For the second consecutive year, Sun Life Financial Inc. has been named a 2025 CIO Awards Canada winner, this year for its internally developed GenAI-powered agent, Iris. The CIO Awards Canada celebrate Canadian organizations and the teams within them that are using IT in innovative ways to deliver business value.
Sun Life’s internal virtual agent, Iris, uses GenAI and Agentic AI to improve employee productivity and service desk efficiency. Iris is a secure service desk assistant that delivers instant, conversational responses to common inquiries such as password resets, software requests, and ticket status updates. Integrated into Sun Life’s existing systems, service desk workflows and knowledge base, Iris creates a seamless and secure self-service option for employees while freeing up service desk agents’ time to focus on more complex cases allowing employees to return to their priorities more quickly. The result: significant time savings, enhanced productivity, improved satisfaction, and a scalable model for future Client-facing AI innovations.
Productivity by the numbers
- Iris has dramatically reduced average service desk resolution time by 83%, resolving over 80% of employee questions in under two minutes.
- More than 9,000 password resets have been completed over the past year. The current success rate is 82%.
- Iris has successfully handled approximately 10,000 employee queries since launch.
- Projected annual savings of over 24,000 hours for both employees and agents combined.
Digital leadership, backed by results
Iris is foundational for future Client-focused innovations. The insights gained from this internal implementation are enabling Sun Life to scale similar GenAI and Agentic AI tools across all contact centres globally, transforming how Sun Life interacts with Clients, allowing faster, more personalized digital experiences. In addition, the Agentic AI system functionalities continue to expand and will have the ability to handle increasingly complex employee needs as Sun Life continues to introduce new features.
Iris is just one step on Sun Life’s broader digital transformation journey. The enterprise recently also developed and launched the Advisor Notes Assistant tool, an innovative GenAI tool designed to enhance the Client experience and streamline advisor workflows. This cutting-edge technology helps advisors save 15-30 minutes of administrative effort per meeting, enabling them to spend more time deepening Client relationships and providing trusted tailored advice.
Sun Life is committed to digital leadership and to ensuring a focus on Client impact by continuing to adopt and experiment with innovative technology. Our culture is rooted in safety and security which extends to our adoption of emerging technologies. Through technology like GenAI, Sun Life empowers its people to enhance their skills to deliver on our Purpose of helping Clients achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives.
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This entry was posted on August 12, 2025 at 9:10 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Sun Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Sun Life’s GenAI agent, Iris, earns 2025 innovation honour
For the second consecutive year, Sun Life Financial Inc. has been named a 2025 CIO Awards Canada winner, this year for its internally developed GenAI-powered agent, Iris. The CIO Awards Canada celebrate Canadian organizations and the teams within them that are using IT in innovative ways to deliver business value.
Sun Life’s internal virtual agent, Iris, uses GenAI and Agentic AI to improve employee productivity and service desk efficiency. Iris is a secure service desk assistant that delivers instant, conversational responses to common inquiries such as password resets, software requests, and ticket status updates. Integrated into Sun Life’s existing systems, service desk workflows and knowledge base, Iris creates a seamless and secure self-service option for employees while freeing up service desk agents’ time to focus on more complex cases allowing employees to return to their priorities more quickly. The result: significant time savings, enhanced productivity, improved satisfaction, and a scalable model for future Client-facing AI innovations.
Productivity by the numbers
Digital leadership, backed by results
Iris is foundational for future Client-focused innovations. The insights gained from this internal implementation are enabling Sun Life to scale similar GenAI and Agentic AI tools across all contact centres globally, transforming how Sun Life interacts with Clients, allowing faster, more personalized digital experiences. In addition, the Agentic AI system functionalities continue to expand and will have the ability to handle increasingly complex employee needs as Sun Life continues to introduce new features.
Iris is just one step on Sun Life’s broader digital transformation journey. The enterprise recently also developed and launched the Advisor Notes Assistant tool, an innovative GenAI tool designed to enhance the Client experience and streamline advisor workflows. This cutting-edge technology helps advisors save 15-30 minutes of administrative effort per meeting, enabling them to spend more time deepening Client relationships and providing trusted tailored advice.
Sun Life is committed to digital leadership and to ensuring a focus on Client impact by continuing to adopt and experiment with innovative technology. Our culture is rooted in safety and security which extends to our adoption of emerging technologies. Through technology like GenAI, Sun Life empowers its people to enhance their skills to deliver on our Purpose of helping Clients achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives.
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This entry was posted on August 12, 2025 at 9:10 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Sun Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.