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 […]

We’re proud to offer several lessons we’ve learned through the roller-coaster experience of starting a software company. Part 1 offered the first six of these, from Innovation is NOT Just “Do The Same Things Faster” to “Seek Out Advisors and Mentors Who Have Been There”. But there’s so much more we’ve discovered in this journey. […]

Slope Software, and the SLOPE platform, were born out of frustration with poor user experience. Along the way, founders Andy Smith and Taylor Perkins have learned much about innovation, leadership, and how to do great work. In this article, we’ll share some of those lessons and offer perspectives on how actuaries might apply them. Before […]

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 […]

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

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.

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.

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.

An insurance company needed to adapt to new insurance accounting regulations with a comprehensive cash flow projection system. SLOPE became the clear choice for intuitiveness and functionality. See OneMain's selection process and criteria in this case study.

The Actuarial Wasted Time Survey Results for 2020 are presented. Actuaries rank Data and Model Management tasks as more impactful than Hardware and Software Management tasks. Read more by downloading the full survey.

A quick wrap-up of some highlights of the year gone by, including company announcements, functionality enhancements, and saving clients loads of time.

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?

Agile and waterfall are two ends of the software development spectrum. This article explains the differences and illustrates how agile development at a software provider aligns well with the expected future of actuarial work.

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 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.

Software as a Service applications have a lot to offer actuaries. Discover the benefits of applying SaaS to actuarial work with this comparison article.

Actuaries, their employers, and consumers benefit from actuarial software competition. So why isn't there more? Explore some consequences of thin offerings in this article.

Actuaries can improve the effectiveness of their models, much like humans pursue self-improvement. This framework gives actuaries a structure for prioritizing those improvements.

Initial results of our first Actuarial Wasted Time Survey are in. Check out a preview of some differences between actuarial levels and across different systems in use.

An insurance company offering pre-need insurance struggled with a traditional actuarial system. SLOPE helped slash pricing cycle time by 95%.

Actuaries end up wasting time on non-actuarial tasks. This post introduces a survey to help understand the extent of such wasted time.

Actuarial model conversion is perceived as difficult. Ask any actuary who’s had to convert a model from one system to another, and they’ll tell you the same things: It was confusing, because it was hard to understand just where we were starting from. We didn’t really know what we were doing when we started, so […]

It seems like everyone is talking about work-remote and flexibility and telecommuting as the next big thing. Apparently, it’s been on the rise since 2005 (up 173%, according to Global Workplace Analytics), and the growth doesn’t show any signs of stopping. Employers like it for increased productivity and decreased savings. Plus, many professionals (like our […]