I started working in the insurance industry in the medical underwriting department. Then I moved on to the finance Technology space in the position of Business Intelligence lead. It has been awesome to provide insights that matter for the business. These insights help companies gain better visibility to make faster decisions for improved business. Leveraging data assets helps to create a sustainable competitive advantage. Another aspect of creating value with data, analytics, and insight is “data monetization.” Data monetization refers to using data to obtain quantifiable economic benefit. The highest performing and fastest-growing companies have adopted data monetization and made it an important part of their strategy.
An innovative actuary is one that makes data make sense in the eyes of the non-technical staff. It’s the one who makes great data insights make sense to someone who’s never dealt with data.
When actuaries are provided with the right tools and the right equipment then they can have a lot of impact in their organization. When they’re provided with the right tools that can output high quality data, they can then make sense of it for others in the organization. To be innovative, when you are thinking of something and want to make it a reality, you have to have something that can help you visualize it for someone who doesn’t get the main picture you are trying to convey.
We will have to shift our mindset. Right now we are customized to insurance, but we have to broaden our minds in a way that is more than insurance. With the advancement of technologies and the rise of insurtech and fintech, it is becoming a vast profession. Being an actuary today, we are no longer customized to one thing. It is a very broad career field now.
"Once you’re in the world, it’s important to continue expanding your knowledge."
The advice that I would give to them is to first dedicate your time to getting your professional actuarial credentials. From there, you have to use the knowledge you got from your accreditation and expand that out in the world in a broader way. Once you’re in the world, it’s important to continue expanding your knowledge. There is a lot of learning that goes on in the profession. You don’t stop after getting your credentials, you have to broaden your mind through the experiences you get within the organizations. Getting that exposure will give you the broader sense of the profession.
They should collaborate. As actuaries, we are very good at understanding risk. But having the right data will help make better predictive results that will have a positive impact on the problem we are solving. The data scientists are working with the data, but most of them do a lot of bug testing to get the code right. For actuaries, they are able to use their knowledge of actuarial governance. Combining those two skills makes it much easier to move forward.
It’s all about your imagination and curiosity. Innovation is impactful when you are able to imagine things and have a platform that can provide you with the ability to make those things happen.
Insurtech and fintech companies are changing the space. They have broken down the barrier in the formal sector. For example, some companies are bringing products to customers in remote areas who are not as educated about the industry. So there is an integration of technology that’s breaking down the barriers for them to be more productive, access capital easier, and conduct business. Through technology, it is possible for a customer, even in a rural place, to get the details and access data they need without the barriers that were there before. There’s that gap that has been filled in for people to become more productive.
The best way they can become influential is to break down the complex systems and ideas they work with and make it simpler for an ordinary person. They should simplify those complex technologies and simplify it in a way that is easier for a non-technical person to access and be able to use.
