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About us
The Exponential Actuary™
Pioneering the future of work
The future of the actuarial profession is rapidly evolving as technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and automation create a new future of work. Leveraging actuarial analytics, these technologies enable actuaries to become true business strategists, providing key insights and bridging the gap between technology and strategy.
Pioneering the future of work
AI. Automation. Machine learning. The rise of technology is rapidly creating a new future of work. And it’s gathering speed, redefining jobs, and transforming entire professions by enabling humans and machines to work side by side. In addition, evolving global and local regulatory requirements promise fundamental change. These collective forces are dramatically changing the actuarial profession and creating an exciting new future—opening opportunities for actuaries to take on dynamic, new business roles.
Long recognized as key contributors of business insights around risk and data analysis, actuaries often find themselves overwhelmed with highly-manual, machine-type work. Advances in technology are enabling actuaries to automate and augment their work, boosting them into higher-value, more strategic roles focused on insight generation and key decision-making. Deloitte’s Human Capital team helps clients optimize actuarial talent to meet growing strategic, regulatory, and data-driven needs and elevate the actuarial function to a whole new level. Our approach is not just technology-driven but encompasses work, workforce, and workplace to ensure permanent, consistent, and deeper value across the organization.
Pioneering the future of work
Why now?
Insurance companies are facing disruption at an unprecedented pace due to increased demands placed on the actuarial workforce, such as the need to:
- Consolidate or improve data capabilities, processes, and actuarial and finance systems
- Respond to concerns regarding quality such as input errors and lack of consistency
- Develop cost reduction and related strategies to improve efficiency
- Keep pace with rapidly evolving regulatory changes, such as IFRS 17 (International Financial Reporting Standard), Principle-Based Reserving (PBR), and US GAAP Targeted Improvements
- Respond to rating agency developments, such as an innovation score component by A.M. Best1
To meet these growing demands while also acting as strategic advisors to the businesses they serve, leaders today expect more from their actuarial teams, and those that complement their actuarial function with automation and AI are better positioned to meet their objectives. In fact, 17 percent of global executives surveyed report that they are ready to manage a workforce with people, robots, and AI working side by side2 and our experience shows that this will likely increase quickly.
Moreover, Deloitte’s 2019 Human Capital Trends Report3 revealed that many employees experience unmet job aspirations, due in part to work that is not challenging. The report also found that organizations, in order to achieve success, usually need to become better connected, reflecting employees valuing of a social environment. A smart, forward-thinking strategy leveraging technology can shift workers’ activities such that they are less repetitive and more motivating; and a well-communicated approach to merging human and machine productivity will not only decrease apprehension about inevitable evolution, but provide an enhanced sense of connectivity to coworkers and the firm.
Taking your organization to its full potential
Automating a wider range of actuarial activities enables actuaries to shift from data steward to business strategist, harnessing data to generate business insights and serving as a bridge between technology and strategy. Free to leverage their sophisticated, enduring skills such as communication, critical thinking, and creativity, along with actuarial expertise, actuaries can operate at their full potential, ultimately helping organizations achieve a higher return from their actuarial professionals. This drives better workforce performance and helps maintain competitive advantage.
Bringing holistic transformation to life
As organizations transition to the Future of Work, we find that work, workforce, and workplace are the three dimensions of holistic transformation. With our Workforce Transformation framework, Deloitte can help you explore each of these dimensions in depth for your actuarial function as well as help you develop a strategy and implementation approach to reimagine and redesign work. Our “pixilation” approach decomposes jobs to a granular task-level to identify targets for automation and augmentation using technology. Jobs are then recomposed, enabled by technology, so that actuaries can focus on higher-value work and more strategic outcomes.
We also help change the way organizations access, engage, and develop actuarial talent, including traditional employees as well as the increasing range of contingent alternatives. Grounded in the desired changes in work and work outcomes, this approach to change empowers organizations to imagine the future talent they need, assess the skills and capabilities they have, and curate programs to close gaps by developing the necessary skills. By doing so, individuals, workforce segments, and the overall organization move toward achieving their full potential, creating a more fulfilling and meaningful work experience for your people.
Our approach brings this holistic transformation to life through the following components:
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Actuarial Workforce Options Our workforce options help organizations implement innovative staffing concepts using on- and off-balance sheet resources that cover the entire talent continuum. This includes experienced actuarial consultants, global and domestic “delivery center” employees, and crowdsourcing/gig-economy solutions leveraging Deloitte’s Pixel™ platform. These workforce solutions, including Deloitte’s own Delivery Center consultants, help you augment in-house actuarial and data science resources, free staff to address disruptions, and add resources in the event of attrition. |
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Proprietary Tools and Solutions We have developed tools and solutions, based on technologies such as robotic process automation (RPA) and machine learning, to support actuarial work and generate deeper insights to improve your organization’s performance. These tools can be scaled and customized to streamline and automate actuarial processes, perform first-level analyses, and provide trends and insights across applicable industries. |
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Exponential Actuary Lab Whether your organization is ready for large scale transformation, has ideas for specific proofs of concept, or is just interested in learning more, the Exponential Actuary™ Lab helps guide organizations to their future-state vision of the actuarial function The lab can be from one to three days in length and can be customized based on your needs to help drive outcomes. |
Case studies
Ambition
The subsidiary of a global insurance company wanted to incorporate robotic process automation into its actuarial function with the objectives to, reduce errors, add functionality the company lacked due to resource constraints, and free resources for more strategic work.
Action
During collaborative brainstorming sessions with the client, we developed a plan to automate the repetitive, rules-based work performed by the actuarial team and compiled a list of processes that were good candidates for RPA. After careful review, we selected several processes for implementation including data gathering, data cleansing, calculations, and an automatic feedback loop.
Achievement
The cost to automate quickly paid off. With bots available 24/7/365, processing time was reduced by 90 percent. Parallel tests of the processes between humans versus bots revealed that all process errors were human, validating that machines inherently perform machine-type work better. Automating machine work eliminated 100 percent of errors, improving accuracy and freeing the actuarial team to perform higher-skilled, more cognitive tasks. In addition, RPA-enabled reviews provided management with greater insight into changes across the business.
Ambition
This large life, health, and retirement carrier wanted to improve efficiency and ensure its actuarial function was well-positioned to navigate the rapidly changing actuarial landscape. In addition to being saddled with multiple versions of disparate systems, the actuarial team struggled to manage large volumes of unexpected work which was disruptive and time consuming. Collaboration within and outside the actuarial function was lacking, in part due to a weak Information Technology (IT) infrastructure, and duplication of effort across physical offices exacerbated inefficiencies. The company also faced significant risks around certain complex functions where knowledge resided with a single individual.
Action
Deloitte conducted numerous interviews and surveys across the actuarial and other closely-tied functions to understand interactions, pain points, and root causes. Based on client feedback, we learned that actuaries spent so much time addressing unanticipated work, it was hard to maintain their core function. During collaborative workshops with key leaders, we used analytics tools to evaluate tasks that could be automated and explore alternative talent and resource location options. In addition, we recommended the company establish a well-defined documentation and secession plan to ensure the continued success and longevity of its actuarial function.Achievement
We proposed 10 initiatives, provided a roadmap to implementation for each, and recommended developing a new, overarching organizational structure. Aligning the C-suite and business units around the ideal future state was critical. This initial phase was the catalyst for that alignment and initiated a larger transformation. With phase one complete, we are now in the implementation phase of this ongoing project.Ambition
A global life insurer’s actuarial group spent considerable time each year developing numerous lengthy memoranda to certify the assets the company held in reserve. The company wanted to streamline its production of actuarial opinion memoranda to reduce time commitment and effort.Action
Deloitte suggested using out-of-the-box tools to accomplish the client’s goals and proposed developing a proof of concept to tackle additional issues that could improve efficiency, such as variables, reusability of content, and compiling appendices. The client agreed the idea had merit, so we customized their technical architecture, leveraging components from several platforms that enabled them to achieve their objectives.
Achievement
We applied the initial proof of concept to a small segment of one years’ memoranda. The client reported significantly less document review time and improved overall workflow.
Ambition
A large insurance company wanted to attract and retain top actuarial, data science, and statistician talent, but struggled to offer appealing workforce options. Given the changing actuarial landscape, the company wanted to create an actuarial environment that would improve its ability to recruit and retain new and experienced talent, develop actuarial talent to become the future leaders of the company, and compete against non-insurers that are building robust actuarial functions.
Action
Deloitte’s cross-functional workforce and organizational transformation teams used a hybrid integrated talent management framework to conduct focus groups, surveys, and interviews with the actuarial team and key stakeholders. We evaluated 11 key areas, including performance management, actuarial rotation program, learning, and leadership development to develop a benchmark against industry best practices and to help understand the upcoming generation’s work environment expectations.Achievement
The benchmark showed the company where it ranked in each of the 11 areas, highlighted weaknesses, and enabled them to prioritize initiatives to address areas that needed improvement. In addition, we introduced several innovative future of work concepts, including unique approaches to employing technology and virtual workplaces that would allow the company to access a larger talent pool.
Ambition
Deloitte’s own Actuarial group sought to automate pension plan processes to reduce the time actuaries spent on data processing and computing and free them to do more analysis. These repetitive tasks were historically performed manually and had the potential to empower our actuaries to add more insightful value if automated.
Action
After evaluating historical programming efforts and manual tasks to understand where automation could create efficiencies, we built modules that automatically capture, review, and process data. Once in place, the modules can be used year after year.
Achievement
Deloitte initially saved 30 percent of data processing spend and expects to save even more over time. With more robust checks in place, we can capture and resolve data issues, which results in better quality data and more time for our actuaries to spend on value-added analysis and recommendations.
Endnotes
1 Banham, Russ. “Insurer Innovation Comes Under the Rating Agency Microscope.” Insurancejournal.com, July 2019.
2 https://hctrendsapp.deloitte.com/reports/2017/the-future-of-work.html
3 https://trendsapp.deloitte.com/reports/2017/global-human-capital-trends/the-future-of-work.html
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