Vertical AI in Action: How One Insurance Company Transformed Go-To-Market, Underwriting, and Claims
Wed Feb 04 2026
What happens when you stop bolting AI onto existing processes and rebuild your entire company as an AI-native stack? Spanish insurtech Tuio went from industry-average 5% profit margins to 15%, with a 40% improvement in marketing conversion.In this episode of Disambiguation, I sit down with Juan Garcia, Co-founder and CEO of Tuio, to explore how his team re-engineered insurance from the ground up. We dig into:-Why vertical AI approaches deliver better results than horizontal tools in regulated industries • The "Customer DNA" concept: collecting hundreds of non-traditional data points to personalize pricing • How behavioral signals (like Apple vs. Android users, or browsing patterns) predict claims costs and fraud • The three levers driving transformation: growing more efficiently, underwriting smarter, and managing claims more effectively • Building named AI agents (Atum for marketing, Watson for claims) that suggest "next best actions" with confidence levels • Why human adjusters still make final decisions on payouts and rejections, even when AI confidence is 100% • Using MCP integrations to create always-on marketing optimization loopsJuan shares the insight that shifted Tuio's strategy: customer service is only 10% of costs, but claims and marketing are 85%. Focusing AI on better decision-making in these areas delivers 10x the impact of pure efficiency plays.Recommendation from Juan: Richard Fowler's work on behavioral economics, which is more relevant than ever as we examine how cognitive biases transfer from humans to AI systems.🔗 Learn more about Arion Research: https://arionresearch.com 📧 Want to be a guest? Email: disambiguation@arionresearch.comChapters: 0:00 - Introduction 1:24 - Juan's background and how Tuio started 5:14 - The underserved 25-55 demographic in insurance 8:07 - Digital-first approach and profit margin improvements 11:03 - From cost efficiency to better decision-making 14:56 - Re-engineering processes as an AI-native company stack 18:37 - Atum: The AI agent transforming marketing with MCP integrations 23:31 - Customer DNA and behavioral signals in underwriting 28:12 - Watson: Hybrid workflows in claims management 35:10 - Why vertical AI beats horizontal tools 37:25 - Scaling challenges: systems vs. expertise 39:33 - Juan's recommendation: Richard Fowler on behavioral economics
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What happens when you stop bolting AI onto existing processes and rebuild your entire company as an AI-native stack? Spanish insurtech Tuio went from industry-average 5% profit margins to 15%, with a 40% improvement in marketing conversion.In this episode of Disambiguation, I sit down with Juan Garcia, Co-founder and CEO of Tuio, to explore how his team re-engineered insurance from the ground up. We dig into:-Why vertical AI approaches deliver better results than horizontal tools in regulated industries • The "Customer DNA" concept: collecting hundreds of non-traditional data points to personalize pricing • How behavioral signals (like Apple vs. Android users, or browsing patterns) predict claims costs and fraud • The three levers driving transformation: growing more efficiently, underwriting smarter, and managing claims more effectively • Building named AI agents (Atum for marketing, Watson for claims) that suggest "next best actions" with confidence levels • Why human adjusters still make final decisions on payouts and rejections, even when AI confidence is 100% • Using MCP integrations to create always-on marketing optimization loopsJuan shares the insight that shifted Tuio's strategy: customer service is only 10% of costs, but claims and marketing are 85%. Focusing AI on better decision-making in these areas delivers 10x the impact of pure efficiency plays.Recommendation from Juan: Richard Fowler's work on behavioral economics, which is more relevant than ever as we examine how cognitive biases transfer from humans to AI systems.🔗 Learn more about Arion Research: https://arionresearch.com 📧 Want to be a guest? Email: disambiguation@arionresearch.comChapters: 0:00 - Introduction 1:24 - Juan's background and how Tuio started 5:14 - The underserved 25-55 demographic in insurance 8:07 - Digital-first approach and profit margin improvements 11:03 - From cost efficiency to better decision-making 14:56 - Re-engineering processes as an AI-native company stack 18:37 - Atum: The AI agent transforming marketing with MCP integrations 23:31 - Customer DNA and behavioral signals in underwriting 28:12 - Watson: Hybrid workflows in claims management 35:10 - Why vertical AI beats horizontal tools 37:25 - Scaling challenges: systems vs. expertise 39:33 - Juan's recommendation: Richard Fowler on behavioral economics