As part of the Akur8 Accelerate program, you explored various growth opportunities for the company. What inspired your decision to acquire Arius, and what distinguishes it from other companies in the industry?

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Since 2018, Akur8 has been dedicated to building the best possible software for insurance pricing professionals. In 2024, we seized the opportunity to apply our pricing expertise and insights to transform the field of reserving.

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Today’s carriers face significant challenges in the reserving process. They require greater operational efficiency and the ability to effectively communicate complex reserve estimates to a diverse group of  stakeholders, including finance teams, management, auditors and regulators. Moreover, the reserving process must be robust, error-free, and seamlessly integrated with other critical business functions such as pricing and financial reporting.

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The inherent connection between pricing and reserving, combined with Akur8's proven expertise in developing solutions to address these challenges, made expanding into reserving a logical and strategic progression.

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Arius proved to be an excellent fit for Akur8 for three key reasons:

1. The exceptional quality of the Arius team, which developed a market-leading product with a remarkably lean group.
2. Arius's extensive footprint in the US, a strategic market where Akur8 is focused on significant growth.
3. Its previous ownership by Milliman, a trusted partner of Akur8

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In September 2024, the Arius team officially joined Akur8, and the integration has been a resounding success, garnering outstanding feedback from customers and partners alike. The team is now hard at work shaping the future of reserving!

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What is your vision for Akur8’s next gen reserving platform, and where do you see the greatest potential for innovation?

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We are fortunate that Arius is already a top-tier reserving solution, trusted by leading carriers worldwide.

Yet, there is definitely room for further innovation. Reserving processes have seen minimal evolution over the past 20 years, creating a growing disconnect between the advancements actuaries publish in their research and the practices implemented within insurance companies.

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Our engineering and product teams have already started working on a completely redeveloped version of our reserving solution, with a focus on three main aspects:

1. Unmatched user experience with highly intuitive designs, dashboards and visualizations
2. Fully cloud-based technology allowing for easy integrations with pricing and other critical platforms
3. Machine learning built natively into the solution, bringing smart suggestions, automation, and cutting edge analytics to the reserving process

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This will bring a completely new experience to reserving teams, making it much easier and faster to get to the key insights they need.

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Felix d'Alançon is Chief Operating Officer at Akur8, in charge of the Reserving business, operational excellence, and North America coordination. Felix started his career at the international consulting firm Oliver Wyman, where he led strategic and operational transformation projects for large companies in France and in the US. Felix is based in Akur8's New York office.

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