Financial operations platform BILL has reduced its underwriting processing times from three hours to about 12 minutes per case by deploying automated artificial intelligence agents, Chief Executive Officer René Lacerte announced during the company's first-quarter fiscal year 2027 earnings call on Thursday, Nov. 5.
The time savings stems from an internal system of automated software tools designed to speed up risk evaluations and customer approvals. Lacerte, who also founded BILL, said the company's risk team has developed more than 100 AI agents over the past year that operate continuously across several corporate functions.
How BILL automated its underwriting workflow
According to PYMNTS, the primary driver behind the underwriting acceleration is a specialized suite of three AI agents known internally as Robin. The Robin suite automates tasks that previously required human underwriters to manually compile information across separate software systems.
Under the previous setup, underwriters had to piece together case information by navigating chat messages, emails, and disparate dashboards. Robin streamlines this by automatically routing each case to the appropriate underwriter, gathering the customer's data into a unified summary, and generating a single-click link for human staff to render a final decision.
Key operational metrics reported by BILL during the call include:
Underwriting speed: Average wait times and case handling fell from three hours down to approximately 12 minutes.
Labor efficiency: Automated AI agents save BILL teams more than 1,400 hours every month, equivalent to the workload of about eight full-time employees.
Customer support: The company's automated assistant, Chat with BILL, now handles 45% of all customer support conversations.
Development pace: The company launched five products during the quarter and created a pilot program with Visa in four weeks.
Part of a broader corporate restructuring
The deployment of AI agents follows significant operational shifts at BILL over the past year. In May, Lacerte announced plans to cut the company's workforce by 30% by the end of that quarter as part of a strategic pivot to focus on AI technologies. Weeks after the job cuts, the company overhauled its leadership team to accelerate its transition into what it describes as an AI-native firm.
During Thursday's earnings call, Lacerte pointed back to those fiscal year 2026 restructuring moves, explaining that they were implemented to eliminate internal friction and boost overall productivity across sales execution, product creation, and spending discipline.
Similar moves are playing out across the wider financial technology sector, where software providers are embedding artificial intelligence directly into back-office and customer-facing tools. For example, fintech provider Block added AI voice ordering and purchase prep tools to expand automation across its merchant platform.
What it means for small businesses and fintech
For small and medium-sized businesses that rely on platforms like BILL for financial operations, automated risk assessment means drastically shorter waiting periods when seeking account approvals or underwriting decisions. Rather than waiting hours for staff to gather scattered documentation, business owners receive faster decisions through streamlined digital workflows.
For the broader fintech industry, BILL's results demonstrate how financial platforms are attempting to justify major corporate restructurings by substituting manual administrative tasks with AI software agents. By having software handle data collection, file drafting, and model documentation around the clock, firms aim to increase product velocity while keeping operational headcount lower.
What to watch next
Investors and industry observers will monitor whether BILL can sustain its product development speed and operational cost savings without compromising risk management standards. Key indicators in upcoming financial quarters include the expansion of the Visa pilot program, further adoption rates of the Chat with BILL support tool, and whether additional back-office processes are delegated to automated software agents.
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