The holidays are a time for family, rest, and reflection. For us insurance folks, however, it often means returning from a long weekend with family and friends to a mountain of unprocessed submissions, claims, endorsements, and policy service requests. Instead of easing back into routines, teams feel like they’re in recovery mode: sluggish, stressed, and already behind.
With AI agents on the job, your operations can keep business moving on Turkey Day or any day, ensuring the only leftovers are on your plates, and your post-holiday return to the office is as smooth as gravy!
The Unwanted Insurance Tradition of Post-Holiday Backlogs
Insurance businesses are uniquely vulnerable to holiday backlogs. Sure, your offices might be closed, but brokers still submit applications, policyholders still file claims, and regulatory compliance never takes a holiday.
As a result, insurance experts are not there to handle this inflow, and when they return, the accumulation can feel overwhelming.
Underwriting teams often face hundreds of submissions waiting for review, many with supporting documents, like ACORD forms, SOVs, and broker emails. The fundamental analysis of risk is delayed due to time lost organizing, indexing, and entering data.
Claims professionals can find their inboxes flooded with FNOL reports, legal demand letters, and medical bills that must be classified and set up before adjusters can begin – after all, Thanksgiving holiday is the most active time for vehicle crashes.
Agents and brokers juggle anxious customers waiting for certificates of insurance, endorsements, and quotes. Service bottlenecks quickly lead to missed opportunities and frustrated clients.
And the timing could not be worse. Year-end is already one of the busiest seasons for the industry – with January 1 being the most active renewal date across commercial lines. Underwriting teams have overwhelming volumes of submissions, brokers are chasing down updated applications and loss runs, and policy servicing teams are scrambling to ensure endorsements and renewals are issued promptly.
Throw holidays into the mix and you’ve got one seriously overstuffed turkey. What starts as a few days off in late November quickly snowballs into weeks of catch-up in December, and workloads that have teams playing catch-up well into January.
AI Agents Keep Insurance Workflows Flowing
AI agents change this dynamic. Unlike people, AI agents never need time off. They can process, classify, and prepare work around the clock, ensuring that nothing sits idle in a queue. Here are some examples where AI is a proven difference-maker:
Submission Intake
AI can read inbound submissions, classify them by line of business, extract key data points from ACORD forms and supporting documents, and populate underwriting systems. Carriers using Roots’ AI agents are thankful for up to 90% of submissions classified automatically, 100x improvement in claims document processing performance, and 300-400+% ROIs since implementing Roots AI Agents.
Loss Run Summarization
Reviewing and summarizing loss runs is one of the most time-consuming parts of underwriting. AI can digest years of claims history in seconds, highlight patterns, and generate clean summaries. This eliminates hours of manual review per submission and reduces underwriter prep time by up to 80%.
Certificate of Insurance (COI) Preparation
COIs are among the most common service requests for brokers and agents. AI agents can pre-fill forms, validate information, and prepare drafts for approval. Organizations leveraging AI are delivering same-day turnaround of most COI requests, improving client satisfaction and retention.
Endorsement Processing
From name changes to coverage modifications, endorsements require accuracy and speed. AI agents can validate requests, update policy systems, and generate draft documents for human approval. Carriers have achieved 98% accuracy on data extraction from endorsements, virtually eliminating rework.
First Notice of Loss (FNOL) Setup
AI agents can read loss notices, claim descriptions, and other documents attached to emails to automatically create structured claim files. Adjusters can begin working cases immediately, with up to 70% of FNOLs processed straight-through without manual intervention.
Medical Bill Processing
Workers’ compensation and liability claims often involve hundreds of pages of medical billing. AI can classify bills, extract ICD and CPT codes, and prepare data for adjusters or bill review. Teams report 50-60% faster bill processing and improved compliance with tight payment timelines.
Legal Demand Letters
In claims litigation, time is critical. AI agents can read demand letters (which can contain vital information hidden within hundreds of pages), extract key details, and route cases for prompt action. With AI, insurers can reduce the risk of reputational damage or costly penalties resulting from missed response deadlines.
Policy Renewals
Renewal reviews often begin months before expiration. AI can pre-process submissions up to 120 days in advance, assembling documents, extracting data from key fields, and flagging missing information. Carriers using AI have improved underwriter productivity by 30–40% during peak renewal season.
The compounding effect of these efficiencies is powerful. Roots’ customers have reported 650% ROI in under eight months, along with 90% reductions in manual document handling.
Using AI Leads to Happier Teams and Satisfied Clients
The benefit is not only operational, but also cultural. By letting AI handle repetitive intake and setup work, insurers free their people to focus on judgment, customer empathy, and relationship building.
- Employees return from the holidays refreshed, not burned out.
- Customers get timely responses instead of waiting for backlogs to clear.
- Team leaders reduce extra cost from BPO or overtime, and the risk of errors caused by rushing through backlogs.
All of which makes a lot to be thankful for, including happier employees, more loyal customers, and better business outcomes.
Turn Holiday Backlogs into Business Growth Opportunities with AI
If AI isn’t a part of your workflows, now is the time to think about adding AI agents to your holiday guest list. Begin with one high-impact process – e,g., such as submission intake, loss run summarization, or COI creation, to demonstrate fast time to value.
If you already have AI in production, consider other use cases where AI agents can manage workflows to reduce manual work of repetitive processes, allowing your teams more time to focus where they create the greatest value to your business and your customers.
So this season, avoid the Turkey Day recovery and start shaping your insurance operations for tomorrow. Let AI agents handle the backlog, so your team can come back rested, ready, and focus on what they do best: serving customers, making informed, successful decisions, and growing the business year-round.
Make a list you won’t need to check twice. Download our Insurance AI Implementation Checklist to ensure you’re prepared for AI-powered success.
