Exploring IT trends with Équité Association’s Chief Technology Officer

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On May 16, Équité Association’s Chief Technology Officer, Angel Yau-Vandenburg, was a featured industry leader on The Globe and Mail’s virtual panel, “Digital Frontline: Exploring IT Trends”. Alongside other IT industry leaders, the event examined how the latest IT trends are shaping the business and threat landscape.

Angel has led the development and launch of ÉQ Insights, the first consortium-based intelligence platform to detect and prevent insurance fraud within the P&C industry, from the ground up. Before joining Équité, Angel was a senior leader, within the property and casualty (P&C) industry, where she successfully led a team in developing and implementing data driven identification of fraud through advanced analytics. Angel’s insights pull from over 25 years of experience in fraud and risk management, strategy and analytics.

Angel’s IT Trends Insights

Changing the industry with predictive analytics

AYV: I am proud to have led the technology development behind ÉQ Insights, Équité’s national fraud detection and analytics platform. This is the first national P&C consortium-based predictive analytics platform to detect and prevent fraud.

Using predictive analytics, the platform will evolve with emerging and changing fraud trends to help our members better identify fraudulent activities earlier. By identifying patterns and trends, ÉQ Insights alerts on suspicious activity to detect and prevent insurance crime. It will also alert on suspicious activity to detect and prevent insurance crime as Équité collaborates with law enforcement and insurance members’ investigations. The industry has a collective goal to mitigate insurance crime in Canada and the platform will help us identify potential fraud and organized crime rings at an industry level, and the technology is at a stage where it is ready to make a meaningful difference.

Balancing analytics and human decision-making

AYV: While most organizations are leading with a data-driven approach for fraud detection, I am a strong believer in the balance of art and science. This means recognizing the value that both technology and human experience brings to insurance crime and fraud investigations. Investigators and data analysts need to work hand-in-hand to combat fraud and that collaboration is key to our success.

With data mining and predictive models, we are combining data and attributes to explore patterns in a mathematical and scientific way. This model needs to account for human behavior that cannot be determined solely through technology. At Équité, our expert investigators provide fraud and organized crime insight based on years of experience in law enforcement. Their experience add vital context to why the patterns are shifting, and what that means for members, the industry and honest Canadians. With that context, the Équité technology team can incorporate meaningful insights by coding or building new attributes as a predictor to identify fraud.  

Foster career development, especially in underrepresented groups

AYV: Most are aware that the technology industry has traditionally been dominated by men. While the landscape is changing, women are still under-represented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

Women in positions of leadership need to do our part to mentor and promote not only women, but a diversity of women, particularly in Canada, where we are so multicultural. I regularly volunteer my time mentoring teenage girls in my local community, with a focus on exploring and supporting an education in STEM fields. With my volunteering, I hope to help pave the way for girls and young women to know they belong in IT just as much as anyone else.

Looking to the future, I am encouraged to see companies adopting hiring strategies that are focused on diversity and inclusion. This value has been embedded in Équité since the organization began, and is a point of pride for me during the hiring process. As the IT landscape continues to change and evolve, I am pleased to see more women now working in the technology sector than there were 25 years ago when I first started.

Soft skills are key to career growth

AYV: To anyone looking to take the next step in their career, I would encourage them to invest in soft skills. These include effective communication, problem solving, critical thinking, strategic planning and more. I have seen many candidates come in with the right technical qualifications; but what makes the difference for me is the balance of emotional intelligence and technical expertise.  

I have heard more than one leader say, “I can train for competency, but I can’t train for attitude.” This is especially true when working at a not-for-profit. It is important to me that everyone understands and believes in Équité’s goals. Équité is committed to upskilling and offering educational opportunities to individuals from within our organization, which includes:

• Offering bespoke professional development and mentoring opportunities for all employees;  
• Offering women at the management level (and above) the opportunity to enroll in executive membership programs, which include webinars, workshops and mentoring opportunities geared toward and for women; and  
• Enrolment in the Équité Leadership Development Program (ELDP) is offered to all directors.  

The Globe and Mail’s virtual panel, “Digital Frontline: Exploring IT Trends is available online here: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/events/article-digital-frontlines-exploring-it-trends/

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