Tower Insurance cuts customer call time by nearly 800,000 minutes with AI contact centre
Tower Insurance has reduced average call handling time by 2 minutes and 38 seconds per interaction since launching an AI-enabled contact centre seven months ago. The New Zealand insurer saved customers more than 796,000 minutes-equivalent to 550 days-in total call time, a 15% reduction across sales, service, and claims.
The contact centre runs on Amazon Connect, a cloud platform that integrates real-time transcription and AI-assisted agent support directly into customer conversations. Agents no longer pause to type notes while listening, reducing the risk of missing details.
How the system works
Every call now uses real-time transcription to capture customer context as the conversation unfolds. The platform also includes automated quality monitoring, flagging issues without manual review.
Tower was selected as the only Australian and New Zealand participant in an inaugural AWS Partner-Led Customer Success pilot for Amazon Connect. Deloitte New Zealand identified Tower as having the operational maturity to rapidly extract value from the platform.
What this means for support teams
The results show a shift toward embedding AI into everyday service interactions rather than treating it as a separate tool. Paul Johnston, Tower's CEO, said the approach maintains care and judgment while reducing friction.
"When customers contact us, it's often at moments that matter," Johnston said. "Reducing the time it takes to get help, without sacrificing care or judgement, is critical to maintaining trust."
Tower plans to expand AI use across its operations in the coming year. The company sees the technology as part of a broader strategy to improve both customer experience and staff efficiency.
For customer support professionals, the implementation demonstrates how AI tools can reduce administrative burden-transcription, note-taking, quality checks-freeing agents to focus on problem-solving. Learn more about AI for Customer Support and AI Agents & Automation in practice.
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