Customer lessons Zurich took from Spotify
How an AI-powered CRM reinvented the insurance advisor
When you open Spotify, you don’t get a spreadsheet of artists or a long list of albums. You get a curated experience that feels like it was made for you. Relevant. Intuitive. Fast. Effortless. No manual required.
At Zurich Insurance Group, one of the world’s largest insurers, the product design team asked itself a tough question a few years ago:
Why does our CRM still feel like a spreadsheet in a tie?
Internally, the CRM was used by thousands of advisors, people who needed quick access to customer data, context for decision-making, and the ability to offer tailored solutions. But the system felt like a technical maze.
Then they looked to Spotify for inspiration.
The result was ZCAM, an AI-powered CRM system built on three core principles:
- Show only what’s relevant
- Everything within three clicks
- Feel like a conversation, not a data dump
And it worked. Since launch, Zurich reduced average service time by more than 70%. More importantly, it reshaped the advisor’s role, from administrative to consultative. Customers noticed. Employees noticed. And the industry took note.
Why Spotify?
Spotify is built around frictionless use. It’s all about relevance, context, and intuition. Not a clutter of buttons, but an experience that adapts to what you need in the moment.
Zurich asked: What if we applied that same principle to something traditionally slow, complex, and uninspiring?
An insurance conversation.
No more rigid flows with endless fields, dropdowns, and scripted prompts. Instead, a personalized experience where AI listens in the background, thinks along, and makes suggestions:
“This customer asked about disability insurance three months ago. Now they’re inquiring about retirement. Would you like to link this offer to their previous simulation?”
The AI works with personas. It learns how each advisor navigates, what information they prioritize, and adapts the layout accordingly. A sports enthusiast in Brussels sees a different dashboard than a young professional in Ghent, even if they ask the same question.
How ZCAM Works
ZCAM isn’t a chatbot or a generic dashboard. It’s an agentic CRM, an AI system that pursues goals, searches data, understands context, and proposes actions.
It analyzes customer data, interaction history, external context (like market shifts or new regulations), and user behavior. Based on that, it suggests actions such as:
- “Schedule a review meeting based on a change in family status”
- “Flag potential underinsurance for a newly purchased vehicle”
- “Link retirement plan to tax optimization strategy”
And all of it within three clicks. Not as a gimmick, but as a UX principle: no advisor should get lost in the system.
The AI isn’t perfect. But it learns. The more interactions, the smarter it gets. And that leads to something most organizations only dream of: a CRM that energizes rather than obstructs.
What changes for the advisor?
The old CRM was an archive. ZCAM is an assistant. That shift has a deep impact on the advisor’s role.
1. From managing to meaning
Previously, 70% of time was spent searching for information. Now, that’s automated. Advisors focus on interpretation, explanation, and relationships.
2. More depth, less generic selling
Context-aware suggestions lead to richer conversations. Not “You haven’t purchased this policy,” but “Based on your recent move, this might be relevant.”
3. Less turnover, more trust
Advisors feel supported. New hires onboard faster. A culture of coaching replaces compliance.
Why this matters strategically
The real lesson from Zurich isn’t about AI, it’s about design thinking.
They didn’t start with “What can the technology do?” but with:
“What does a person want to feel, understand, and do in this moment?”
Then they looked for technology that could make that possible. Spotify became the model, not because insurance is like music, but because great UX can dissolve complexity.
You don’t have to be an insurer to learn from this. Any organization with customer interactions, CRM systems, or support dashboards can ask:
- What if your interface felt like a playlist?
- What if AI suggested instead of hiding?
- What if your employee felt supported the way you do when Spotify plays the perfect song?
Six lessons for leaders combining AI and UX
1. Design around the human
Technology should adapt to the user’s mind, not the other way around. Start with user journeys, not algorithms.
2. Think in scenarios, not screens
What does the customer want to do right now? That determines which data and functions should be visible.
3. Let AI be invisibly smart
ZCAM works in the background. The magic is in simplicity. AI doesn’t need to be flashy, it needs to work.
4. Give advisors control over the machine
They can adjust suggestions, give feedback, and set preferences. That builds trust and continuous improvement.
5. Link experience to performance
A CRM that feels better also performs better. But you need to measure it: service time, customer satisfaction, retention.
6. Invest in role transformation
Without training, smart tools go underused. Zurich invested in rethinking the advisor’s role, from seller to coach.
Is your CRM future-proof?
Does your CRM feel like a musical experience?
Or more like a keyboard with no keys?
Maybe it’s time to raise the bar, not through tech hype, but through user experience.
Just like Spotify has done for years. And Zurich now too.
Not by working harder.
But by designing smarter.
Want to rethink your customer experience with AI and UX principles?