No Clocks

When using native Excel functions inside of VBA, use Application. Instead of Application.WorksheetFunction. The application will not throw any run-time errors.

You can use the underscore character to continue a VBA statement on a new line. This will make your code easier to read. In the sample workbook we provide, the email function uses this method.

Use WITH to shorten your VBA code. This is commonly used only to type a range once, then use WITH to do multiple things with the range.

Use the locals window in VBA to keep track and view the data inside variables. This is especially helpful for viewing arrays. You just need to add a breakpoint in your code. Highlight a line, then click F9. Then when the code runs, it will stop there, and all variables above that line will show in the locals window.

Innovation in technology has disrupted nearly every industry creating mounting internal and external pressures on organizations to accelerate the adoption of their digital agendas. The COVID-19 pandemic further brought to light the need for technology to be adaptable, powerful, and scalable. Insurance companies have been trying to keep up with the pace of innovation, primarily focusing on adopting modern technology on the consumer experience front.

Many have modernized the front office processes that support application, underwriting, and claim handling. The significant benefits achieved through process optimization and the use of modern technology have been the topic of discussions at many insurance conferences and publications.

As the insurance industry leaps into the future, actuaries must not only proactively refine their roles and responsibilities within insurance companies, but also seek opportunities for improvements and optimization in their day-to-day work. This article will focus on how technology and actuarial process optimization will support the role of the future actuary as a leader, risk manager, and technologist.

Opportunities for APO

Actuaries are valuable and strategically important resources to insurance companies. We are trained both on the job and through an intensive education and exam curriculum to study and own insurance risk. As highly capable professionals, actuaries are often self-reliant, and are interested in owning all technology tools, data and processes that support their daily jobs. However, this hands-on approach can lead to performing many tasks that do not require actuarial expertise. By occupying ourselves with various high effort but low value tasks, we often neglect to focus on higher value tasks that are truly valuable to the future of our organization. Advancements in technology and the desire for lean operations have contributed to many insurers evaluating their strategic direction and the role of the actuary of the future, shifting their focus onto highest value tasks.

Unnecessarily complex and error prone ETL, production and reporting workflows. Time and resources wasted on resolving errors and tracing back complex process steps. Production and process errors that can result in misstatements and delays in reporting. Multiple unvalidated spreadsheets with overlapping functionalities. Multiple sources of information, but no single “source of truth.” Storage and processing time wastage.