Nicole Kennedy and Rav Bharania of BMO Insurance make the case that carriers have long built workflows around their own internal structures and then expected advisors to adapt. In this feature, the two leaders explain how BMO Insurance is reversing that logic: rebuilding platforms from the ground up, deploying Rovr AI on Microsoft Azure AI to keep advisor-client conversations intact, and embedding governance inside the innovation cycle rather than bolting it on afterward. The result, they argue, is faster feedback loops, fewer back-end errors, and a measurable distribution advantage rooted in advisor confidence.
Advisors are losing patience because the benchmark for digital experience is no longer set by other insurers. It is set by every other digital tool advisors use in their daily lives. Nicole Kennedy, who leads BMO Insurance's advisory business, says there is simply 'a different bar now' and that carriers must rise to meet it. Advisors managing client uncertainty, regulatory requirements, and time pressure at once cannot afford platforms that add friction rather than remove it.
BMO Insurance is rebuilding from the ground up rather than layering fixes onto legacy systems. Kennedy says patching old infrastructure 'doesn't actually modernize anything at the end of the day.' Rav Bharania, chief of digital transformation, says the company spends direct time with advisors observing where processes break down in the real flow of their work. The goal is platforms configurable enough to address a bottleneck while advisors are still feeling it. Historically that cycle took months; the new approach aims to collapse it.
Rovr AI gives advisors clear, reliable answers to complex underwriting and eligibility questions while they are sitting with a client, reducing delay, uncertainty, and rework. Bharania describes the core problem: BMO Insurance products carry nuanced underwriting criteria, and without immediate support, 'the moment breaks' and the advisor must pause or follow up later. Built on Microsoft Azure AI, Rovr AI is designed to keep that client conversation intact rather than interrupt it, supporting advisors with underwriting documentation, product information, and advisor resources in real time.
Bharania is direct that AI is not there to replace advisors, because judgment, context, and trust are human qualities technology does not replicate. AI earns its place by removing friction and helping advisors explain complex products with confidence. Because advisors typically sell products from multiple carriers, the carrier whose tools make a product easiest to understand and submit is the one advisors reach for first. Confidence, as Bharania frames it, is a distribution strategy, not a service feature.
At BMO Insurance, governance is treated as the mechanism that makes speed possible, not a brake on it. Kennedy explains that strong governance 'should not be seen as putting on the brakes; it makes acceleration possible in a controlled and safe way.' BMO Insurance embeds governance inside the innovation cycle from the start, defining the sandbox, data parameters, and target audience before any capability ships. That foundation is what allows advisors to trust a tool, because they can understand what sits behind it.
Kennedy says carriers will increasingly be judged on how quickly they sense a change in market conditions or client behaviour and adjust to it. She argues that quick wins advisors can feel in the near term and longer-term foundational rebuilding must run in parallel, because one without the other is not a strategy. Her advice to advisors: use technology for tasks that do not require expert judgment, freeing time for client relationships and complex decisions, and treat the carrier as a partner being actively shaped rather than a vendor to wait on.
Bharania says a meaningful shift has taken place. There was a time when raising an issue with a carrier felt futile because fixes took years and advisors simply adjusted their expectations. That gap is collapsing as platforms become more configurable and feedback loops shorten. 'The industry doesn't have the luxury of slow learning anymore,' he says. 'The carriers that are listening and responding are the ones shaping what comes next.' Kennedy reinforces this, urging advisors to give carriers direct feedback because the advisor experience is essential to ongoing product development.
Nicole Kennedy — leader, advisory business, BMO Insurance. Focuses on building solutions for advisors; translates day-to-day advisor challenges into actionable requirements that guide BMO Insurance's development teams.
Rav Bharania — chief, digital transformation, BMO Insurance. Owns BMO Insurance's modernization agenda and the company's expanding use of AI; leads deployment of Rovr AI, an automated system powered by Microsoft Azure AI designed to support advisors with underwriting documentation, product information, and advisor resources in real time.