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Supplier category: Guidewire

Guidewire was nominated by Diana Stott.

Insurer: Guidewire Insurance Company

Guidewire Software, Inc. is a leading provider of flexible core systems that enable property/casualty (general) insurers to deliver insurance the way they want to. Designed for maximum flexibility and scalability, Guidewire solutions give insurers the capability to deliver excellent service to policyholders and agents and increase their market share – while lowering operating costs.

More than 70 insurers in nine countries, including Canada, rely on Guidewire solutions to run their mission-critical core operations. Guidewire customers include insurers of all sizes and all lines of business. A sampling of Guidewire customers includes: The Co-operators, Dominion, Wawanesa, Zurich Canada, Amica, CNA and GEICO. Guidewire is headquartered in San Mateo, California and has offices in Toronto, Hong Kong, London, Munich, Paris, Sydney and Tokyo. For more information, visit guidewire.com.

Brian Desmond, Guidewire (centre), with Doug Grant (left) and Dave Gibbons (right), Insurance-Canada.ca.

Description of Technology Used

The Guidewire Insurance Suite™, consisting of Guidewire PolicyCenter®, Guidewire BillingCenter®, and Guidewire ClaimCenter®, spans the entire insurance lifecycle – underwriting, policy administration, billing, and claims management.

• Guidewire ClaimCenter manages the end-to-end claim process, from new loss entry through investigation, settlement, and recovery, improving speed and accuracy; reducing loss adjustment expenses, and enabling proactive management of claims.
• Guidewire PolicyCenter is a flexible underwriting and policy management system that helps insurers grow their business profitably by improving efficiency, while responding with agility to market opportunities and enhancing relationships with agents and customers.
• Guidewire BillingCenter is a flexible system designed to make it easier for insurers to automate the billing lifecycle; design flexible billing, payment and delinquency plans; manage agent commissions; and enable rapid integration with external payment systems.

Insurers select one or multiple Guidewire systems as meets their needs.

Deployment of Technology

Currently in Canada, The Co-operators, the Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company and another unnamed insurer are in production with Guidewire ClaimCenter. Wawanesa Mutual Insurance and Zurich in Canada are currently implementing ClaimCenter.

The Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company

Guidewire ClaimCenter provides The Dominion with a modern claims system in order to optimize claims handling and improve service both to policyholders and to its network of independent brokers.

With ClaimCenter, The Dominion is able to:

• Maintain and improve high levels of claims service to policyholders;
• Capture richer and higher quality data;
• Enhance claim adjusting speed, consistency, and adjuster satisfaction by providing an intuitive and flexible system;
• Leverage a modern, web-based application that is easily configurable to meet continually changing business needs; and
• Enhance claims operational efficiencies and cost control.

The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company

Wawanesa sought a new core claims processing and management solution to provide the company with a foundation on which to modernize its claim handling processes in order to enhance its customer service offerings and more efficiently operate its claims business. The solution needed to be easy to use, scalable and flexible enough to grow and evolve with Wawanesa’s changing business needs. After a thorough search and review, Wawanesa selected Guidewire ClaimCenter as its new platform to manage claims for all lines of business: Home, Auto, Farm, and Commercial.

The Co-operators Group

When The Co-operators selected the Guidewire suite in 2007, then-CIO Rob Wesseling had this to say: "Guidewire's solution suite is a great fit with The Co-operators' core system needs. Our goal is to migrate from our current legacy claims environment to a modern claims system that will be utilized by all of our property and casualty companies. Not only are we very impressed with Guidewire's technology and team, but their impressive customer track record was also a key factor in our decision."

Fast forward to 2010; The Co-operators has implemented ClaimCenter at three of its four P&C companies for all lines - Personal, Farm and Commercial. ClaimCenter is meeting all original expectations. The Co-operators has gained a modern technology foundation with which to streamline its claims processes while delivering enhanced service to its policyholders and agents. Guidewire ClaimCenter is enabling The Co-operators to:

• Increase productivity for claims professionals by significantly reducing manually-intensive tasks;
• Access real-time comprehensive claims information for greater visibility and insight into core processes, and operating costs;
• Automatically route claims tasks to appropriate experts based on staff expertise and workloads; and
• Streamline and reduce IT maintenance efforts by moving to a modern platform across all its lines of business.

Zurich in Canada

Alister Campbell, president and CEO, Zurich, Canada said the company recognized the significant customer service opportunities that a tailored claims service provides. They decided on a flexible claims system that would be easy for the claims staff to use, and could be tailored to meet its evolving needs while continuing to provide a strong customer service focus.

“At Zurich, Canada, we’re committed to offering our brokers and customers exceptional service in line with our Zurich HelpPoint™ strategy,” said Campbell. “We need effective loss cost management and our customers expect a fast and fair claims handling process – the new system will help us to continue to achieve both. Our employees will have the opportunity to utilize a modern claims handling system and dedicate more time to developing innovative claims solutions for our customers.”

When operational, the new system will enable Zurich, Canada to:

• More efficiently handle claims operations;
• More proactively tailor claims handling to customers’ individual requirements;
• Reduce manual processes to give the claims staff more time to effectively service their customers;
• Improve and expand the ability to capture all relevant information resulting in better data quality, reduced claims expenses, reduced loss leakage, and better analysis for tracking claims; and
• Continue to attract top talent to the company and its claims team.

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