Object recognition, classification, clustering, forecasting, text mining. Achmea turns all data science methods inside out to exploit possible opportunities. They regularly require some extra support – always from Pipple.
The data science department at Achmea, led by Wouter Slot, is often brought in when working on projects such as new propositions, automatic claim settlement and optimizing processes. However, this has not always been the case in the past. “In the start-up phase of our department, we were mainly browsing documents.”, Slot explains. The revenues were only modest. “At most, the insights from a model led to a better allotment of a weight to some factor or to the addition of some line somewhere.”
Data consultant
As the findings of his department became more substantial, the incentive to transfer these from the laboratory to the actual business intensified as well. That requires additional skills. Slot: “When applying models to an operating department, the involved manager obviously wants to understand what you are actually doing. Such a manager is usually not a beta type of person. They will not be convinced by mere arithmetical knowledge. At that point, you need to be more of a data consultant than a data scientist. In such cases, Pipple’s assistance proves to be especially useful. They dispose of a diverse team of people which can meet many different needs.”
Pipple’s assistance proves to be very useful. They dispose of a diverse team of people which can meet many different needs.
IT-knowledge
The things that makes Pipple particularly special, Slot argues, is that many of their consultants are in a similar fashion able to act as a bridge between IT and data science. Slot: “It is nice to make fancy models, but to apply it real-time within the back-office application, you need to manage a tough IT-side as well. This is a very delicate task, because the model should be implemented exactly as was intended. It helps when you possess some knowledge of data engineering and data architecture.”
Never intrusive
Maybe that is the secret of Pipple, Slot guesses: their high quality standard. “I can count on it that a candidate of Pipple meets our desires and requirements.” In that, they also have a distinctive power, according to Slot.”Pipple has never acted intrusive. The initiative for a new project always originates from me. And when it is time for farewell, that is also fine. They have a pleasant way of doing sales.”
