Humano Seguros, a Dominican insurance provider, is experiencing significant shifts in its technology development approach, driven by the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and new software delivery methods. Juan Carlos Restrepo, the company’s Vice President of Technology, reported that these changes are reshaping workflows and necessitating increased collaboration between IT and business teams.
The adoption of agentic development teams has allowed Humano Seguros to reduce the time required for software feature delivery from two weeks to just two days. However, this rapid pace has revealed gaps in decision-making within the organization. Restrepo noted that developers are often left awaiting crucial business decisions that are now needed much sooner in the process.
Initially, the incorporation of AI into application development yielded only a modest increase in productivity, with approximately 10 percent improvement and only 18 to 22 percent of code coming directly from AI-generated suggestions. To further enhance efficiency, the company shifted developers into supervisory roles over AI agents, which significantly altered how features were built.
One of the first projects to utilize this new approach was a complex health insurance authorization system that had previously lingered in the company’s backlog. In early stages, the developers quickly faced a shortage of user stories as business specialists adapted to their unexpected need to respond promptly to technical inquiries. Restrepo emphasized that for the first time, IT was contingent on the pace of business decisions.
The productivity changes prompted Humano Seguros to replace traditional development sprints with continuous delivery every few days. This adjustment has facilitated more technical discussions focused on architecture, cybersecurity, and interoperability during daily stand-ups. Teams have evolved, with smaller groups of developers increasingly relying on AI to handle substantial workloads.
As a result, some developers have shifted focus from outsourced projects to tackle internal issues like reducing technical debt. The company has recognized the necessity for developers to possess broader skills, enabling them to engage comprehensively with business processes and user requirements.
Quality control remains a priority; AI has been employed to assist in quality assurance, while human specialists automate functional tests and validate results. Restrepo stressed that speed improvements should not compromise software quality.
These developments have transformed discussions with business leaders at Humano Seguros. There is now a demand for greater involvement from business specialists in defining processes and making timely decisions, presenting challenges as they balance these responsibilities with their operational duties. Restrepo indicated that the organization is still working on strategies to enhance engagement in this fast-paced environment.
As Humano Seguros continues to adapt, Restrepo advises other Chief Information Officers to cultivate collaboration and business knowledge within tech teams. He warns against waiting for a perfect system before implementing changes, highlighting AI’s role in reducing the effort needed to modify existing solutions and the importance of maintaining structured standards.
The ongoing challenge will be aligning decision-making processes with the accelerated pace of technology delivery, ensuring that the organization’s capability to develop quickly matches its speed of making informed business decisions.
