Appian (NASDAQ: APPN) and Synechron announced the Open Underwriting Stack, a joint reference architecture designed to help insurance carriers add AI process automation to underwriting operations without replacing existing core systems.

The architecture combines Synechron's InsureMESH, a data-first operational platform, with Appian's process orchestration, data fabric, and AI agents. The three-layer structure includes InsureMESH at the data foundation, Appian's process automation and AI agents in the middle, and Appian Connected Underwriting as a configurable application layer on top.

The stack is built to integrate with existing core systems, including Guidewire and Duck Creek, as well as modern SaaS applications and external data sources. According to the companies, the architecture allows carriers to process transactions across these systems in parallel without replacing them.

The product was demonstrated at InsurTech Insights New York, where Aaron Lamp, CIO of Tokio Marine HCC PRG, spoke about connected insurance operations.

"The bottleneck has never been the algorithm; it has been data trapped inside siloed architectures," said Samir Sikri, Head of AI and New Technologies for Insurance at Synechron. "InsureMESH frees the data and shifts downstream processing to parallel workflows, enabling AI to act at any point in the transaction."

Scott Van Valkenburgh, Senior Vice President of Global Partners and Alliances at Appian, said the architecture makes "every decision traceable, every action auditable, every agent accountable," while keeping underwriters in control of final decisions.

Synechron is a global technology consulting firm with approximately 17,000 professionals across roughly 60 offices in more than 20 countries. The announcement was based on a company press release.