Guidewire’s ‘Connections 2013’ User Conference Draws More Than 1,000 Attendees

Forty percent year over year growth in attendance at Guidewire’s ninth annual user conference

FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 1, 2013-- Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE), a provider of software products to Property/Casualty (P/C) insurers, recently hosted its ninth annual user conference, Connections 2013, in San Francisco, California. Connections 2013 provided a forum for the Guidewire community – customers, partners and Guidewire employees - to share their experiences, best practices and receive the latest information about Guidewire’s products.

Connections 2013 kicked off with Guidewire’s chief executive officer, Marcus Ryu, providing an overview of the new initiatives and products the company launched over the past year to further assist insurers in their legacy system replacement projects, and to provide a platform they can leverage to transform their business.

John Seybold, principal technology strategist and Guidewire co-founder, provided an overview of the key features and benefits of InsuranceSuite 8, the new release of Guidewire InsuranceSuite™, which was announced at the conference. Seybold also provided an update on Guidewire’s newer products including Guidewire Live, Mobile & Portals, DataHub, and InfoCenter.

Two Guidewire customers presented keynotes on the main stage. Michael Gay, chief information officer, AIG Japan presented a case study about how AIG Japan is moving from 35 different legacy systems to Guidewire PolicyCenter® and transforming its business in a highly competitive market. Paul Geddes, chief executive officer, Direct Line Group, provided his perspective on the three eras of evolution in P/C insurance. He also discussed the turnaround of Direct Line’s business and his vision for the company’s future. The final keynote of the day, Alex Singla, partner, McKinsey & Company, and leader of McKinsey’s P/C Insurance Practice, predicted the practices and technologies a leading insurer will embrace in 2020 and engaged the audience by asking them to vote on his predictions.

A series of nearly 90 hands-on workshops, roundtable discussions, expert panels, and educational sessions held throughout the three days of the conference provided the opportunity for Guidewire customers to share their experiences, lessons learned, and best practices.

Thirty-four breakout sessions featured Guidewire customers and some of these included:

• Auto-Owners’ ClaimCenter Project: From A to Z (with Auto-Owners Insurance Company)
• NJM: Super Storm Sandy and Catastrophe Management (with NJM Insurance Group)
• Rating Best Practices (with The Co-operators and Rockhill Insurance Company)
• Value Alignment Panel Discussion (with American Modern and Pacifico Seguros)
• Lumley’s Journey through Business Implementation and Legacy System Decommission (with Lumley General Insurance Limited)

A total of 30 roundtable discussions also took place and a sampling of these includes:

• Change Management Efforts (with Westfield Insurance)
• Customer Strategies to Protect Your Claims Management While Implementing PolicyCenter (with RACQ Insurance)
• Governance with Agility (with Citizens Property Insurance)
• How to Effectively Support an Out of the Box Implementation (Amica General Insurance Group)
• Utilizing vs. Enhancing the Base Product? (Great American Insurance Company)

Connections 2013 was sponsored by 16 Guidewire PartnerConnect™ and SolutionConnect partners: PricewaterhouseCoopers, Capgemini, Ernst & Young, Agencyport Software, Business Agility, CastleBay Consulting, CGI, Cognizant, Deloitte, HCL, HP Exstream, IBM, Mitchell, Perr&Knight, Sempla, and Thunderhead.com – who were on hand to discuss their services/solutions with attendees and to give presentations and/or moderate roundtable discussions.

“We are inspired by what our customers are doing with our products and the desire they have to transform their business and better serve their agents and policyholders. Connections gives us the perfect opportunity to celebrate their accomplishments and share knowledge as a community,” said Brian Desmond, vice president, Marketing, Guidewire Software. “We thank our customers and partners for helping to make Connections 2013 a great success.”

About Guidewire Software

Guidewire builds software products that help Property/Casualty insurers replace their legacy core systems and transform their business. Designed to be flexible and scalable, Guidewire products enable insurers to deliver excellent service, increase market share and lower operating costs. Guidewire InsuranceSuite™ provides the core systems used by insurers as operational systems of record. Additional products provide support for data management, business intelligence, anytime/anywhere access and guidance and monitoring. More than 150 Property/Casualty insurers around the world have selected Guidewire. For more information, please visit www.guidewire.com. Follow us on twitter: @Guidewire_PandC.

NOTE: Guidewire, Guidewire Software, Guidewire ClaimCenter, Guidewire PolicyCenter, Guidewire BillingCenter, Guidewire InsuranceSuite, Guidewire DataHub, Guidewire InfoCenter, Guidewire Live, Before & After, Guidewire PartnerConnect, Guidewire SolutionConnect, Deliver Insurance Your Way, and the Guidewire logo are trademarks, service marks, or registered trademarks of Guidewire Software, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

Source: Guidewire Software, Inc.

Guidewire Software, Inc.
Diana Stott, +1 650-356-4941
Director, Communications
dstott@guidewire.com