The Co-operators Deploys Guidewire Solutions for Underwriting, Policy Administration, and Billing

The Co-operators Group Ltd. (The Co-operators), a leading Canadian-owned, multi-product insurer, and Guidewire Software®, a leading provider of flexible core systems to property/casualty (P/C) insurers, today announced that The Co-operators is live on Guidewire PolicyCenter® and Guidewire BillingCenter®. These deployments build upon the company’s 2008 Guidewire ClaimCenter® implementation, and with them, The Co-operators is now running its mission-critical core processes spanning underwriting, policy administration, billing, and claims on core systems from Guidewire. Collectively referred to as the Guidewire InsuranceSuite®, these pre-integrated systems - built on a common technology platform - enable The Co-operators to leverage, processes, business rules and skills across its group of P/C companies.

The Co-operators is several years into its ‘Common Systems’ initiative, envisioned to implement the same core system solutions across its P/C insurance organizations. These shared systems provide an efficient operating platform coupled with flexibility to tune products and processes to best serve different customer segments and channels.   Guidewire InsuranceSuite is now in production for Habitational Lines (Homeowner’s) across The Co-operators’ group of companies. This project is the result of a well coordinated, large scale internal effort. Additional project phases to deploy Guidewire InsuranceSuite to other commercial lines of business are underway.

“Guidewire provided us with well designed solutions and the expertise to help us make our vision a reality,” said Martin Tremblay, senior vice president and Common System-Policy Initiative sponsor, The Co-operators. “We have been able to improve our processes and leverage the best practices built into the Guidewire applications. Our agents and independent brokers have welcomed the change and are finding PolicyCenter easy to use.”

With Guidewire InsuranceSuite, The Co-operators gains:

• Flexible product model that supports offerings aligned to needs of specific market segments;
• Intuitive and easy to use system for its multi-channel distribution partners and staff;
• Ability to introduce new products across companies and channels quickly and efficiently;
• Capability to better serve its clients when and how they want;
• Higher quality information for better business decisions and client management.

“Our companies are beginning to realize benefits from the common processes and business rules we now share – and from our common Guidewire technology platform,” Sandra Baskerville, Vice President Common Systems, The Co-operators adds. “We are already seeing both operational and strategic efficiencies. And we can leverage our shared IT skills across our Guidewire systems which will prove beneficial for ongoing development and post-production maintenance.”

“The Co-operators shares our vision of a fully integrated suite of core processing applications and understands the potential benefits for insurance organizations,” said Marcus Ryu, chief executive officer, Guidewire Software. “It is exciting to see this shared vision become reality. We extend our enthusiastic congratulations to The Co-operators on their significant achievement and we look forward to continuing the journey together.”

The Guidewire Insurance Suite® provides the flexible core systems essential for the mission-critical operations of property/casualty carriers competing in today’s market: underwriting, policy administration, billing and claims. The suite was designed using a modular approach, enabling insurers to select individual applications -- Guidewire PolicyCenter®, Guidewire BillingCenter®, and Guidewire ClaimCenter® -- or a pre-integrated set, driven by their requirements and priorities. The suite provides the flexibility insurers need to deliver insurance the way they want to by rapidly delivering better products and service to their policyholders and agents, while improving underwriting discipline and lowering operational costs. Insurer personnel (including underwriters, customer service representatives, adjusters, supervisors, and executives) gain intuitive, productive role-specific user interfaces. Insurer IT organizations gain flexibility in addressing evolving business requirements through consistent tools for configuring and enhancing operational data stores, user interfaces, workflows and business logic across their underwriting, policy administration, billing and claims systems.

About The Co-operators

The Co-operators Group Limited is a 100 per cent Canadian-owned co-operative with more than CAD $42 billion in assets under administration. Through its group of companies, it offers home, auto, life, group, travel, commercial and farm insurance, as well as investment products. The Co-operators is owned by 47 Canadian co-operatives, credit union centrals and like-minded organizations. It is well known for its community involvement and its commitment to creating a more sustainable tomorrow. In 2010, The Co-operators was ranked #2 among the 50 Best Corporate Citizens in Canada and listed among the 50 Best Employers in Canada. For more information, visit www.cooperators.ca.