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Disruptive innovation has been a core theme at Appian World 2025. Throughout the week, we’ve seen inspiring examples of organizations reimagining business processes through intelligent automation and AI. Among the highlights, MagMutual’s digital transformation journey stood out as a compelling example of how traditional industries like insurance are modernizing and embracing change.
This week, we celebrated MagMutual’s Appian Innovation Award for their online quoting project, a major achievement for the mutual insurer with a 43-year history. Sheila Evans, Chief Project and Solutions Officer at MagMutual, took the main stage to share her journey and how the organization is partnering with Xebia and Appian to modernize operations with AI.
A Need for Change: The Catalyst for MagMutual’s Modernization Journey
While automation is second nature to many digitally native companies, for long-established organizations, operations often occur across disconnected systems with siloed data. For mutual insurers like MagMutual, balancing cost savings with ensuring policyholder loyalty is critical to long-term success.
Despite being a leader in malpractice insurance for healthcare providers, MagMutual faced challenges familiar to many insurers: manual quoting processes, slow claims handling, and operational bottlenecks that strained both costs and policyholder experience. As Sheila emphasized, “Policyholders are the heart of our business, and everything we do puts them first.”
Recognizing the need for faster, scalable, and more transparent services, MagMutual set out to eliminate bottlenecks, accelerate quoting and claims processes, improve data integrity, enhance self-service capabilities, and maintain compliance — all within a unified, future-ready architecture.
Where the Journey Began
Sheila shared that MagMutual’s journey with Appian and Xebia evolved from discovery, to integration, to online quoting and claims, and now toward underwriting. While the operational challenges were clear, they initially lacked a viable solution to achieve their digital goals.
In 2020, during the pandemic, Sheila finished a call discussing these issues with colleagues. Her son, who worked for Appian, overheard the conversation and introduced her to the platform. Immediately recognizing Appian’s potential, she brought it to MagMutual’s CTO. The rest, as they say, is history.
Building and Deploying an Appian-based Automated Foundation
After selecting Appian, MagMutal began its journey to redefine traditional insurance operations by combining advanced automation, AI-driven processes, and a customer-focused approach to create an industry-leading digital experience.
To make this happen, they needed a way to merge and automate data from disparate systems into a unified architecture. The goal was to develop an online quoting system that could integrate with Salesforce and an existing Policy Management system.
Using Appian's process orchestration, MagMutual used AI, Intelligent Document Processing (IDP), process mining and low-code scalability to build a solution that enabled auto-determination quoting and claim processing, rapid coverage verification, and automated policy endorsement that eliminated several manual bottlenecks.
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From Vision to Measurable Outcomes
The results of MagMutual’s transformation were tangible and immediate. Quoting turnaround times improved by 30 percent, claims processing accelerated by 25 percent, and operational costs fell by 15 percent. Employee productivity increased by 20 percent, while policyholder satisfaction rose by 15 percent.
Beyond improving policyholder experience, these innovations dramatically enhanced employee workflows. By removing manual inefficiencies and automating key processes, MagMutual freed both business and IT teams to focus on higher-value initiatives and deliver faster, more transparent service.
Recognition at Appian World: The Innovation Award
In recognition of its accomplishments, MagMutual was honored with an Appian Innovation Award. Selected from a global pool of entries, MagMutual’s quoting project stood out as a benchmark for driving real-world business impact through intelligent automation and innovation.
The award was a moment of pride for both MagMutual and Xebia, reflecting the strength of their collaboration and a shared commitment to delivering continuous value. As Sheila noted, “We’ve had an amazing partnership with Xebia and Appian with their expertise in agile processes and navigating complex business rules to deliver against our strategic plan.”
Looking Ahead: Embracing Process HQ and Continuous Innovation
During her mainstage presentation, Sheila outlined the next phase of MagMutual’s digital journey. They needed a way to extract insights from their systems faster, a process that previously took weeks. Working with Xebia and Appian’s Process HQ, they reduced that process to minutes.
Looking ahead, MagMutual plans to deepen its use of process mining, data fabric, and AI to move from reactive to proactive optimization. They will expand automation beyond quoting and claims into areas like underwriting, workforce planning, and contract management.
By continuing to build on the foundation established with Xebia and Appian, MagMutual is positioning itself not just as a leader among mutual insurers but as a model for digital excellence across the broader industry.
Final Thoughts
MagMutual’s story from Appian World 2025 proves that meaningful innovation is about more than just technology. It’s about leadership, commitment, and a clear vision for change.
By combining executive leadership, cultural transformation, and strong partnerships with Xebia and Appian, MagMutual has demonstrated that even the most established industries can move quickly, innovate at scale, and deliver better outcomes for everyone they serve.
Read also: Xebia wins Appian 2025 Partner Impact and Excellence Awards for Innovation