Across the insurance industry, reserving remains one of the most complex and high-stakes actuarial activities. Actuaries are expected to deliver accurate, transparent and well-documented reserve estimates while navigating increased regulatory scrutiny, volatile economic conditions and growing data volumes.
Yet despite these pressures, many reserving teams continue to rely heavily on spreadsheets as their primary analytical tool, exposing organisations to operational risk and inefficiency.
Spreadsheets have long been valued for their flexibility and familiarity, but their limitations are becoming harder to ignore. Even well-designed and tightly controlled files require frequent manual updates, complex linking between models and regular validation. Over time, this creates fragile processes that are difficult to scale, review and audit. As reserving cycles repeat quarter after quarter, the risk of errors, broken links and undocumented assumptions grows, particularly when key individuals responsible for building or maintaining these spreadsheets are no longer available.
The role of modern actuarial platforms
It is against this backdrop that Akur8 has been examining how modern actuarial platforms can support a more robust and efficient reserving process. The company has consistently discussed the importance of moving towards reserving environments built around centralised databases, owned and operated by actuaries themselves.
Combined with modern reporting tools and increased automation, this approach is designed to help teams meet rising regulatory demands while adapting to the rapidly changing economic and technological landscape.
However, Akur8 argues that technology alone is not enough. Advanced automation, graphical reporting and granular claims data do little to help if actuaries lack confidence in the tools they use day to day. Reserving professionals ultimately need platforms that allow them to apply judgement efficiently, test assumptions transparently and focus on analysis rather than tool maintenance.
One of the most pressing issues with spreadsheet-based reserving is key-person risk. Many complex models rely on opaque logic, embedded macros or bespoke VBA code understood by only one or two individuals. When those people move on, organisations can be left with tools that are difficult to update, review or even trust. This not only undermines confidence in the numbers but also slows down the entire reserving process.
Modern reserving platforms aim to address these challenges by offering purpose-built tools that retain flexibility while significantly reducing risk.
These solutions provide access to industry-standard reserving methods, advanced diagnostics, curve fitting, factor smoothing and flexible visualisations, all within a controlled environment. Rather than spending time building and repairing spreadsheets, actuaries can focus on understanding variability, trends and uncertainty in the data.
Complimenting human judgement
Crucially, these platforms are not designed to be an “actuary-in-a-box”. Akur8 emphasises that modern actuarial tools must support, not replace, professional judgement. Users should be able to customise analyses, scale workflows across different teams and projects, and share results securely. Built-in controls over calculations and permissions reduce human error and streamline technical reviews, while audit trails support regulatory and governance requirements.
Traceability is another core requirement. Being able to follow assumptions and calculations back to their source improves transparency and makes it easier to explain results to stakeholders. Visual tools allow actuaries and managers to identify outliers, assess trends and communicate insights far more effectively than static tables.
By replacing spreadsheet-heavy processes with modern reserving platforms, reserving teams can free up significant time and resources. That capacity can be redirected towards higher-value activities such as early warning systems, drivers-of-change analysis, advanced dashboards and even machine learning applications on claims data. In doing so, reserving teams can evolve beyond traditional reporting roles and deliver deeper insight across the insurance organisation.
Read the full blog from Akur8 here.
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