AI-Powered Online Sales Qorus-NTT DATA Innovation in Insurance Awards 2026

Concept and Objectives: 

"Smart Xiaoan: AI-Powered Sales" is an end-to-end, multi-scenario, multi-product AI-driven sales solution developed by Ping An Property & Casualty Insurance based on large model technology. The core of the project is the construction of an AI agent with independent sales capabilities, named "Smart Xiaoan," which enables fully automated service throughout the entire process—from customer outreach and intent identification to product recommendation and transaction conversion. The objective is to establish the financial industry's first scalable AI-powered sales system, driving the online and intelligent upgrade of insurance and other financial products, while enhancing customer experience and operational efficiency to support rapid growth in online premiums.

Reasons Behind: 

Traditional financial sales models rely heavily on human agents and offline channels, which are often constrained by high costs, low efficiency, slow response times, and limited coverage. As customer behavior increasingly shifts online and becomes more fragmented, conventional sales processes struggle to meet demands for instant and personalized service. Meanwhile, breakthroughs in large model technology have opened new possibilities for AI applications in complex decision-making scenarios. In response, Ping An Group has introduced the "AI in All" strategy, aiming to deeply embed AI across its financial value chain. "Smart Xiaoan" represents a key implementation of this strategy in the online customer sales context, fundamentally reshaping the sales process to achieve greater efficiency, lower costs, and enhanced service delivery.

State of Competition:

Currently, most financial institutions remain at the stage of AI-assisted sales, utilizing tools such as intelligent customer service bots for basic inquiries or rule-based engines for product recommendations. Some players have begun experimenting with AI-generated customer profiles and strategy development, but none have achieved true end-to-end, unmanned sales capabilities. In contrast, Ping An Property & Casualty Insurance received qualification for using LLM direct-to-customer pilot license issued by the National Administration of Financial Regulation (NAFR) of China. It represents the highest level of regulatory approval for AI applications in China’s financial industry. Only four financial institutions nationwide have received this license, which means Ping An P&C’s large language model has passed strict reviews in data security, compliance, risk control, and consumer protection, and is officially permitted to provide AI-powered services directly to customers. It is a strong recognition of Ping An p&C’s leading position and trustworthiness in financial AI innovation. On this basis, "Smart Xiaoan" has pioneered a fully integrated AI closed loop across the entire sales journey—from customer cultivation and outreach to conversion and closing. This positions the project at the forefront of the industry in terms of both technological depth and business process integrity.

Sources of Inspiration:

The project was inspired by Ping An Group's strategic vision of "reshaping the financial value chain with AI" and a deep understanding of customer expectations in the digital era for "instant response, precise recommendations, and seamless experiences." The team observed that many potential customers were lost due to waiting times for human agents or abandoned purchases due to information asymmetry. The realization that an AI capable of providing 24/7, personalized service could dramatically improve conversion efficiency became a driving force. Breakthroughs in large language models—particularly in natural language understanding, intent recognition, and content generation—provided the key technological impetus to launch the project.

Departments Involved:

The project is led by the Customer R&D Team of Ping An Property & Casualty Insurance, in close collaboration with the Data Intelligence Platform Team and the Online Customer Platform Team for Individual Groups.

Main Results So Far:

1. Received approval from the National Financial Regulatory Administration, becoming one of the first pilot projects in the financial industry for customer-facing large model applications, and the first such project within Ping An.

2. Successfully developed "Smart Xiaoan," an AI agent with independent sales capabilities, achieving end-to-end, fully automated sales.

3. Generated premiums totaling RMB 17.78 billion, with cost advantages amounting to RMB 254 million compared to offline channels.

4. The AI capabilities of "Smart Xiaoan" have been integrated as a benchmark into Ping An Group's "AI in All" intelligent marketing strategy project, enhancing the Group's comprehensive financial service capabilities.

5. Established a reusable technical framework with the potential to be applied across different business lines, providing AI sales capabilities to other business units.

6. Won first place in the Major Innovation category at the 2026 Ping An Group Smart Innovation Technology Competition, standing out from 213 projects submitted by 16 subsidiaries.