Marin Drlje, Croatia osiguranje: “The working environment dominated by a proactive spirit and focus on innovation”
Marin Drlje obtained a master's degree in mathematics from the Faculty of Science in Zagreb, and after a short engagement in PBZ he set off for Czech Republic where he enrolled in a master's degree program in econometrics at the Charles University. Afterwards he gained work experience in the office of the consulting house Ernst & Young (EY) in Prague, in the field of advanced analytics.
After working in EY, he accepted a position of a researcher at the CERGE-EI Institute in Prague and for the next two years he participated in statistical projects, including those at the prestigious Princeton University. There, he dealt with geospatial analysis of the U.S. restaurant industry and competition based on Google data, analysis of price elasticity on demand, then developing AI algorithms for data imputation where data is not collected, and developing statistical tests and methods. Two years at CERGE-EI and he made a decision to return to Croatia and start working at Croatia osiguranje. He is currently employed as a Senior Data Scientist within the Advanced Analytics team.
“I deal with modeling campaigns whose most common goal is to generate leads and / or analyze the structure of the business, as well as accompanying reporting, that is monitoring the results. Lead campaigns are a comprehensive process in which many factors are crucial - both colleagues in sale and all those involved in the process of generating, filtering and transferring / executing leads, including us. "I think it's a 'living' process in which we have to constantly monitor and adjust strategies according to market changes," says Marin.
In Croatia osiguranje, from day one, "I feel at home"
Because of the atmosphere that prevails in CO, as well as because of the focus on innovations that moves on to personal development, Marin says that this is a great workplace, ideal for students and gaining first work experiences. The atmosphere in his team, as well as in the whole company, is extremely stimulating, pleasant and easy-going. The work environment is dominated by a proactive spirit and focus on innovation, and colleagues are very warm and friendly. “From the beginning, since I arrived, I feel at home. I think we are a really cool team, we take stand up for and take care of each other", he points out proudly.
He also says that his job is versatile. He uses computer programs like R and SQL most of the time, and for some implementations, such as automatic processing and web content detection, he uses Python.
“One of our primary tasks is to construct models that describe reality and provide detailed insights into business processes and customer behavior, in order to optimally direct our resources. For example, one of the models I’m developing analyzes which clients are most likely to acquire. We are currently using the model data to prioritize the leads, but we are also working on decomposing the causes for the probable acquisition, so that we can focus processes on eliminating 'bottlenecks' in the future,” explains Marin.
In the team for advanced analytics, he states, the technical aspect of Data Science is as important, as the economic and interpretive one, where the numbers need to be turned into a story and ideas. In Croatia osiguranje, this means cooperating with a wide range of teams and getting to know both their activities and the entire business structure, which in the end points out as the most valuable experience he still is gaining. "I am proud because in Croatia osiguranje we develop our own models and set high standards on the market, and that in my day to day work I am surrounded by the best experts with whom I grow more and more every day," says Marin.
Barbara Banić, Croatia osiguranje: “We are changing the insurance industry by taking care of clients in an innovative way”
The rapid integration of technology and everyday life has brought about an increase in the amount of data available. Using advanced analytics to collect and process new sets of information helps understand the market, clients, risks and competition, explains Barbara Banić, a specialist in business intelligence and data science in the department for monitoring transformation initiatives and a member of Advanced Analytics team in Croatia osiguranje.
Barbara is mainly involved in developing and maintaining predictive models used for various campaigns, such as cross-sell campaigns aimed at increasing a client’s portfolio or WinBack campaigns, with the goal of bringing back former clients. Certainly, there is also data analysis and results reporting of the campaigns themselves.
“Our cross-sell artificial intelligence model takes into account previous interactions with the client, analyzes real-time communication with the client, and creates new recommendations each month. We use predictive models that consider the historical behaviors of customers of the same characteristics and predict the probabilities of buying certain types of products, and thereby we send to the sales network better information about the sales opportunity” she describes his work shortly.
She points out with special enthusiasm that Croatia osiguranje follows current trends in the world, such as using advanced analytics models in its business, which are used for various sales campaigns. “We use advanced technologies in our daily work and analyze large amounts of data. In short, we use the obtained results as a tool for constant modification and development of data analysis models and acquiring sales opportunities for some of the campaigns ", she explains.
How it all started
Barbara graduated in Financial and Business Mathematics at the Faculty of Science in Zagreb in 2019, and started gaining experience already during her studies. She has done her student internship at HANFA, where she got attracted to the insurance field, and after that she also worked at Allianz. After graduation, she was certain that the insurance business was ideal for her and was extremely happy to be given the opportunity to become part of the CO team shortly after graduation.
Precisely because of the multidisciplinary approach to work, she considers working at Croatia osiguranje an excellent opportunity for students to see how to apply in practice the knowledge and skills acquired in studies. "Students at Croatia osiguranje can get acquainted not only with the models we use, but also with the entire business process required for campaigns, especially since close cooperation between different sectors is required," she said.
Apart from the many-sided and dynamic work environment, she likes the most great atmosphere at her workplace, and the fact that although they are a relatively new team, she has the feeling that they have been working together for years. “I would definitely emphasize the diversity of skills of others, which they acquired before joining the team, and their willingness to share that knowledge with others,” she says. She adds that the possibility of learning from colleagues with much more experience in various fields is the most valuable experience she has gained working in Croatia osiguranje.
Working in CO is an excellent opportunity to get acquainted not only with the models used, but also with the whole business process needed for campaigns, especially because close cooperation between different sectors is needed, says Barbara. “Advanced technologies have enabled the collection of large amounts of data at high speed, which opens up new possibilities of implementation in various fields, including insurance. By recognizing the potential in their implementation, the CO has confirmed its leading position as an insurer that creates market trends,” she said.