Applied Systems, a Canadian insurance software provider, announced July 23 that it has acquired Planck, an artificial intelligence (AI) company specialized in the commercial insurance industry.

Planck, founded in 2016, is based in New York and Tel Aviv and has more than 80 employees, according to information on its website.

In a press release, Applied Systems stated that the acquisition of Planck will significantly expand its AI capabilities, “creating more value at every stage of the insurance lifecycle for the benefit of agencies, carriers and their clients.” 

Taylor Rhodes, CEO of Applied Systems, stated that by acquiring Planck, “we will be investing behind a world-class team of AI and Data Science experts to accelerate the application of leading AI capabilities to insurance workflows.”

Experimenting with AI capabilities 

Applied Systems says that during the past 18 months it has released its initial versions of AI-powered features in certain Applied and EZLynx products. It has also been experimenting with AI capabilities through its Applied AI Lab in collaboration with some agents and carriers.

“By leveraging AI capabilities, Applied aims to enhance the speed and quality of critical business processes, including marketing, sales, underwriting, renewals, servicing, and advisory services,” says the company, adding that the acquisition of Planck “will further expand opportunities to harness AI's value in secure and practical ways, delivering intelligent automation throughout the insurance lifecycle.” 

Agency and broker distribution 

“We are excited to build on the success of delivering our industry-leading AI capabilities to carriers by partnering with Applied to extend the power of AI to the agency and broker distribution side of the market,” stated Elad Tsur, CEO and Co-Founder of Planck.