Manulife has renewed and expanded its long-term partnership with Microsoft as it advances its strategy to become an AI-powered organization, adopting new cloud and artificial intelligence technologies designed to scale innovation while strengthening security and governance.
Under the five-year agreement, Manulife will expand Microsoft 365 Copilot access to more than 30,000 employees and deploy Microsoft Agent 365, a platform designed to govern, monitor, and secure AI agents across the enterprise. The company also adopted Microsoft 365 E7 Frontier Suite to provide a secure foundation for enterprise AI deployment.
The expanded partnership supports Manulife’s global AI transformation by enabling developers and data scientists to build, deploy, and manage AI and agentic applications using Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Foundry, and enterprise governance tools.
According to Shamus Weiland, Chief Technology & Operations Officer at Manulife, the expanded collaboration provides the scale, security, and intelligence needed to accelerate innovation while embedding AI responsibly across the company’s worldwide operations.
Microsoft Agent 365 will serve as a centralized registry for AI agents, allowing Manulife to monitor, govern, and manage AI-powered workflows from a single interface. The platform is expected to strengthen the insurer’s approach to AI governance, observability, compliance, and risk management.
Manulife has already integrated Microsoft AI technologies into several business functions. These include AI-powered sales enablement tools that provide personalized advisor insights, the Quick Quote generative AI underwriting solution used by John Hancock in the United States, and customer service solutions supporting more than 110 million calls annually across North America, with expansion underway in Asia.
The insurer is also deploying AI agents to assist employees with information retrieval, software development, technology design, and IT operations, helping streamline workflows, identify risks, and improve productivity.
The company said developers using GitHub Copilot have increased productivity by approximately 30%, enabling faster software development and allowing teams to reinvest time into creating new customer-focused capabilities. One example is the rapid redevelopment of Manulife’s mortgage renewal application, which was completed in just a few weeks.
Beyond technology teams, Manulife continues to expand AI tools across its workforce to improve operational efficiency and customer service. The company expects its AI initiatives to generate more than US$1 billion in enterprise value by 2027, after achieving approximately US$300 million by the end of 2025.
Microsoft Canada President Matt Milton said the expanded partnership will help Manulife scale AI responsibly while empowering employees with AI assistants and enterprise-grade governance capabilities.
The collaboration further strengthens Manulife’s position in enterprise AI adoption. The company has been recognized for two consecutive years as the top life insurance company in North America and Europe for AI maturity in the Evident AI Insurance Index.
