Digital transformation within the actuarial space

By John Bowers, Consulting Director, EMEA, RNA Analytics

The past 18 months have induced exponential change within our industry, that not one of us in or out of our sector could have possibly foreseen. Consequently, the insurance and financial sectors have been presented with many complex and unique challenges and opportunities, all of which met with varying degrees of success.

The global digital transformation that was already well underway before the coronavirus pandemic took hold has been given a turbo boost. For others, the situation has led to temporary suspension of projects and programmes. The decision to take one route over the other is down to numerous factors, and at RNA Analytics, we have been able to support clients throughout these arduous times, whatever they decide is the right path for them.

Our global consultants have seen a broad range of responses and trends among our clients across the globe. What was most evident at the start of the pandemic – and ensuing social restrictions – was that the determining factor for companies’ immediate and future success was their adaptability and reactiveness to said challenges. Those that already had digital solutions and cloud-based systems in place naturally found themselves at an early advantage. At the other end of the scale, lesser developed regions with fewer technology-literate entities or IT resources have in some cases experienced serious issues, resulting in further delay to programmes and projects, as they focused simply on keeping staff connected, and concentrating on the core business of serving customers.

At this point, it is all about digital transformation. To be able to compete in the industry today, businesses need access to lots of rich data which they need to exploit in order to create specialised and unique offerings for customers. This starts with having access to the right, integrated tools and access to specialised help to get the most of out of those tools. Today, all the new technology around us needs to be able to run cohesively within the cloud, to take advantage of the scalability of volume and processing capacity, that the cloud offers.

The combination of technical and actuarial consultancy is key. While the actuarial teams are working on advancing model sophistication, our technical teams are engaged with clients to help them understand and integrate the components they need into the end to-end process to get the most out of the software itself. This bringing together of what once were two disparate functions represents a world of opportunities – a shift from siloed legacy systems to integrated, streamlined processes and ultimately, giving insurers the power to understand their businesses in entirely new ways. Whether implementing new regulations or developing and pricing new products, building accurate and realistic models as quickly as possible is a common requirement.

Alongside a universal digitization push, this is changing across worldwide markets, with forward-thinking incumbents already realizing the benefits Big Data, the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence. The latter of which particularly informing a new age of automation and streamlining for services around the world. IoT data, for instance, is supporting faster, more effective and more precise risk prevention.

This is where the two-pronged approach of consultancy and technology really adds value, as the implementation can be developed and improved alongside changing customer needs – throughout the implementation phase, and beyond. With its myriad benefits and inherent flexibility, cloud has all the potential to become the new standard approach, with equal appeal among small companies which may struggle to manage their own resources when facing new regulatory requirements, and large companies that want to scale up operations in the cloud to avoid purchasing and managing further bare metal hardware. As has been seen across countless other industries, cloud deployments have received a gargantuan boost amid the COVID-19 pandemic, to the degree that even more conservative countries and companies have begun to realize the benefits of cloud adoption as they quickly shifted to remote working. Now, they are beginning to see a world of possibilities across other areas of the business.

The aforementioned and simultaneous acceleration in digital transformation due to the pandemic has forced many organizations to reflect on and review their current systems and models. In doing so, they may well have instigated entirely new conversations within actuarial, risk management, financial, product development and IT teams; opening new avenues to explore collaboration, new technology and potentially even new service offerings for clients.

As these organizations work through this period of reflection, change and development, third party suppliers such as RNA Analytics can demonstrate their value in consultancy, global expertise and local knowledge to help implement successful transformation projects, while continuing to better and develop their own solutions alongside their customers.

By John Bowers, Consulting Director, EMEA, RNA Analytics

The past 18 months have induced exponential change within our industry, that not one of us in or out of our sector could have possibly foreseen. Consequently, the insurance and financial sectors have been presented with many complex and unique challenges and opportunities, all of which met with varying degrees of success.

The global digital transformation that was already well underway before the coronavirus pandemic took hold has been given a turbo boost. For others, the situation has led to temporary suspension of projects and programmes. The decision to take one route over the other is down to numerous factors, and at RNA Analytics, we have been able to support clients throughout these arduous times, whatever they decide is the right path for them.

Our global consultants have seen a broad range of responses and trends among our clients across the globe. What was most evident at the start of the pandemic – and ensuing social restrictions – was that the determining factor for companies’ immediate and future success was their adaptability and reactiveness to said challenges. Those that already had digital solutions and cloud-based systems in place naturally found themselves at an early advantage. At the other end of the scale, lesser developed regions with fewer technology-literate entities or IT resources have in some cases experienced serious issues, resulting in further delay to programmes and projects, as they focused simply on keeping staff connected, and concentrating on the core business of serving customers.

At this point, it is all about digital transformation. To be able to compete in the industry today, businesses need access to lots of rich data which they need to exploit in order to create specialised and unique offerings for customers. This starts with having access to the right, integrated tools and access to specialised help to get the most of out of those tools. Today, all the new technology around us needs to be able to run cohesively within the cloud, to take advantage of the scalability of volume and processing capacity, that the cloud offers.

The combination of technical and actuarial consultancy is key. While the actuarial teams are working on advancing model sophistication, our technical teams are engaged with clients to help them understand and integrate the components they need into the end to-end process to get the most out of the software itself. This bringing together of what once were two disparate functions represents a world of opportunities – a shift from siloed legacy systems to integrated, streamlined processes and ultimately, giving insurers the power to understand their businesses in entirely new ways. Whether implementing new regulations or developing and pricing new products, building accurate and realistic models as quickly as possible is a common requirement.

Alongside a universal digitization push, this is changing across worldwide markets, with forward-thinking incumbents already realizing the benefits Big Data, the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence. The latter of which particularly informing a new age of automation and streamlining for services around the world. IoT data, for instance, is supporting faster, more effective and more precise risk prevention.

This is where the two-pronged approach of consultancy and technology really adds value, as the implementation can be developed and improved alongside changing customer needs – throughout the implementation phase, and beyond. With its myriad benefits and inherent flexibility, cloud has all the potential to become the new standard approach, with equal appeal among small companies which may struggle to manage their own resources when facing new regulatory requirements, and large companies that want to scale up operations in the cloud to avoid purchasing and managing further bare metal hardware. As has been seen across countless other industries, cloud deployments have received a gargantuan boost amid the COVID-19 pandemic, to the degree that even more conservative countries and companies have begun to realize the benefits of cloud adoption as they quickly shifted to remote working. Now, they are beginning to see a world of possibilities across other areas of the business.

The aforementioned and simultaneous acceleration in digital transformation due to the pandemic has forced many organizations to reflect on and review their current systems and models. In doing so, they may well have instigated entirely new conversations within actuarial, risk management, financial, product development and IT teams; opening new avenues to explore collaboration, new technology and potentially even new service offerings for clients.

As these organizations work through this period of reflection, change and development, third party suppliers such as RNA Analytics can demonstrate their value in consultancy, global expertise and local knowledge to help implement successful transformation projects, while continuing to better and develop their own solutions alongside their customers.