AI That Acts at the Speed of Insurance: Sapiens eMerge and IBM z17™

Insurance moves on data. Fraud decisions. Underwriting calls. Claims. Policy changes. Every one of these happens in a moment, and the quality of that moment determines whether you win or lose.

Together, with the infrastructure of eMerge, you can use the AI of IBM 17 to process documents and data.

The Pressure Insurers Are Under

The customers we work with aren’t struggling with a shortage of data. They’re struggling with latency as the lag between what the data knows and when a decision gets made.

At the same time, regulatory scrutiny is tightening. Fraud is getting faster and more sophisticated. And customers expect responses that feel instant and personal. The margin for delay has shrunk to near zero.

Most platforms weren’t designed for this. They were designed for batch processing, overnight runs, and T+1 reporting. That world is gone.

What IBM z17™ Changes

IBM z17™ is purpose-built to bring AI into the core of mission-critical workloads not as a bolt-on, but as infrastructure. Three capabilities matter most to insurance:

Real-time AI inferencing at transaction speed

IBM z17™ processes up to 450 billion inference operations per day with 1 millisecond response time using a credit card fraud detection deep learning model.* That means AI decisions happen inside the transaction, not after it.

AI efficiency that changes the infrastructure equation

Running an AI-infused OLTP workload on IBM z17™ with OpenShift Container Platform requires up to 5.6x fewer cores than a comparable x86 platform.** If you’re managing cost pressure alongside growth, that’s a meaningful shift.

Security and compliance built in, not bolted on

IBM z17™ embeds security throughout the platform strengthening cyber resilience, increasing transparency, and simplifying compliance operations. That matters if you’re operating under Solvency II, DORA, and a growing patchwork of data regulations.

Where eMerge Fits

eMerge is Sapiens’ development platform for building and running insurance applications on IBM Z. It gives insurers’ development teams a modern, agile environment without walking away from the reliability, security, and performance that mainframe infrastructure delivers.

With IBM z17™, eMerge-powered applications can use the Telum II™ processor’s integrated AI accelerators. That means:

• Fraud models run inside the payment transaction, not a downstream batch
• Underwriting rules execute against live data in real time
• Claims triage happens in real time flagging complexity before it becomes cost
• Agentic AI workflows can trigger and resolve autonomously cutting the manual steps that slow insurers down

The result isn’t just faster processing. It’s a fundamentally different ability to serve customers, manage risk, and respond to market conditions.

Helping Clients Innovate and Get There Faster

Working closely with our IBM Z customers, we continuously evolves eMerge to support the latest IBM Z releases and functionality. That’s not a passive commitment. It means our customers don’t have to choose between staying current on IBM Z capabilities and maintaining the stability of their core workloads. We do that work for them.

The result is rapid time to market. When IBM Z introduces new capabilities, like the AI inferencing advances in IBM z17™, our customers can act on them quickly, without waiting for lengthy integration cycles. eMerge is already there.

We’ve seen this in practice. A government office managing a wide range of citizen-facing and back-office applications entirely on IBM Z used eMerge to replace paper-based, manual processes with fully digital, automated workflows. Citizens can now submit requests, receive real-time validation against business rules, track their case status, and receive PDF confirmations without leaving the government’s secure digital environment. What took days of manual handling now happens in minutes.

That’s the kind of transformation eMerge makes possible and IBM z17™ takes it further.

“eMerge took manual processes and turned them into automated, easy–to–access digital services, increasing efficiency for both government workers and the citizens they serve.”

How We’re Integrating IBM z17™ Capabilities into eMerge

Our R&D teams are actively working on integrating IBM z17™ capabilities directly into the eMerge platform. The focus is on making the Telum II™ processor’s AI acceleration – and the broader performance gains of IBM z17™ – available to eMerge customers without requiring custom integration work on their end.

AI and Automation Are Reshaping What Customers Expect

Insurance is changing faster than most platforms were designed to handle. Customers are asking for decisions in seconds, not days. Regulators are demanding greater transparency and auditability. Fraud is evolving in real time. If you can respond to all three simultaneously with speed, accuracy, and a clear audit trail you’ll be the one pulling ahead.

Our platform drives better business outcomes and delivers sustained performance across the entire insurance lifecycle from policy and underwriting through claims, reinsurance, and compliance. On IBM z17™, those capabilities run on infrastructure built for exactly this kind of demand.

What Sapiens Brings to IBM Z Customers

Our relationship with IBM Z customers runs deep. We understand how mission-critical workloads actually behave in production: the edge cases, the compliance requirements, the performance characteristics that matter under load. That depth of knowledge is what lets us move quickly when new capabilities arrive.

The key benefits eMerge on IBM Z delivers:

• Consistency: unified back-office applications with a shared look, feel, and service layer across the organization
• Centralized data: all application data held in IBM Z, eliminating redundant web service calls and reducing integration complexity
• Compliance by design: business rules and regulatory validations built into every workflow
• Full digital services: no paperwork, no duplicate data, no manual errors; everything validated at the point of entry
• Secure access: applications accessible to internal teams (with appropriate permissions) and external users, with proper authentication and audit trails

Why IBM z17™ Matters to Our Shared Customers

IBM z17™ is the platform that makes AI-native insurance operations practical at enterprise scale. If you and your organization are running eMerge on IBM Z today, it means your existing investment gets meaningfully more powerful without migration, rearchitecture, or disruption.

For those evaluating IBM Z, the performance and efficiency data clearly make the case. Process 50% more AI inference operations per day than IBM z16, using the same credit card fraud detection model. Run AI-infused OLTP workloads with up to 5.6x fewer cores than x86. All while maintaining the security and reliability that mission-critical operations depend on.

Together, Sapiens and IBM Z are focused on one thing: helping you and insurance organizations get more from the infrastructure they already trust and use it to deliver what their customers expect next.

“IBM z17™ creates new opportunities for our mutual customers to advance their business transformation strategies while enabling Sapiens to further enhance our application capabilities. Working alongside IBM Z, Sapiens is committed to helping organizations use IBM z17™ to accelerate AI adoption, modernize mission-critical workloads, and strengthen operational resilience.” – Mordi Tzamit, VP and Head of eMerge Unit, Sapiens

What’s Next

IBM z17™ launched on July 7, 2026. Sapiens eMerge is ready.

We’re working with insurers like you now to map out how IBM z17™ capabilities connect to their specific AI priorities whether that’s fraud, underwriting, claims automation, or regulatory compliance.

If you want to understand what this means for your operations, talk to our team.

Performance Disclaimers

* 450 billion inference operations: Performance result is extrapolated from IBM® internal tests running on IBM Systems Hardware of machine type 9175. The benchmark was executed with 1 thread performing local inference operations using a LSTM based synthetic credit card fraud detection model to exploit the Integrated Accelerator for AI. A batch size of 160 was used. IBM Systems Hardware configuration: 1 LPAR running Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 9.4 with 6 IFLs (SMT), 128 GB memory. 1 LPAR with 2 CPs, 4 zIIPs and 256 GB memory running IBM z/OS® 3.1 with IBM z/OS Container Extensions (zCX) feature. Results may vary.

** 5.6x fewer cores: Performance result is based on IBM® internal tests running on IBM Systems Hardware of machine type 9175. The MegaCard benchmark was containerized and deployed on Red Hat® OpenShift® Container Platform (RHOCP) 4.17 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux® (RHEL) 9.4 with KVM. Compared x86 Server Hardware configuration: 28 Sapphire Rapids Intel® Xeon® Gold CPUs @ 2.20 GHz with Hyper–Threading turned on, 1 TB memory. Results may vary.