Industrializing Insurance - Milliman

By: Cindy Saccocia, Director, Sales & Marketing, Integrate. 

The increasing regulatory and competitive challenges facing life insurance companies, compounded by out-dated computing platforms and inefficient workflows, present an opportunity for insurers to rethink their actuarial modelling and financial reporting.  Three paths present themselves.

1. Maintain status quo.  This is clearly the safe route but with a number of inherent risks --a lack of flexibility that may inhibit business growth; conservatism due to uncertainty in model results; and overspending on IT infrastructure and personnel.  Not the most attractive option but one that frequently aligns to the risk-adverse nature of the business.
2. Modernize with incumbent solutions.  Updating legacy models is often perceived as a lower cost, lower risk option however, many companies have actually found the opposite to be true.  They have discovered the hard way that retrofitting existing software and processes to meet new requirements can drive costs through the roof, while introducing even more risks to the system. This approach often adds complexity to the process leading to increased labor and operational costs.
3. Actuarial industrialization. This approach is revolutionary but can deliver a far more robust and powerful modelling environment, cost-efficiently and with a strong focus on risk management and transparency. While disruptive, industrialization should not be confused with risk. It does however require a complete shift in mind-set for the developers and users of actuarial technology, who must no longer regard modelling systems as tools, but rather as business critical applications that form the backbone of an integrated production process.

With Integrate™, Milliman has re-imagined the possibilities of actuarial modelling and reporting. Our industrialisation platform frees your high-value resources to focus on high-value functions and gives you access to information faster and with a greater degree of confidence, allowing you to make key decisions with a clearer understanding of their implications.  The numbers speak for themselves. With Integrate, the Phoenix Group realized a 97.5% reduction in the time to produce financial results and a 95% reduction in the man-days necessary to produce these results.  Delivered as software-as-a-service, and powered by Microsoft Azure’s secure and reliable cloud platform, Integrate™ replaces patchwork systems & processes with a holistic, automated modelling environment. Being a cloud based solution, it delivers benefits in cost, time & labor savings.

Arguably, in today’s complex and challenging environment, industrialization may be fundamental to delivering financial information quickly and with a high degree of confidence to the internal and external stakeholders.  What is certain is that forward thinking insurers are on this path, evaluating industrialization as a means to enhance value, improve outcomes, build a sustainable business, and create a rewarding and challenging work environment.

To learn more, please visit https://us.milliman.com/Solutions/Products/Integrate/