The Slope Blog

In the dynamic world of actuarial modeling, innovation is key to staying ahead of the curve. With the emergence of SLOPE, a new player in the field, we’re witnessing a seismic shift in how actuaries approach their work. We sat down with Andy Smith, Co-Founder and CEO of SLOPE, to explore the driving forces behind […]

Actuarial work is an iterative process. Exploring “what if”s and answering questions that have been asked of you leads deeper and deeper into the numbers. And in order to begin digging into those numbers, they first need to be calculated. Optimizing models for runtime has long been a focus for actuaries, and it makes sense […]

“No-code” and “Low-code” software applications are very much in vogue these days. For actuaries, there is a spectrum of options from do-it-yourself to everything-done-for-you. What are the positives and negatives of such options for actuarial software applications? We break them down in this article to give you helpful perspectives when you must choose. First, let’s […]

Deep Blue, Alpha Zero, HAL 9000, SkyNet, and… your reserve model? The idea that you’re facing off against a multi-billion dollar silicon-based mind capable of destroying humanity (or just winning every chess game ever) may be a little far-fetched. But a growing number of actuaries have, in the very recent past, run into artificial intelligence […]

It's easy for actuaries to get caught up with precision when they should be using system thinking.

Actuaries can improve their actuarial model management by applying product management principles.

In order to take advantage of new technologies, and adequately satisfy new requirements, actuaries will need to develop a "culture of innovation" rather than performing a "project of modernization". This article provides tips to make that happen.

Actuarial modelers need to ensure that all the components of their model are right before they depend on model outputs for business decisions. This article provides tips and strategies to help modelers uncover potential errors within and avoid problems in the future.

Actuarial development projects need non-actuarial perspectives to help achieve superior results. Enable and empower those teams with better tools and communications.

Actuarial modernization is underway at many insurance companies. Without proper planning, most of those projects will be unsuccessful. Actuaries must ask the right kind of questions when planning or evaluating future systems to get better results.

Actuaries working on lower-level tasks (such as manual data processing) aren't performing as well as they could. This article explains how to get more "top of qualification" tasks correctly assigned.

Actuarial specialisation can be a challenge to producing superior results. Bradley Shearer offers an international perspective on why actuarial teams need both close inspection and wide range visionaries. He also cautions against trusting experts too widely and encourages diversification in skill and career development.

With cloud technology, actuaries can efficiently scale up or down their use of computing resources to match their needs. See how with a clear example and a specific use case.

Slope professionals will be featured in a cloud computing webinar in February. Actuaries interested in understanding how cloud technology applies to their work should register and attend.

The investment world has had a busy week. We offer a lesson on perspective from the trading around GameStop stock. What's adverse for one may be beneficial for another.

Good actuaries need more than technical skills. This guest post by Rob Stone, FSA, MAAA, gives an experienced actuary's perspective on how to recognize when defensiveness may be holding you back.

Software development practices such as different environments, concurrent documentation, and expansive testing can help actuaries improve their work output.

We listened to actuaries. These are the challenges they said they deal with on a daily basis. Can you relate?

Actuaries of the future will work in agile teams across functions. How will we get there? What might actuarial deliverables look like under an agile mindset?

Actuarial departments have traditionally been de-centralized. Recent years have seen a push to centralize modeling functions. This article compares pros and cons of centralized/de-centralized organization and offers an alternative model for consideration.

The actuarial profession continues to evolve. Reflecting on the SOA Annual Meeting, we give our perspective on where actuaries currently thrive and some thoughts on how to advance the profession.

Actuaries may need to decide whether to buy (hosted) or build (on-premises) the infrastructure to hold their various business software. This article explains the difference and gives questions to help the decision process.

Actuaries may wish to learn how to modify their practice from "Actuarial as a Product" to "Actuarial as a Service". This article highlights benefits of AaaS and encourages actuaries to adopt this forward-looking mindset.

Good actuaries have many characteristics in common. This guest post by Jeff Samu, FSA, MAAA, gives his perspective on what makes a good actuary.