Having recently attended the CAS Spring Meeting and the CAS Seminar on Reinsurance, we could not help but feel the undercurrent of innovation seeping through most of the program and presentations. From innovations in the insurance shared economy, to new ideas in reinsurance and alternative capital management products, to effective use of unstructured big data, we are clearly on a path to fully embracing innovation as a core property-casualty actuarial competency.
In this spirit, the Innovation Council has continued to roll out programs and processes to accelerate our travel along this path. Here is a sampling of what we’ve been up to since our last update.
The CAS Innovation Process
As many of you have heard by now, we conducted a very successful innovation workshop in February 2015. As Bob Miccolis noted in his President’s Message (March-April 2015 Actuarial Review), a group of approximately 30 people including both volunteers and staff overcame scheduling challenges during the busiest time of the year for many actuaries to participate in a highly interactive and productive workshop. With input from all attending, we successfully developed a common point of view of the objectives and principles that will guide CAS innovation as well as a prototype of the CAS innovation process called the CAS “Accelerator.”
CAS staff member Dave Core and a team of CAS innovators are already testing the Accelerator by applying the process towards the development of a new program, “Business Storytelling for Actuaries.” Feedback from this and other testing will strengthen the Accelerator and help us integrate it into CAS operations later this year. One of the keys to success will be how well the process connects with the current CAS volunteer and committee infrastructure. By studying innovation models developed by insurers and others, we plan to create an innovation virtual environment in which dedicated innovation teams reach out to collaborate with CAS Committees as they test and validate idea prototypes.
Innovation Class at the CAS Spring Meeting
Twelve CAS members attended an Innovation Class at the CAS Spring meeting. Facilitated by Jeff De Cagna, chief strategist and founder of Principles Innovation, the class focused on why innovation matters to P&C actuaries, identifying and challenging CAS and actuarial orthodoxies, and understanding the importance of collaboration as a key to achieving innovative results. Members worked through real-life case studies that highlighted the power of collaborating with other professionals outside of the actuarial profession. Similar innovation class offerings are planned for future meetings.
Innovation Profile Series on Catastrophe Management
The third innovation profile series webinar was presented in May and featured Jason Hager of Willis Re. Hager demonstrated how applying the principles of innovation enabled him to significantly expand the actuarial footprint at Willis Re. Hager also shared how the lessons we’ve learned from property catastrophe modeling can be applied to modeling casualty exposures, including cyber and other terrorism exposures.
The Innovation Profile Webinar Series focuses on CAS members who have embraced the principles of innovation to accelerate the growth of their actuarial practices. Future webinars will focus on other emerging actuarial practice areas and highlight the role of the CEO in driving innovation at insurance organizations.
Innovation Community
The CAS Innovation Community is now up and running. The Innovation Community resides on the CAS website and is an excellent repository for all innovation activities at the CAS. The Innovation Community site is currently populated with several innovation articles, replays of the Innovation Profile Webinar Series, news items and other items of interest for innovators. It is an excellent portal for CAS innovators to exchange ideas and keep up with the growing innovation activity at the CAS.
As the American cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead once said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” As we hope you will learn from the CAS’ innovation journey, overcoming orthodoxies and “changing how we do things around here” starts with a small group of actuaries committed to making our profession better.
Kevin Michael Bingham, ACAS, is a principal for Deloitte Consulting, LLP in Hartford, Connecticut. Aaron M. Halpert, ACAS, is a principal with AMH Advisory LLC in New York.
