Description: In 2007, members of the Forecasting & Futurism Section were joined by members of the Technology Section and the Marketing & Distribution Sections to conduct a Delphi study about possible developments in the life insurance industry. It was named it “Blue Ocean Strategies in Technology for Business Acquisition by the Life Insurance Industry.” The goal was to have a panel of experts—actuaries and other financial professionals from across the country—identify and debate possible new approaches to acquiring business by life insurers. Panelists were asked to answer questions about possible “Blue Ocean Strategies.” This article highlights the ideas that resulted from those discussions as well as survey results on the same subject.

Description: The author reviews the book, The Perfect Swarm: The Science of Complexity in Everyday Life, by Len Fisher. He provides his own interpretation of the power of the swarm and touts the book as a straightforward and informative introduction to various aspects of complexity science.

Description: The Delphi method was applied to several questions regarding trends in product development. The audience participated in the Delphi survey to predict how economic and demographic factors will impact pricing over the next 7 years.

Description: A summary of the risk that the use of spreadsheets pose, along with key controls to reduce the risk.

Description: Issue overview and editorial on how the actuary of today must embrace the Complexity Science and Advanced Analytics tools of today in order to remain viable in a world where the skills of yesterday are no longer unique to actuaries.

Description: Alberto Abalo's final Chairperson's Corner article for the Forecasting and Futurism section newsletter. Is our section name still an accurate reflection of who we are?

Description: Futurists acknowledge the power that past performance might bring to the future, but they also explicitly recognize the possibility of ‘wild cards’ which might change the picture completely.

Description: This is a gentle introduction to fuzzy logic. It explains the concept and use of linguistic variables, reference ranges, fuzzification, and defuzzification without the usual advanced mathematics that sometimes obscure these ideas.

Description: Simple Rating Systems: Entry-level sports forecasting

Description: Feature article describing how exponential technologies will affect the actuarial profession.