On May 11, 1997, history was made. Deep Blue, the IBM Artificial Intelligence (AI) supercomputer, defeated Gary Kasparov, a world champion chess master, in a six-game match. This was the first time a machine ever defeated a world champion in chess and marked the beginning of a new era. However today, there are many cases where AI and humans are working together to achieve better results. As an example, an AI-enabled sous-chef called Chef Watson from IBM, is able to create recipes that help their human partners in the kitchen. This shows that AI and humans can work together to accomplish more. On a similar note, in the realm of commercial underwriting, until there are major changes in the modern world, human underwriters have a great opportunity to use AI to produce the best results.

This was my first year attending InsureTech Connect (ITC) and it did not disappoint! Held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV, the conference was an explosion of fantastic industry talent, thought leadership and ambitious ideas. It has grown from 1,500 attendees in 2016 to nearly 7,000 this year! Needless to say, I was neither able to attend nor write up every session and activity at the event, so this post will not cover all this conference had to offer, however it will give the highlights from my experience there.

As Platform Delivery Lead for DataCubes, I find myself bridging two different worlds on a daily basis: technology and leadership. I love having a foot in each of these worlds but they are very different states of mind.

This was my first year attending the AASCIF Annual Conference and it did not disappoint! Held at the JW Marriott within the Mall of America in beautiful Minneapolis, Minnesota, the conference featured some fantastic industry talent, thought leadership and local sightseeing. DataCubes was a proud sponsor of the event. A brief disclaimer: I was neither able to attend nor write up every session and activity at the event, so this post will not cover all this conference had to offer, however it will give the highlights from my experience there.

One of the cofounders of Airbnb, Brian Chesky, is famous for his 7 Star Design Principle. His approach starts with defining what a 5 Star customer experience looks like, then continues to push the boundaries, making it better and better, until the realm of possibility is left behind. He draws the line of what is possible at 7 Stars in his business, but his ideas go way beyond that. Take a look at how he defines each level within his part of the hospitality industry.

In recent years, I’ve seen multiple insurance software implementations, mainly core systems for policy, claims and billing administration. During this time, I’ve noticed a pattern of characteristics for nearly every implementation, mainly:

This week I made a huge leap – from the world of relatively stable investment fund employment to becoming an early employee at DataCubes. I went from having a fairly predictable future and well-defined structure to the open greenfields of a startup (hopefully).

I come from India. My father was a farmer and our day typically started early. My mother was a homemaker raising six kids in a challenging environment and on a variable income. My whole life, I’ve believed in working hard and investing yourself in your occupation.