Across every industry, business analysts and subject matter experts rely on the flexibility of Excel spreadsheets to build and test sophisticated business logic, but many of these spreadsheets live in silos, or on desktops, with no controls, governance, or audit trails.
Moving spreadsheet models into the cloud has many advantages, but is often stuck in the backlog of resource-constrained IT teams. How can a business continue to innovate when models take months to code and deploy, but competitive markets demand digital products at light speed?
The Coherent Spark platform resolves the between needing the flexibility of Excel, and the control of cloud-based IT solutions with the 3Cs.
The stories below show three examples of how Coherent helped convert spreadsheets for greater outcomes. Stay tuned for future blogs highlighting client success stories demonstrating the control and connect aspects of Spark.
One global life insurance company used a complex stochastic Asset-Liability model to meet new international capital regulations for the cost of guarantees. The model included multiple scenario generation sub-models that created a large set of possible future economic outcomes.
The Problem
The size and complexity of the model resulted in a runtime of 8.5 hours for 1,000 scenarios. They knew the model had to be converted to a cloud-based system to improve runtime and eliminate the user-defined functions in VBA that made documentation and verification difficult.
They estimated coding the model into their existing actuarial system would take months. Unfortunately, the actuarial team didn't have months. They needed to ensure regulatory compliance quickly to better manage capital and risk.
The Coherent Solution
Coherent Spark provided an alternative solution for converting the model. With Spark, actuaries quickly converted the model by simply tagging inputs and outputs, and maintained full control without specialized programming skills. And, the IT team now has visibility into the workflow ensuring proper governance and controls.
The converted model had:
Using Coherent Spark, the actuarial team converted model testing to a cloud-based environment with more control and enhanced assumption management. The transformation happened in significantly less time with much lower costs than programming in the legacy actuarial system would have taken.
Competing in today's group benefit market means empowering agents with responsive quoting processes. A leading benefits provider was under pressure to quickly update multiple end-of-life product raters to fuel growth.
The Problem
Existing product raters were being maintained in spreadsheets, and the estimated time and cost of converting to code was substantial: $3M and over 18 months. Desperately searching for a faster, cost-effective solution, they decided to try Coherent.
The Coherent Solution
By optimizing and automating code generation, Coherent Spark swiftly generated API endpoints enabling seamless integration with downstream systems. Coherent became their go-to solution for converting and automating product raters.
The outcomes were impressive:
Our client significantly reduced operational costs, accelerated product launches, and gained a competitive advantage in the Workplace Benefits market.
A venture capital-backed firm was in the process of integrating over 20 acquisitions in the insurance carriers, distribution, and business service sectors. They aimed to digitize their Group Employee Benefits (EB)rater, allowing easy accessibility for field agents through Salesforce.
The Problem
As a newcomer in a competitive space, the company sought to gain market share by streamlining the submission process for field agents. However, their deployment budget was limited.
The Coherent Solution
With the assistance of Coherent Spark, the company efficiently converted their Group EB rater into code, enabling them to unlock the business logic previously trapped in the spreadsheet. Spark generated an API endpoint that seamlessly connected to Salesforce.
The results were as follows:
Key life insurance actuarial leaders share best practices for partnering with IT to break the implementation logjams that can impede rapid, efficient transformation initiatives.
Our expert panel, hosted by Nancy Bush, Lead Insurance Solution Engineer at Coherent, includes:
Watch On-Demand: Actuaries and IT: Transformation is Better Together