On Tuesday, March 23, the UW Actuarial Club had the privilege of hosting Transamerica to discuss the importance of modernization within their insurance company. The company representatives for this presentation were Vin Shan (UW Alumni 2015), Taylor Anderson (UW Alumni 2020), and Math Dubois.
Shan, Anderson, and Dubois did an excellent job of discussing what modernization is and why it is a priority within their organization right now. In summary, modernization is the process of taking old processes and updating them to make them new. By modernizing different models, data sets, and other electronic systems, companies like Transamerica are able to be much more efficient with pricing and creating rates for their policy holders. Dubois explained that Transamerica had a significant amount of old technology and models that have been around for a long time, which at times could cause some processes to be slowed.
Our presenters also explained why it is worth the time to modernize certain processes. One of the main reasons is that modernization changes the way that the company thinks. They explained that their company always needs to be constantly innovate to remain profitable, as the industry is always changing with many unpredictable variables. Transamerica strives in always trying to stay dynamic within their work. Also, it is important that their company tries to keep up with the everchanging times. Technology is always changing and new investments can result in large savings.
Sometimes, however it is not worth it to modernize a process. Anderson explained that more accurate models can often be slower, but finding balance is the key to success. Also, sometimes modernization creates a minimal benefit and it is not worth the effort to modernize a certain process. The key to modernization is finding the correct balance between the cost and benefits of modernizing different processes within a corporation.
The Actuarial Club would like to thank Shan, Anderson, and Dubois for taking the time out of their busy work lives to share their incredible knowledge and expertise within the insurance industry. Presenters such as these no doubt have an incredible impact on our students and give them a glimpse of some of the tasks a full-time actuary faces on a daily basis.
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