Pranjal Sharma

Hello and welcome to the first episode of the podcast series by WNS Forum, a leading hyper automation company. I'm Pranjal Sharma.

I'm an author based in New Delhi, India and today I'm going to be in conversation with Liam Jones, Agency CEO at Mosaic Insurance, and we're going to be discussing the theme of partnership with purpose, leveraging technology and innovation.

Liam joins us from London. Thanks Liam for joining us today.

Liam Jones

Thanks for having me. I didn't realize that I was the first, so that's always an honor, isn't it?

Pranjal Sharma

Yeah, it is. And you sort of set the pace for others who will follow. So as a good leader, I'm sure you'll do the right thing.

Liam Jones

I'll try my best.

Pranjal Sharma

So you know Mosaic's business model is built on partnerships. Now, these partnerships by themselves are not new, but I think their shape and form are constantly evolving. Can you share some examples on how these partnerships are operating and how they're enhancing service delivery for you and of course keeping you competitive?

Liam Jones

Sure. So I think it's worth taking just a little bit of a step back to talk about the model of Mosaic because it speaks to the partnerships.

In insurance generally there are two ways you can go if you want to start a company. Mosaic was founded in 2021. You can either raise a billion dollars and start your own insurance balance sheet to take risk, or you can start what’s known as an MGA – a Managing General Agency – whereby you supply the underwriters and the know-how and get a third party to support you from a risk-taking perspective and they pay you a fee to do so.

Mosaic is a hybrid of the two. When we started Mosaic in 2021, we created our own Lloyd’s Syndicate – Mosaic Syndicate 1609 – and at the same time we started an agency business. We now operate in seven countries around the world across seven lines of specialty business. We don’t write any traditional property insurance and today we distribute through our service company network.

The agency is essentially the operating company of Mosaic and our syndicate is the lead underwriter within that agency. Rather than the agency having a third party as their underwriter, we are our own lead syndicate and then we join other carriers alongside us in a typical agency fashion. Today we have nearly 30 other carriers that support us around the world – which is extremely rare. If we hit our plans for 2025 it will be roughly 800 million in premium.

There’s a huge amount to manage. When we talk about partnership at Mosaic, it’s not just a word – it’s what we are. We are a partnership model and that extends to technology as well.

Right from the beginning we knew our strength as a leadership team was underwriting and building underwriting businesses – underwriting and claims. But we also recognized that our strength was not in building tech capabilities. That’s true for much of the insurance industry. So we decided early to partner with a couple of important broad-scale businesses to support the technology and operational side of our business. That’s allowed us to scale quickly and consistently in a way we couldn’t have done if we were trying to build everything ourselves.

We’re only four years old, but we’re already extremely proud of where the business is – over 200 people around the world. And if you walk into any of our offices you’ll see “Partnership with Purpose” written on the wall. It really is central to what we do.

Pranjal Sharma

To hear from you, it's very impressive that in four years you have 800 million of premium. That's quite impressive, but for a person who may not be in the insurance industry, how would you say is your model unique to what the traditional model has been before — before we talk about how technology is enabling it?

Liam Jones

I think we like to think we're one of the first to do it at scale. It’s been done before on a smaller level — having both an agency and a host capacity — but not globally to this scale, with this many partners and premium volume. I’m not aware of another company doing it so meaningfully.

Some other models have a syndicate as well — I won’t name them, but insurance folks will know who they are. What makes us different is that we retain so much of that risk ourselves. For our partners, we want them to know that even on our worst day, we’re alongside them. When we retain as much exposure as we do — around 30–40% — that’s always going to be true.

So when you’re having a difficult conversation about a loss — which always happens — at least they know we’re hurting just as much as they are, financially. We can move on together. That shared commitment makes us unique.

Pranjal Sharma

That’s probably the core of it — that you’re in step with your partners and not disconnected. Because sometimes that happens when each company holds out for itself. But would it be fair to say that technology is enabling this in a far better way? I mean, if you had planned a model like this a decade ago, perhaps the technology wasn’t there. Would you say that technology is playing a critical enabling role for you to build and maintain these partnerships?

Liam Jones

Yes, absolutely. There are two key factors that really support how we engage with our partners: first, profitable underwriting, and second, service. Both have different lenses depending on who you ask, but both are equally vital.

To produce profitable results that our partners can’t replicate on their own, we need great distribution, fantastic underwriters and claims professionals, strong finance, and excellent teams overall. But then you also need to find that “edge” — and that’s where technology and innovation play a huge role. Over time, technology will be the differentiator that keeps us ahead.

Technology allows us to scale our service delivery consistently and with precision. It gives us transparency, speed, and reduced error rates. These are major benefits in an industry where accuracy and timing are everything. Our technology partnerships have allowed us to grow faster and deliver better value for both our partners and clients.

Pranjal Sharma

That’s an important point, Liam. Especially in a complex space like insurance, technology can really streamline processes. But tell me — if you look at Mosaic today, what would you say is the most transformative aspect of technology for your organization?

Liam Jones

There are two, really. On one hand, it’s about the scalability and reliability of our infrastructure — having the ability to replicate processes across geographies with consistent quality. On the other, it’s how data and automation are helping us deliver better underwriting outcomes and faster service to clients.

We’ve made major investments in automation and in low-code platforms that simplify workflows. The goal is to make our underwriters’ lives easier and to minimize friction for our brokers and customers. By removing manual tasks, we let our teams focus on what truly matters — judgment, relationships, and decision-making. That’s where humans outperform machines.

Pranjal Sharma

That’s a very thoughtful way to look at it — using automation to enable rather than replace human intelligence. Let’s talk about AI now. How is AI starting to shape your processes at Mosaic, especially in underwriting and operations?

Liam Jones

AI is a fascinating topic — everyone’s talking about it, but for us, it’s not about the end game yet. We’re not trying to fully automate underwriting or replace human expertise. We’re focused on using AI in tangible, immediate ways that make our people more effective.

The most practical example is what we call the “virtual junior underwriter.” It’s a tool we built in partnership with a third-party provider to support our underwriters. It handles the initial part of the underwriting process — reviewing submission materials, synthesizing data, and generating a clear picture of the risk before any pricing or decision-making begins.

It doesn’t just give a score. It provides a natural-language summary of the risk, similar to how an experienced underwriter would describe it in their head. It’s a digital assistant that gives underwriters back their time.

We launched it recently in one of our largest lines of business, and it’s showing great promise. Initially, we rolled it out at the end of last year, and it wasn’t perfect — but we iterated, learned, and relaunched. Now, depending on the size and complexity of a case, we’ve cut review times from 30–90 minutes down to about 2 minutes. That’s incredible progress.

Instead of manually searching through 30 different forms, supplementary data, and public disclosures, our underwriters now get all that in a digestible format instantly. They can then focus on interpreting the insights rather than gathering the information. It’s a big step forward.

What’s also exciting is how it changes the way we think about our workforce. With this kind of technology, maybe we don’t need to hire as many people for repetitive work. We can upskill junior underwriters to focus on higher-value tasks faster. For a growing business like ours, that’s transformative.

Pranjal Sharma

That’s remarkable — and I really like the term ���virtual junior underwriter.” It’s a great example of AI being used to amplify human capabilities rather than replace them.

But that brings up another challenge: data. In your business, as in many others, having accurate, high-quality data is crucial. To process and analyze it at speed and scale is no small feat. How is Mosaic managing that part of the transformation?

Liam Jones

It’s a work in progress, but we’re in a good place. Being a relatively young company helps — we’re fully cloud-based from day one, so our data is accessible and consistent across geographies. Early on, our focus was on getting the business off the ground — people, systems, infrastructure. We probably didn’t prioritize perfect data architecture right away, but now we’re catching up fast.

We’re cleaning up our data infrastructure, tagging and structuring it so we can use it for analytics and model training. That foundation is key for long-term innovation. But more importantly, we’re asking better questions about data itself. What data do we actually need? How much of what we collect really adds value?

Underwriters make decisions based not only on data but also on experience — and that experience itself is data in a human brain. We’re working to identify which data points truly affect outcomes and how we can use them intelligently. It’s about creating “valuable data,” not just having more of it.

We even have an internal development program where rising stars tackle real-world challenges — one of them is focused entirely on this: how to identify, structure, and create data that’s genuinely useful. Because every company has data, but not everyone has meaningful data.

Pranjal Sharma

That’s an excellent distinction — valuable versus available data. I’ve seen this across industries: too much irrelevant data can actually slow you down. It takes both human instinct and technology to filter and use what really matters.

So, would it be fair to say that Mosaic’s approach is a blend of human expertise, training, and the right technology tools to manage the most relevant data for clients?

Liam Jones

Exactly. You can hire the best people in the world, but if every underwriter interprets data differently, you’ll get inconsistent outcomes. That’s where tools like AI help by giving everyone the same starting point.

Take our cyber line, for instance. It operates across six of our seven territories — from the U.S. to Dubai. Each underwriter has unique experiences and perspectives, which is great, but it also introduces variation. By using a consistent AI-generated base analysis, we can compare and learn what differentiates the most profitable outcomes from the rest. That feedback loop improves decision-making across the board.

This isn’t about removing human judgment — it’s about augmenting it with consistency. Over time, this drives better underwriting margins and benefits our partners, clients, and brokers alike. They know they’re working with underwriters who truly understand their business, and that’s invaluable.

Pranjal Sharma

So this virtual junior underwriter — if you could unpack that a bit, Liam — is this meant purely as an internal support for your team, or does it have any client-facing interface?

Liam Jones

No, it’s fully internal. It’s not designed to replace our people or change decision-making — it’s about helping them get to that point faster. It brings our underwriters to the stage of discussion and decision much sooner, and that’s the real value.

Not every line of business will be able to use this tool; it depends on data availability and complexity. But the point is to keep learning and iterating. You can’t jump straight to a perfect endgame — you evolve with each use case. That’s how we’re approaching it.

Pranjal Sharma

If I can draw an analogy, this feels similar to manufacturing — where robots assist humans on the assembly line. They’re called “cobots,” collaborative robots. It sounds like your process automation is doing something similar: collaborating with your team to improve efficiency, speed, and accuracy.

Liam Jones

Exactly right. It’s process automation working as a partner. Because of the kind of risks we underwrite — large, complex, and diverse — full automation just isn’t feasible. Each case is unique and requires judgment. But if we can automate the repetitive, time-consuming parts, we give our people more time to focus on critical thinking and strategy. That’s where the biggest impact lies.

Pranjal Sharma

In terms of industries, can you give us a sense of the range of sectors Mosaic operates in? Because each sector carries its own kind of risk, right?

Liam Jones

Absolutely. We have seven core products: mergers and acquisitions, cyber insurance, environmental liability, political risk, political violence, financial institutions, and professional liability. So we cover a diverse portfolio. Practically every industry touches one or more of these areas at some point, which means our exposure spans across sectors globally.

And you’re right — the risk profile for each sector is constantly evolving. Macroeconomic shifts, geopolitics, regulatory changes, and emerging threats all play a role. As a leadership team, we talk about this every day — how to anticipate risk before it manifests, and how to align technology and data to stay ahead.

There’s so much information out there — research, market data, geopolitical trends — but it’s fragmented. We’re interested in how technology can help us bring that all together to inform leadership and portfolio decisions more proactively. It’s an exciting space with huge potential for innovation.

Pranjal Sharma

That’s a good point, Liam. Because each of your partners would have its own assessment of risk and its own reading of the market. What’s fascinating is that every few months, risk profiles change across sectors and geographies — and geopolitics now plays a huge role in that. Technology clearly has a role to play in making sense of this complexity.

So my final question — in an increasingly complex world with environmental, social, geopolitical, market, and regulatory risks, do you see technology becoming even more central to your industry’s evolution?

Liam Jones

Absolutely — there’s no question about it. The simple answer is yes. The challenge isn’t whether technology will be important; it’s about how quickly we can extract reliable, consistent insights from it. The technology will start creating perspectives we don’t yet have — or that we currently get too late to act on effectively.

In the short to medium term, our focus is on accelerating that visibility — getting a faster, consistent view of the world. It doesn’t even have to be perfect or 100% accurate; consistency itself creates stability. Once you have that, you can layer human expertise on top of it.

Technology will only become more powerful and more interesting as capabilities evolve. But everything comes back to data integrity. The better the data, the better the insights, and the stronger the trust with partners. That’s where we’re concentrating our efforts — ensuring that what we see, our partners can also rely on.

We have a brilliant team at Mosaic, and by working with partners like WNS and others, we’re confident that we’ll continue to evolve responsibly and intelligently.

Pranjal Sharma

That’s a great way to summarize it, Liam. From what you’ve shared, it’s clear that technology is becoming the foundation for a collaborative, purpose-driven partnership ecosystem — one where data leads to actionable insights, and human intelligence combines smartly with automation and AI to deliver value.

As the world becomes more complex, that blend of human and artificial intelligence will be key to navigating change and creating impact.

Liam, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your thoughts and experiences. And to everyone listening — thank you for tuning in to this first episode of the WNS Forum podcast series. I was speaking with Liam Jones, Agency CEO at Mosaic Insurance. We’ll continue to explore how hyperautomation and technology are powering the next wave of business transformation in future episodes.

Stay tuned for the next episode.