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Smart Thinking About Your Business

Accelerating
Actuarial Processes
By William Freitag

www.agiletech.com
Smart Thinking About Your Business

Actuaries dwell in the very heart of the insurance enterprise — using
the most accurate and timely information at their disposal, they evaluate
the probability of events, quantify associated risks and outcomes and
calculate the right price for the right risk. In a word, they provide the
rationale for the bets that an insurance company makes. The role
of actuaries within the insurance enterprise continues to expand but
innovation in actuarial processes has not kept pace. Today actuaries work
within information silos with less than current data in multiple formats
that require reconciliation; as a result, they spend a significant portion of
their time on manually intensive processes. In this paper we will discuss
how insurers can liberate their actuaries for more high-value work by first
getting their data house in order and then applying tools that enable the
automation of a wide variety of processes.

Insurance Experience
Accelerate Process Innovation
Technology Enabled

PEOPLE

PROCESS

INFORMATION

2
Smart Thinking About Your Business

Prioritizing Actuarial Innovation
The role of actuaries is changing rapidly in the insurance industry. Regulatory demands
for transparency have grown more intense in the wake of the financial crisis, and the trend
towards enterprise risk management is driving actuarial involvement from traditional reserving
and pricing activities to an increasing variety of risk assessment activities related to nearly
every aspect of the business.
Given this expanding role, one might expect insurers to focus modernization efforts on
actuarial processes in advance of other technological improvements, but this has not been
the case, by and large. Actuarial processes remain manually intensive and cumbersome,
with little of the transparency and efficiency that automation can provide. The current state
of actuarial processes has served insurers adequately and there’s something to be said for
“if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” However, both the way risks behave and the velocity with which
businesses can respond to those risks have changed.
Actuaries are among the least techno-phobic of senior insurance officers, and they have
eagerly adopted new technology in the past. However, their do-it-yourself ethos has also
resulted in a siloed, opaque and inefficient information processing environment. Insurers can
continue to be profitable under these conditions, but it is a matter of time before those who
fail to modernize their actuarial processes will cede competitive ground to those who succeed
in doing so.
Conversely, those carriers that prioritize actuarial modernization will not merely gain huge
efficiencies in the way their actuaries currently work, but they will open the door to expanding
the impact of actuarial expertise across the insurance enterprise. A prerequisite of success
in this regard is an evaluation of actuaries’ role within an Insurance Business Oriented
Architecture (IBOA). A well-designed IBOA (see fig. 1) anatomizes key functions, capabilities
and constituencies and ties them to enabling technology infrastructure and applications. The
IBOA provides the basis for evaluating and reengineering business processes and thus for
business and technology planning.

Figure 1

3
Smart Thinking About Your Business

Evaluating Your Actuarial Environment
Actuarial modernization is in significant measure a process reengineering effort, and as such
it must begin with an evaluation of existing processes. Carriers should chart all incoming and
outgoing data flows and thoroughly map workflows within the actuarial organization and how
it interacts with other organizations. Where does the data that actuaries use come from? What
formats is the data collected and stored in? Carriers will also need to inventory all tools used
by their actuaries as a prelude to consolidation of the data they hold.
Most actuarial departments have a proliferation of spreadsheets and other data files created
in applications such Microsoft Excel and Access. Owing to multiple tools, carriers suffer from
inconsistent data formats. And owing to the creation of large numbers of files inaccessible
outside actuarial departments and even individual users, insurers suffer a lack of data clarity.
This lack of transparency into vital data will increasingly fall outside companies’ current
tolerance for inaccuracy for both regulatory compliance and pricing purposes.
To the extent that carriers continue to do profitable business despite this complex
environment, it is at the expense of actuaries working to reconcile data instead of devoting
themselves to more valuable tasks. Furthermore, since most controls are manual in actuarial
departments today, there is a limit to the amount of detail available for actuaries to analyze.
These deficiencies point to opportunities for standardizing the collection, analysis and
archiving of data, as well as the consolidation and networking of tools.
Before old tools and processes can be replaced, insurers need to determine the role of
actuaries in their company and create a vision for the future. Every insurer uses actuaries
differently, so each company must ask several questions about their actuaries’ day-to-day
functions. Do they include pricing, reserving, reserve analysis, price monitoring, financial
analysis and/or risk management? What percentage of a single actuary’s time would be spent
on each of these activities during a normal day?
The answers to these questions will help you determine the role of actuaries within the
actuarial organization and as they interact with the company in general. It is important to note
that there is no right or wrong answer here. Whereas some exercises are undertaken to detect
flaws and inefficiencies, this one is to determine is the role of the actuary, and how they shape
how you do business. The way your actuaries work is inextricably tied to your characteristic
company strengths. However, this should be considered a starting point. As actuaries
are freed to take on more high-value tasks, their organizational reach is expanding. Today
actuaries are increasingly involved in business activities beyond traditional pricing and reserve
analysis. For example, actuaries equipped with the proper access to information and tools for
its further analysis are empowered to undertake product development and risk management
across the company.

4
Smart Thinking About Your Business

Enterprise Actuarial Data Architecture
Data integrity and quality is the foundation of actuarial modernization. In order to manage
the increasing diversity of high-value actuarial tasks in the enterprise, insurers need a
unified reporting and reserving architecture that automates the collection, manipulation and
transmission of data to a high degree. This architecture, based on common tools under
institutional control accessing an enterprise actuarial database, ensures the circulation of
consistent information and provides a foundation for enterprise risk management (ERM). The
essence of the architecture is the extraction of relevant data from diverse sources, such as
multiple policy administration, claims, reinsurance and corporate systems.
While the basic scheme of the architecture is simple in principle, its success depends on
effective data consolidation and standardization. Data must be translated to a common
format and adjusted to the right level of granularity in order to facilitate more precise analysis.
However, standardization is not merely a matter of scrubbing stores of existing data and
normalizing it; it also involves creating standards for collecting new data at all entry points,
including an increasing number of external data sources. Data collection becomes a shared
responsibility to establish and consistently apply valid definitions across all departments that
input and transmit relevant data.
Once carriers’ data is in order, they are in a position to implement new tools that enable the
automation of a range of processes including reserving, pricing, performance management,
IBNR calculation and allocation and financial reporting (see fig. 2).
Potential Solutions
Project

Benefit

Discussion Topics

Consolidated Enterprise
Reserve and Reporting
Information

Satisfy external inquiries
Increase global analysis
Increase productivity
Enable peer reviews

Inconsistency of data formats
and elements between business segments
Determine a feasible approach
to satisfy the requirements

Common Reserving Tool

Increase consistency in reporting
Increase transparency
Increase control
Reduce End User Tools
Increase productivity

Limited number of tools available on the market
Data quality and availability

Enterprise Price Monitor

Increase transparency
Increase accessibility
Increase analysis capabilities
(multiples years, etc.)

Different approaches to price
monitoring for each business
segment

Performance Management

Satisfy external inquiries
Increase accessibility
Increase analysis capabilities
Automate feeds

Level of detail for measurement

Automate IBNR calculation
and allocation

Increased consistency
Accelerated reporting timeframes
Increased number of scenarios
and analysis
Compliance

Allocation media
Granularity

Financial Reporting

Accelerated Schedule
F and P reporting
Increased analysis
Reduced effort
Compliance

Management Reporting Structure

Detailed pricing and
segmentation

Better risk selection
Affinity products

Including pricing tools in the
UW process

Figure 2

5
Smart Thinking About Your Business
By connecting to global database through tools designed for specified high-value tasks,
actuaries are liberated from need to assemble and manipulate data. That freedom results in a
huge gain in raw productivity in actuaries’ daily work, but the benefits only begin there.
Because an actuary’s work results are registered in a common data store, the output does
not need to be manually reconciled later — another significant productivity gain. A shared
repository also ensures that vital information is constantly updated, as work is performed.
That means that all users of the system have access to accurate and timely information, and
that accurate reports can be produced in a small fraction of the time needed in traditional
actuarial and financial reporting environments. The timeliness of the data means carriers can
react more quickly to market data, and its accuracy means that it can produce more reliable
analysis of the data, including more precise pricing.

Critical Success Factors
While the benefits of actuarial modernization reside in great measure the simplicity of
the information system within which actuaries work, the complexity and difficulty of the
modernization process should not be underestimated. Carriers must build their actuaries on
the foundation of an IBOA aligned to strategic goals, and based on the company’s unique
strengths. As with any transformational effort, carriers must focus on up-front preparation
to ensure the project’s success. For example, carriers should:
	

• Create well-defined requirements

	

• Identify desired results before executing

	

• Clearly define accountabilities

	

• Plot critical paths with clearly identified interdependencies

As important as technical rigor is to mitigating projects risks, carriers should continually strive
to make sure that management of the initiative is guided by the principle that business drives
technology. To the extent that execution diverges from the original plan — is it invariably does
— it is critical to keep one’s eye on the business impact of technology decisions.
Ultimately, the success of the initiative depends on buy-in on the part of all constituencies
with regard to the end-state. As such, actuarial modernization must be understood above
all as a cultural transformation. No modernization initiative should enter the execution stage
without an agreed vision of how the actuarial organization will operate in the new end state.
However, success will depend not only on recognition of change but management of change
as it occurs.
William Freitag is the managing partner and CEO of Agile Technologies.
He can be reached via email at wfreitag@agiletech.com.

6
Smart Thinking About Your Business
To learn more about how Agile Technologies®
can help you improve your business,
please call us toll free at 877.347.0228.
You may also contact us via e-mail at info@agiletech.com.
Our office locations are listed below.
Northeast
685 Route 202/206
Bridgewater, NJ 08807
Phone: 908.253.9550
Fax: 908.253.9770.
Southeast
400 Perimeter Center
Terrace Suite 60
Atlanta, GA 30346
Phone: 678.579.9068
Fax: 678.579.9069
Midwest
One Easton Oval
Suite 388
Columbus, OH 43219
Phone: 614-337-9550
Fax: 614-337-9770

www.agiletech.com

7

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Accelerating Actuarial Processes

  • 1. Smart Thinking About Your Business Accelerating Actuarial Processes By William Freitag www.agiletech.com
  • 2. Smart Thinking About Your Business Actuaries dwell in the very heart of the insurance enterprise — using the most accurate and timely information at their disposal, they evaluate the probability of events, quantify associated risks and outcomes and calculate the right price for the right risk. In a word, they provide the rationale for the bets that an insurance company makes. The role of actuaries within the insurance enterprise continues to expand but innovation in actuarial processes has not kept pace. Today actuaries work within information silos with less than current data in multiple formats that require reconciliation; as a result, they spend a significant portion of their time on manually intensive processes. In this paper we will discuss how insurers can liberate their actuaries for more high-value work by first getting their data house in order and then applying tools that enable the automation of a wide variety of processes. Insurance Experience Accelerate Process Innovation Technology Enabled PEOPLE PROCESS INFORMATION 2
  • 3. Smart Thinking About Your Business Prioritizing Actuarial Innovation The role of actuaries is changing rapidly in the insurance industry. Regulatory demands for transparency have grown more intense in the wake of the financial crisis, and the trend towards enterprise risk management is driving actuarial involvement from traditional reserving and pricing activities to an increasing variety of risk assessment activities related to nearly every aspect of the business. Given this expanding role, one might expect insurers to focus modernization efforts on actuarial processes in advance of other technological improvements, but this has not been the case, by and large. Actuarial processes remain manually intensive and cumbersome, with little of the transparency and efficiency that automation can provide. The current state of actuarial processes has served insurers adequately and there’s something to be said for “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” However, both the way risks behave and the velocity with which businesses can respond to those risks have changed. Actuaries are among the least techno-phobic of senior insurance officers, and they have eagerly adopted new technology in the past. However, their do-it-yourself ethos has also resulted in a siloed, opaque and inefficient information processing environment. Insurers can continue to be profitable under these conditions, but it is a matter of time before those who fail to modernize their actuarial processes will cede competitive ground to those who succeed in doing so. Conversely, those carriers that prioritize actuarial modernization will not merely gain huge efficiencies in the way their actuaries currently work, but they will open the door to expanding the impact of actuarial expertise across the insurance enterprise. A prerequisite of success in this regard is an evaluation of actuaries’ role within an Insurance Business Oriented Architecture (IBOA). A well-designed IBOA (see fig. 1) anatomizes key functions, capabilities and constituencies and ties them to enabling technology infrastructure and applications. The IBOA provides the basis for evaluating and reengineering business processes and thus for business and technology planning. Figure 1 3
  • 4. Smart Thinking About Your Business Evaluating Your Actuarial Environment Actuarial modernization is in significant measure a process reengineering effort, and as such it must begin with an evaluation of existing processes. Carriers should chart all incoming and outgoing data flows and thoroughly map workflows within the actuarial organization and how it interacts with other organizations. Where does the data that actuaries use come from? What formats is the data collected and stored in? Carriers will also need to inventory all tools used by their actuaries as a prelude to consolidation of the data they hold. Most actuarial departments have a proliferation of spreadsheets and other data files created in applications such Microsoft Excel and Access. Owing to multiple tools, carriers suffer from inconsistent data formats. And owing to the creation of large numbers of files inaccessible outside actuarial departments and even individual users, insurers suffer a lack of data clarity. This lack of transparency into vital data will increasingly fall outside companies’ current tolerance for inaccuracy for both regulatory compliance and pricing purposes. To the extent that carriers continue to do profitable business despite this complex environment, it is at the expense of actuaries working to reconcile data instead of devoting themselves to more valuable tasks. Furthermore, since most controls are manual in actuarial departments today, there is a limit to the amount of detail available for actuaries to analyze. These deficiencies point to opportunities for standardizing the collection, analysis and archiving of data, as well as the consolidation and networking of tools. Before old tools and processes can be replaced, insurers need to determine the role of actuaries in their company and create a vision for the future. Every insurer uses actuaries differently, so each company must ask several questions about their actuaries’ day-to-day functions. Do they include pricing, reserving, reserve analysis, price monitoring, financial analysis and/or risk management? What percentage of a single actuary’s time would be spent on each of these activities during a normal day? The answers to these questions will help you determine the role of actuaries within the actuarial organization and as they interact with the company in general. It is important to note that there is no right or wrong answer here. Whereas some exercises are undertaken to detect flaws and inefficiencies, this one is to determine is the role of the actuary, and how they shape how you do business. The way your actuaries work is inextricably tied to your characteristic company strengths. However, this should be considered a starting point. As actuaries are freed to take on more high-value tasks, their organizational reach is expanding. Today actuaries are increasingly involved in business activities beyond traditional pricing and reserve analysis. For example, actuaries equipped with the proper access to information and tools for its further analysis are empowered to undertake product development and risk management across the company. 4
  • 5. Smart Thinking About Your Business Enterprise Actuarial Data Architecture Data integrity and quality is the foundation of actuarial modernization. In order to manage the increasing diversity of high-value actuarial tasks in the enterprise, insurers need a unified reporting and reserving architecture that automates the collection, manipulation and transmission of data to a high degree. This architecture, based on common tools under institutional control accessing an enterprise actuarial database, ensures the circulation of consistent information and provides a foundation for enterprise risk management (ERM). The essence of the architecture is the extraction of relevant data from diverse sources, such as multiple policy administration, claims, reinsurance and corporate systems. While the basic scheme of the architecture is simple in principle, its success depends on effective data consolidation and standardization. Data must be translated to a common format and adjusted to the right level of granularity in order to facilitate more precise analysis. However, standardization is not merely a matter of scrubbing stores of existing data and normalizing it; it also involves creating standards for collecting new data at all entry points, including an increasing number of external data sources. Data collection becomes a shared responsibility to establish and consistently apply valid definitions across all departments that input and transmit relevant data. Once carriers’ data is in order, they are in a position to implement new tools that enable the automation of a range of processes including reserving, pricing, performance management, IBNR calculation and allocation and financial reporting (see fig. 2). Potential Solutions Project Benefit Discussion Topics Consolidated Enterprise Reserve and Reporting Information Satisfy external inquiries Increase global analysis Increase productivity Enable peer reviews Inconsistency of data formats and elements between business segments Determine a feasible approach to satisfy the requirements Common Reserving Tool Increase consistency in reporting Increase transparency Increase control Reduce End User Tools Increase productivity Limited number of tools available on the market Data quality and availability Enterprise Price Monitor Increase transparency Increase accessibility Increase analysis capabilities (multiples years, etc.) Different approaches to price monitoring for each business segment Performance Management Satisfy external inquiries Increase accessibility Increase analysis capabilities Automate feeds Level of detail for measurement Automate IBNR calculation and allocation Increased consistency Accelerated reporting timeframes Increased number of scenarios and analysis Compliance Allocation media Granularity Financial Reporting Accelerated Schedule F and P reporting Increased analysis Reduced effort Compliance Management Reporting Structure Detailed pricing and segmentation Better risk selection Affinity products Including pricing tools in the UW process Figure 2 5
  • 6. Smart Thinking About Your Business By connecting to global database through tools designed for specified high-value tasks, actuaries are liberated from need to assemble and manipulate data. That freedom results in a huge gain in raw productivity in actuaries’ daily work, but the benefits only begin there. Because an actuary’s work results are registered in a common data store, the output does not need to be manually reconciled later — another significant productivity gain. A shared repository also ensures that vital information is constantly updated, as work is performed. That means that all users of the system have access to accurate and timely information, and that accurate reports can be produced in a small fraction of the time needed in traditional actuarial and financial reporting environments. The timeliness of the data means carriers can react more quickly to market data, and its accuracy means that it can produce more reliable analysis of the data, including more precise pricing. Critical Success Factors While the benefits of actuarial modernization reside in great measure the simplicity of the information system within which actuaries work, the complexity and difficulty of the modernization process should not be underestimated. Carriers must build their actuaries on the foundation of an IBOA aligned to strategic goals, and based on the company’s unique strengths. As with any transformational effort, carriers must focus on up-front preparation to ensure the project’s success. For example, carriers should: • Create well-defined requirements • Identify desired results before executing • Clearly define accountabilities • Plot critical paths with clearly identified interdependencies As important as technical rigor is to mitigating projects risks, carriers should continually strive to make sure that management of the initiative is guided by the principle that business drives technology. To the extent that execution diverges from the original plan — is it invariably does — it is critical to keep one’s eye on the business impact of technology decisions. Ultimately, the success of the initiative depends on buy-in on the part of all constituencies with regard to the end-state. As such, actuarial modernization must be understood above all as a cultural transformation. No modernization initiative should enter the execution stage without an agreed vision of how the actuarial organization will operate in the new end state. However, success will depend not only on recognition of change but management of change as it occurs. William Freitag is the managing partner and CEO of Agile Technologies. He can be reached via email at wfreitag@agiletech.com. 6
  • 7. Smart Thinking About Your Business To learn more about how Agile Technologies® can help you improve your business, please call us toll free at 877.347.0228. You may also contact us via e-mail at info@agiletech.com. Our office locations are listed below. Northeast 685 Route 202/206 Bridgewater, NJ 08807 Phone: 908.253.9550 Fax: 908.253.9770. Southeast 400 Perimeter Center Terrace Suite 60 Atlanta, GA 30346 Phone: 678.579.9068 Fax: 678.579.9069 Midwest One Easton Oval Suite 388 Columbus, OH 43219 Phone: 614-337-9550 Fax: 614-337-9770 www.agiletech.com 7