How AXA Switzerland Uses BigQuery and Vertex AI to Cut Query Times by 95%
AXA Switzerland, the country’s leading insurer covering over 40% of Swiss companies, migrated its entire data infrastructure to Google Cloud and deployed BigQuery, Vertex AI, and Gemini to become a data-driven organization. The transformation reduced complex query times from days to minutes or seconds and generated a high double-digit million Swiss franc profit improvement through Smart Data initiatives.
Impact
Over 95%
Query and processing time reduction
High double-digit million CHF
Profit improvement from Smart Data
25 minutes → seconds
Medical document triage time
100+
Google Cloud projects in production
120,000 CHF false claim identified
Fraud detection result (first week)
Challenge
Legacy infrastructure built for batch reporting — not real-time decisions — meant complex analytical queries could take an entire weekend, and siloed systems prevented AXA Switzerland from combining data across CRM, ERP, e-commerce, and operations into a unified view.
Solution
AXA Switzerland migrated to Google Cloud and built a unified analytics foundation on BigQuery, adding machine learning workflows via Vertex AI, serverless deployment through Cloud Run, and conversational interfaces via Dialogflow, with Gemini powering an assistant-first generative AI layer for document analysis and claims triage.
Tools & Technologies
What Leaders Say
“We were transforming our business model from traditional and analog to innovative and digital. We had to leverage technology and become truly data-driven.”
“Our data structures were designed for reporting, not real-time decision making. We needed more than a technology refresh—we needed a complete rethink of how data was stored, accessed, and utilized across the organization.”
“Our Smart Data projects were among the most profitable initiatives in AXA Switzerland’s history. A case in point: by implementing a simple, existing fraud detection ruleset, we uncovered a 120,000 Swiss franc false claim involving intoxicated workers—in its very first week after deployment.”
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Full Story
AXA Switzerland insures more than 40% of Swiss companies and has served the country for over 140 years, offering car, liability, health, life, and pension products. When the insurer’s leadership recognized in 2021 that its analog operating model was falling behind customer expectations and competitive demands, it made a decisive bet on cloud technology — becoming the first AXA subsidiary globally to move entirely to the cloud.
Before the transformation, the infrastructure was built for reporting rather than real-time decision-making. Complex analytical queries could run for an entire weekend, siloed systems blocked cross-functional insights, and customer-facing processes required structured inputs that many customers found cumbersome. The data estate was fragmented, making it nearly impossible to combine CRM, ERP, e-commerce, and operational data in a single view.
AXA Switzerland migrated its data lake to Google Cloud in 2021 and built a unified analytics foundation on BigQuery. This allowed the organization to consolidate enterprise data sources — CRM, ERP, e-commerce, and operational systems — into one platform. The team then layered machine learning workloads on Vertex AI, deployed Cloud Run for serverless applications, and integrated Dialogflow for voice interfaces. The current phase involves exploring generative AI through Gemini, with an assistant-first policy that keeps AI augmenting human specialists rather than directly replacing customer interactions.
The results are measurable across the business. Query and processing times fell by more than 95% — what once consumed a full weekend now completes in seconds or minutes. Medical document triage that required 25 minutes of specialist time now runs in seconds with high accuracy. A fraud detection ruleset deployed in its first week identified a 120,000 Swiss franc false claim, and the Smart Data program as a whole generated a high double-digit million Swiss franc profit improvement. More than 100 Google Cloud projects are now live in production across all business lines.
The shift has fundamentally changed how the IT function operates at AXA Switzerland. Rather than receiving requirements from the business and executing them, the technology team now initiates innovation sprints and brings new capabilities to business stakeholders. The company is actively exploring agentic AI, geospatial underwriting using satellite data, and multimodal AI across text, voice, and imagery — positioning itself at the frontier of what is technically possible in European insurance.