Legal & General has announced a collaboration with Microsoft to develop an AI-powered customer service platform aimed at transforming how it supports its 12.4 million customers.

The multi-year agreement will see the insurer’s retail division implement Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center, which uses artificial intelligence to streamline customer interactions and improve efficiency across service teams.

The platform is designed to provide employees with a real-time, unified view of each customer’s relationship with the business. The first phase will cover workplace savings, retail protection policies and annuities, with additional product lines to follow.

Using AI to analyse conversations, the system will suggest next steps and highlight relevant tools to help advisers manage calls more effectively. It will also assess tone and sentiment to identify potential customer vulnerabilities, enabling teams to respond appropriately and offer more tailored support.

The integration of Microsoft’s Copilot will help automate administrative tasks such as transcription and case summaries, freeing up staff to focus on customer engagement. L&G said the system will reduce complexity by bringing together multiple tools and reducing the need for call transfers.

The collaboration builds on L&G’s existing use of Microsoft Azure and Power Platform and marks a further step in its ongoing digital transformation. The company has already achieved above-average customer satisfaction scores, with its workplace savings business recording 82.6 in the Institute of Customer Service index compared with the UK cross-sector average of 77.3.

L&G said the new platform will help it to build on these results by improving responsiveness and scalability as its customer base expands.

Recent technological advances have already made a measurable difference to the group’s operations. Earlier this year, it became the first provider to launch a fully digitised claims process for protection policies, reducing average processing times by nearly two weeks.

Its Guided Retirement Planner and workplace pension app have also been recognised for helping members plan more effectively for retirement, with the app now used by one in five active members.

Laura Mason, chief executive officer of retail at L&G, said: “Serving our customers better, through improved technology and simpler processes, is central to delivering our retail strategy. Our new platform will allow our teams to answer calls more quickly and deal with queries more efficiently, helping us to provide the very best support for customers at every stage of their lives.

“We’re combining our scale with Microsoft’s technology to make life simpler for our teams, give customers more personalised support, and to strengthen our operations.”

Darren Hardman, CEO of Microsoft UK & Ireland, said: “This collaboration is a great example of how AI can empower employees, streamline operations, and help organisations better serve their customers.

“By combining L&G Retail’s vision for customer experience with Microsoft’s AI and cloud technologies, we’re enabling teams to deliver more personalised, efficient, and secure support at scale.”

The partnership, both firms said, is intended to set a new benchmark for how financial services firms can use AI to enhance customer experience.