Transforming Critical Spreadsheets into Web Applications at Zurich Financial

TL;DR

This paper discusses transforming complex insurance pricing spreadsheets into secure, web-based applications at Zurich Financial using EASA, addressing issues of version control, security, and integration.

Contribution

It presents a case study of adopting EASA to convert critical spreadsheets into web applications, highlighting benefits over other methods.

Findings

EASA effectively replaces manual spreadsheets with web applications.

Improved security and version control for insurance pricing models.

Enhanced integration capabilities with existing systems.

Abstract

In the insurance industry, spreadsheets have emerged as an invaluable tool to for product pricing, because it is relatively straightforward to create and maintain complex pricing models using Excel. In fact, Excel is often preferred to "hard-code" whenever there are frequent changes to the calculations and business logic which under-pin the pricing of an insurance product. However, problems arise as soon as spreadsheets are deployed to end-users: version control, security of intellectual property, and ensuring correct usage are obvious issues; frequently, integration with other systems is also a requirement. Zurich Financial Services Group is a leading financial services provider; several possible solutions to these problems have been evaluated, and EASA has been selected as the preferred technology. Other spreadsheet collaboration approaches which were considered include Excel Services, and/or custom-built software; however, EASA has provided clear benefits over these strategies.