Bear River Mutual Insurance Company Selects Guidewire

State-of-the-art claims handling system assists regional insurer to streamline claims operations and enhance customer service

MURRAY, UT and SAN MATEO, Calif., September 4, 2008:

Bear River Mutual Insurance Company (Bear River Mutual), the fourth largest writer of personal lines insurance in Utah, and Guidewire Software®, a leading global provider of solutions to property casualty insurers, today announced that Bear River Mutual has selected Guidewire ClaimCenter® as its new claims system. When deployed, ClaimCenter will be the single claims system-of-record for all Bear River Mutual’s lines of business and will fully replace its existing internally built legacy claims system.

Bear River Mutual’s “Where Values Count” motto revolves around keeping service high and premiums low.  The company recognizes the positive impact that excellence in claims handling has on these values and realized that a modern, Web-based claims system would serve those values in a more efficient, cost effective, and service sensitive manner than its existing legacy claims systems.  Focus and commitment to this project included an evaluation whether to build the new system in-house or purchase a packaged solution. Following a thorough system search and evaluation, Bear River Mutual selected Guidewire ClaimCenter as the Web-based, end-to-end claims handling system best meeting its needs.   

“ClaimCenter has all the functionality and flexibility we were looking for in a new system and it will be our ‘single source of truth’ electronic claim file.  ClaimCenter will enable us to capture and quickly access information from a variety of sources, so that we can provide better customer service – faster,” said Kathy Jensen, vice president, claims, Bear River Mutual Insurance Company.”

Additionally, ClaimCenter will enable Bear River to:

• Gain operational efficiencies through automation and elimination of clerical redundancy;
• Reduce loss and loss adjustment expense leakage;
• Eliminate the need to log-in to multiple systems to undertake claim handling activities;
• Readily dispatch auto body shops/car rental agencies from within ClaimCenter; and
• Improve performance management and analytical capabilities.

“After a thorough review of claim system packages, we found ClaimCenter to be the superior choice. We are looking forward to our business users having the much sought after functionality and processing capabilities that comes with ClaimCenter” said Brian Long, IT manager, Bear River Mutual Insurance Company.

“Bear River Mutual knows its customers and its market – and how the company would like to improve its business,” said John Raguin, chief executive officer, Guidewire Software. “We’re proud that Bear River Mutual selected Guidewire as its partner and we look forward to working with the Bear River Mutual staff.”

Guidewire ClaimCenter is a leading end-to-end claims system for property/casualty insurance. ClaimCenter’s flexible business rules enable claims organizations to optimize and monitor the claim process. Claims executives can define, enforce, and continually refine their preferred claim handling practices. In addition, a modern-technology architecture, providing 100 percent Web client, and Web services interface enable lower total cost of ownership in any environment. 

About Bear River Mutual Insurance Company

Bear River Mutual Insurance is Utah’s oldest locally owned insurance company. The company was organized in 1909 in Bear River Valley to help insure local farmers and residents. Today it is one of Utah’s four largest insurance companies (in terms of personal lines), and writes over $80 million in premiums. Bear River provides homeowners multiple peril and private-passenger auto liability insurance. For more information, please visit www.bearrivermutual.com.

About Guidewire Software

Guidewire Software is a provider of core system software to the global Property/Casualty (general) insurance industry. Designed to be flexible and scalable, Guidewire solutions give insurers the capability to deliver excellent service, increase market share and lower operating costs. Guidewire InsuranceSuite™, consisting of Guidewire PolicyCenter®, Guidewire ClaimCenter® and Guidewire BillingCenter® spans the key functional areas in insurance – underwriting and policy administration, claims management, and billing. Guidewire is headquartered in San Mateo, California, with offices in Beijing, Dublin, Hong Kong, London, Munich, Paris, Sydney, Tokyo, and Toronto. For more information, please visit www.guidewire.com.