March 2022 Archives

We received a report from McKinsey & Company called, “How top tech trends will transform insurance”. It begins with this statement: “Over the next decade, the fully tech-enabled insurer will bear little resemblance to today’s organization. Five trends, individually and in combination, will have a seismic impact.” Seismic impact is a little over the top. But to each his own.

Tech trend, #2, however — distributed infrastructure — struck as a little odd, particularly this statement:

As cloud matures, a rapid shift to the cloud for all core systems will help insurers to be more nimble in launching new products and creating better customer service. Cloud will also be critical for enabling the type of compute [sic] power that is needed to fully understand and make use of the incredibly large data sets (such as tens of millions of claims data points).

The report was issued in September of 2021. So, over the next decade would take us well into 2031. That seems a bit odd since, according to Wikipedia:

References to the phrase “cloud computing” appeared as early as 1996, with the first known mention in a Compaq internal document. The cloud symbol was used to represent networks of computing equipment in the original ARPANET by as early as 1977,and the CSNETby 1981.

This appears to be yet another instance of our going back to the future. But that’s a subject for another blog post.

Which Is It?

The insurance is frequently criticized for being slow to adopt technology. Yet, in January of 2021, nine months before the McKinsey report was published, Clover Infotech wrote this in a post called, “The Impact of Cloud Computing on the Insurance Industry”:

Insurance companies are readily accepting and leveraging the robust cloud computing services. Cloud-based solutions, besides providing security and flexibility, also offer rapid provisioning, better asset visibility, and robust data governance facilities. Cloud computing has a huge impact on the insurance industry, with benefits for internal processes, new customer acquisition, and building policyholders’ loyalty.

If insurance companies were readily accepting cloud computing in early 2021, we’re not sure where the notion that it’ll take until 2031 for the rapid shift McKinsey projects came from. Ten years might seem rapid to a tortoise. But even the insurance industry is faster than a tortoise.

We suspect the industry would be well-served to look at the capabilities available to it now, rather than waiting for a series of confusing reports to come true.

If it does that, its capabilities in 2031 might be as yet unimagined.

Those of you who aren’t mathematically inclined may not be aware of the fact that today, March 14 (3.14), is International Pi (π) Day.

Pi is a mathematical constant — derived from the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — roughly equal to 3.14159; although, its decimal representation never settles into a permanently repeating pattern and is allegedly infinite. We say allegedly infinite because that’s never been factually proven. With one exception, everyone who’s attempted the proof has died of old age. The exception was Wilbur Freemish from Baked, Alaska. Wilbur’s wife, Agnes, found him unresponsive at his desk. The autopsy revealed he’d aspirated some seeds from a slice of raspberry pie he was eating as he calculated.

When Agnes was brought into Police HQ for a preliminary interview, she blurted out, “It serves the chooch right. All he ever did was play with those damn numbers!” Agnes was never considered a suspect in Wilbur’s demise. But her statement wouldn’t have mattered, either way, because the cops weren’t recording the interview or listening to Agnes. They were working on their own decimal representations for pi.

Oops

At any rate, due to poor communication and current supply-chain shortages, the first announcement of International Pi Day caused a panicked market run on apples, peaches, blueberries, strawberries, rhubarb, chocolate, custard, banana cream, lemon meringue, and key limes. There were no shortages of mince, of course, because no one actually likes mince pie.

On hearing of the confusion, the International Mathematical Union issued the following statement:

It is with deep regret that we acknowledge the besmirching of our beloved π. Without it, the areas and circumferences of innumerable circles would remain unknown to us to this very day. As a boon to trigonometry and physics, π has spawned countless formulae, especially as they pertain to ellipses and spheres. Let it be noted, as well, that pi occurs in various mathematical problems involving the lengths of arcs or other curves, the areas of sectors and other curved surfaces, and the volumes of many solids. It’s used in various formulae to describe such periodic phenomena as the motion of pendulums, the vibration of strings, and alternating electric currents. And in the field of entertainment, π was a foundational element in classic performances of the Three Stooges.

No matter how you choose to celebrate International Pi Day, we hope you enjoy it.

But watch out for the raspberry seeds.