TLDR: Sun Life Financial has been recognized with a 2025 CIO Awards Canada for its GenAI-powered virtual agent, Iris. This innovative internal tool has drastically improved service desk efficiency, reducing resolution times by 83% and handling over 10,000 employee queries, leading to projected annual savings of 24,000 combined hours for employees and agents.
Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSX: SLF) (NYSE: SLF) has been honored as a 2025 CIO Awards Canada winner for the second consecutive year, specifically for its groundbreaking GenAI-powered virtual agent, ‘Iris’. This prestigious award celebrates Canadian organizations that demonstrate exceptional IT innovation in delivering significant business value.
Iris, an internally developed virtual service desk assistant, leverages both Generative AI (GenAI) and Agentic AI to enhance employee productivity and optimize service desk operations. The secure assistant seamlessly integrates with Sun Life’s existing systems, service desk workflows, and knowledge base. It provides instant, conversational responses to a wide range of common inquiries, including routine requests such as password resets, software access, and ticket status updates. By automating these repetitive tasks, Iris effectively frees up service desk agents to focus on more complex issues, thereby enabling employees to return to their primary responsibilities more quickly.
Since its implementation, Iris has delivered impressive results in terms of efficiency and impact. The tool has dramatically reduced the average service desk resolution time by an impressive 83%. Furthermore, over 80% of employee queries are now resolved in under two minutes. Iris has successfully completed more than 9,000 password resets with an 82% success rate and has handled approximately 10,000 employee queries since its launch. These significant efficiencies are projected to result in annual savings of over 24,000 combined hours for both employees and service desk agents.
Laura Money, Executive Vice-President, Chief Information and Technology Innovation Officer at Sun Life, commented on the achievement, stating, “This recognition is a testament to the power of responsible innovation. Iris delivers real-time value for employees while creating a blueprint for applying GenAI to enhance productivity at scale across Sun Life globally and for our Clients.”
The success of Iris serves as a crucial foundation for Sun Life’s future client-focused innovations. The valuable insights gained from its internal deployment are facilitating the company’s plans to scale similar GenAI and Agentic AI tools across its global contact centers. This strategic expansion aims to revolutionize client interactions, providing faster, more personalized digital experiences. Sun Life is also committed to continuously expanding Iris’s functionalities to address increasingly complex employee needs.
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This initiative is an integral part of Sun Life’s broader digital transformation journey, which also encompasses the recently introduced Advisor Notes Assistant. This GenAI tool is designed to streamline advisor workflows, with the potential to save 15–30 minutes of administrative effort per meeting, allowing advisors more time for meaningful client engagement. Sun Life’s innovation strategy is deeply rooted in principles of safety and security, ensuring that emerging technologies like GenAI are implemented responsibly to enhance operational efficiency and fulfill the company’s core purpose of helping clients achieve lifetime financial security and healthier lives.
