The financial services industry is undergoing a significant transformation driven by the integration of cloud computing and generative artificial intelligence. These technologies are reshaping traditional sectors such as insurance by enhancing operational efficiency, enabling rapid innovation, and fostering a data-driven culture.

Initially rooted in traditional insurance practices, Guardian Life Insurance Co. has made significant strides in embracing digital transformation. By moving a substantial portion of its operations to the cloud and incorporating advanced AI strategies, the company aims to enhance its operational efficiency and customer service, according to John Napoli (pictured, left), head of transformation, artificial intelligence and delivery at Guardian Life Insurance

Guardian Life’s John Napoli and Vertical Relevance’s Brian Jakovich talk about the importance of the AI factory.

“We have about $800 billion in life insurance in force,” he said. “What’s good about Guardian is … they want to invest more … we want to make this organization a data and AI-driven company. The way we’re going about it is we’re building what I call an AI factory.”

Napoli and Brian Jakovich (right), managing director of the AWS practice at Vertical Relevance, spoke with theCUBE’s Savannah Peterson at the AWS Financial Services Symposium, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed how Guardian Life is driving its transformation through the AI Factory and the critical role of its partnership with Vertical Relevance in this process. (* Disclosure below.)

How the cloud fits into the AI Factory picture

Thanks to Vertical Relevance, Guardian Life has been able to to move 80% of its applications into the Amazon Web Services Inc. cloud. As a result, this has played an instrumental role in the creation of an AI Factory, according to Jakovich.  

“We’re a boutique business and technology consulting firm where we really focus on half of our business is financial services advisory and then the other half is AWS consultant,” he said. “The idea is to take those two, combine them, and then work with large financial services customers like Guardian, help them work on their AWS cloud and what they want to build to enable their business.”

As the generative AI hype continues to take center stage in the modern world, Vertical Relevance is helping Guardian Life integrate this cutting-edge technology. This is the case in various areas, such as sales and marketing, Jakovich pointed out. 

“As you guys are getting more involved in let’s say generative AI and other areas, that’s where we’re helping and accelerating the efforts,” he said. “That’s been a great partnership. How they can take certain parts of their business and then look to accelerate with generative AI, more so typically in marketing and sales efforts of how to basically generate revenue and then slowly moving into more customer-facing type of activities.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE Research’s coverage of the AWS Financial Services Symposium: 

(* Disclosure: Amazon Web Services Inc. and Vertical Relevance Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither AWS and Vertical Relevance nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE