Placing Platform Limited (PPL) has rolled out the first general market release under its multi-year partnership with Microsoft, introducing a new app that integrates directly into users’ Microsoft Outlook.
The new PPL app provides access to the platform’s expanding range of features and products, while enabling connectivity between Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Teams and PPL. The integration is designed to streamline the capture of risk placement data and reduce administrative work for brokers and carriers.
Key functionality includes the ability to automatically upload data and documents from emails into PPL placement records, cutting the need to re-key or transfer files between systems. PPL said the development supports the market’s drive towards greater digital trading by ensuring structured data is captured earlier in the placing process.
The app also delivers product updates automatically, offering users faster access to new capabilities. PPL said a series of further releases are planned over the coming months, focusing on efficiency, insight and stronger digital connectivity between market participants. These early releases will be provided within clients’ existing subscription fees.
The launch follows last year’s announcement of PPL’s collaboration with Microsoft, which aims to integrate the placing platform with Microsoft 365 applications and make use of Microsoft’s data and AI capabilities to enhance its broader proposition. Since then, PPL has worked with a group of leading brokers including Willis, Gallagher and Price Forbes through a co-creation programme to shape the product roadmap, test functionality and provide feedback.
PPL described the release as a step change in the platform’s evolution. The new app integrates with familiar desktop tools that are already part of brokers’ and carriers’ workflows. The company added that the launch marks the beginning of an ambitious programme to shift PPL from its administrative origins into a data-driven trading platform. The collaboration is also intended to optimise business processes through advanced analytics and AI-driven insights, helping clients make better informed decisions.
For the London Market, the release represents another step in the sector’s digitalisation agenda. PPL’s move to embed its tools into widely used desktop applications may help accelerate adoption among brokers and carriers, addressing one of the longstanding barriers to digital placement. With other initiatives such as Blueprint Two pushing for greater interoperability and structured data capture, market participants will be watching closely to see how far PPL’s Microsoft partnership can advance efficiency and competitiveness in a still highly paper-reliant environment.
