanding
customers required innovative solutions for efficiency and a competitive edge.
● Legacy System Issues: Maintaining outdated COBOL/Assembler/JCL code, dealing with
complexity and lack of documentation, and minimizing misreporting risks. These challenges
hindered growth and customer service.

Results:

● Understanding Code 30% Faster: Watsonx analyzes and explains complex code, saving developers valuable time.

● Finding Code Segments 80% Faster: AI-powered search tools quickly locate relevant code sections, accelerating application development.

● Saving 150 Hours in One Project: The pilot program showcased the time-saving potential of AI for code analysis.
Improved Documentation: AI generates clear documentation, enhancing code comprehension and maintenance.

● Faster Onboarding: New developers can quickly grasp the codebase with readily available documentation.
Reduced Misreporting Risk: Enhanced code understanding minimizes reporting errors to the Insurance Services Office (ISO).

AI Solution:

Westfield Insurance, facing industry pressures and outdated COBOL/Assembler code, deployed IBM Watsonx’s AI, specifically Watsonx Code Assistant for Z. These tools leverage NLP and ML techniques to analyze code, generate explanations, identify dependencies, and automate tasks, significantly streamlining the development process.

Key Applications:

○ Code Understanding and Explanation: Watsonx Code Assistant for Z analyzed complex legacy code, generating clear and concise explanations, enabling developers to quickly grasp the code’s functionality and purpose. This reduced the time and effort required for manual code analysis and documentation.

○ Application Discovery and Analysis: AI-powered search capabilities within the Watsonx tools facilitated the rapid identification of relevant code segments, accelerating the application development process. Developers could efficiently locate the specific code components needed for modifications or enhancements.

○ Code Documentation and Onboarding: Watsonx automatically generated detailed documentation for existing code, providing new developers with a comprehensive understanding of the codebase. This streamlined the onboarding process for new hires, enabling them to quickly become productive contributors.

References:

1. Supporting ever-changing business demands with generative AI solutions

Industry: Insurance

Vendor: IBM
Client: Westfield Insurance