Orchestration has become one of the industry buzzwords of late, but it promises more than mere hype. Bringing together various AI tools and understanding the true value of data in different contexts, is a key factor in making AI systems work. We are entering an era where AI will need to be managed, directed and carefully regulated, rather than being allowed to run wild. The recent cases where “rogue” AI did just that highlight the dangers. So data specialist companies, underwriters, MGAs, claims services and brokers have to work together in the future to orchestrate the aims, and the everyday functions, of AI deployment. Here’s the word from Avantia;
Avantia Group, the digital home insurance platform and parent company behind award-winning specialist home insurance business Homeprotect, is taking its AI-powered claims operation to the next level with the launch of ‘Lyra’, a proprietary agentic AI orchestrator designed for the next generation of home insurance claims.
Building on Holmes, Avantia’s existing proprietary AI claims tool that launched in 2025, Lyra provides a sophisticated orchestration layer that sits above Holmes and is built to work alongside other agentic tools. Where Holmes processes individual interactions in the claims process, Lyra can coordinate multiple AI systems in much the same way a senior manager directs a team of specialists. Crucially, Lyra introduces persistent memory across claims interactions, enabling the system to identify patterns, inconsistencies and anomalies over time that would be invisible when viewing individual claims in isolation.
The result is an AI-driven claims operation – leveraging multiple AI agents and tools – that is able to scale faster and smarter, with fair outcomes for both policyholders and the business.
The introduction of Lyra does not diminish the human element of the claims experience. A dedicated human operator continuously monitors Lyra’s learning and decision-making, and final decisions on all claims remain with human experts.
Homeprotect’s model is built on a clear principle: AI handles precision and process, while human claims handlers provide the empathy, judgement and sensitivity that no technology can replicate.
Dan Huddart, CTO at Avantia Group, said: “Every major insurer uses AI for pricing. That’s standard practice now. What we’re doing with Lyra is about harnessing the power of agentic AI within our claims operation, and that’s a different challenge entirely. Claims involve real people, who are sometimes dealing with genuinely difficult or distressing situations, and managing that within the landscape of AI tools requires a level of precision, memory and contextual understanding that previous technologies couldn’t deliver. Lyra changes that.
“Our strategy is to build a fully AI-led operating model that delivers a brilliant customer experience, and I believe Lyra represents the first-of-its-kind, live deployment of agentic AI within the home insurance market. We are continually enhancing our AI capabilities across pricing, risk analysis and customer experience, whilst building the scalability and resilience required to support our growth. We have strong momentum and a clear path to scale our customer numbers from 350,000 today to over one million.”
AI is not new to insurance. What distinguishes Avantia is its application of agentic AI in claims, a significantly more complex, nuanced and customer-facing part of the business, where the stakes are highest.
Fraudulent claims continue to place significant pressure on the insurance sector and its customers. By retaining and cross-referencing memory across interactions, Lyra can surface inconsistencies that would otherwise go undetected, helping to prevent fraudulent payouts that, in a traditional model, drive up premiums for every policyholder.
Huddart added:
“Lyra’s ability to remember and connect information across claims gives us a level of vigilance and oversight that simply wasn’t possible before. That protects our customers, keeps premiums competitive and ensures that the people who genuinely need to make a claim get paid quickly and fairly.”
Avantia is the first UK personal lines home insurance business to launch AI-enabled policy validation and orchestrated claims processing, and is the only insurance business participating in the FCA’s AI Live Testing initiative, which supports the responsible deployment of AI in the UK finance and insurance sectors.
The business has developed a robust governance framework for Lyra that highlights its commitment to stringent regulatory obligations, including alignment with FCA requirements and the Consumer Duty framework. Key principles include:
- Human accountability: AI never makes a final claim decision. Every outcome involves a human decision-maker.
- Dedicated human oversight: a specialist operator monitors Lyra’s learning and decision-making on an ongoing basis to ensure consistent alignment with Homeprotect’s values and regulatory standards.
- Transparency: Avantia is transparent about the role AI plays in its operations and does not use AI as a substitute for human judgement in final determinations.
- Auditability: Governance infrastructure is being built to ensure Lyra is reliable, auditable and compliant with evolving regulatory expectations across financial services.
The development of Lyra also reflects a broader evolution in the skills and talent Avantia is investing in. The company’s AI strategy relies on a deliberate combination of cutting-edge AI specialists capable of developing, training and governing advanced systems, alongside experienced claims professionals who understand the real-world complexity of home insurance and can ensure the technology is trained to handle it correctly. This human-AI partnership model is central to Avantia’s approach, and a reflection of its belief that technology alone is never sufficient without the domain knowledge and human oversight to deploy it responsibly.
The launch of Lyra marks the next step in Avantia’s commitment to responsible innovation, customer-first service and digital leadership in the insurance space.
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