Guidewire BillingCenter Places in Top Quartile in Celent Billing System Vendors Report

Report recognizes importance of billing function as “a front office value proposition"

SAN MATEO, Calif., May 11, 2009:

Guidewire Software®, a leading global provider of core system solutions to property/casualty insurers, today announced that Guidewire’s BillingCenter solution has been favorably recognized by industry analyst firm, Celent, in the firm’s report: Billing System Vendors US Property/Casualty Market 2009. In the report, Celent provided a detailed profile of 10 property/casualty billing system vendors, along with a series of emerging technology profiles. Guidewire placed in the top quartile of the ABCD Vendor View which comparatively ranks vendors based on: Advanced technology and technical flexibility, Breadth of functionality, Customer base, and Depth of client services and solutions.

The report notes that “the billing function in property/casualty carriers is transforming from a back office operation to a front office value proposition. Carriers are making significant investments in skills and technology to position billing as a critical customer service activity and an opportunity to retain clients.”    

“Guidewire BillingCenter® has gained considerable market traction in a relatively short number of years,” said Mike Fitzgerald, senior analyst in Celent’s insurance group and author of Celent’s Billing System Vendors 2009. “The product’s functional breadth and its modern architecture combine to make it a strong competitor.”

“We appreciate Celent’s recognition of Guidewire BillingCenter,” said John Raguin, chief executive officer, Guidewire Software. “The Guidewire team is very proud of what BillingCenter is helping our customers achieve and we thank them for helping us to continually improve the product.”      

Other BillingCenter Points of Note:

• Guidewire has tripled the number of BillingCenter customers in the past year and has expanded to Europe, with NFU Mutual in the U.K.;
• Guidewire has 4 “live” BillingCenter implementations with 10 others in progress;
• BillingCenter is a complete billing system -  there are no hidden modules that need to be purchased as add-ons;
• BillingCenter can easily integrate with other systems and provides several API’s and plug- ins to make integrations seamless;
• BillingCenter is a very comprehensive product with several out of the box features – many others can be easily configured;
• Average BillingCenter implementations run 12 months – most recent implementation for a mid-tier carrier was completed within 6 months;
• BillingCenter customers particularly like the product’s electronic dispute capabilities (known as trouble tickets) – giving the customer service representative the ability to easily escalate issues and track them, resulting in improved customer service and
• BillingCenter customers have significantly decreased the amount of user training required – from the typical 6 months+ with a legacy system down to 4 weeks with BillingCenter.

About Celent's Billing System Vendors Report

This report features Celent’s ABCD Vendor View.  The ABCD Vendor View presents a comparative view of vendor marketplace that visually represents four elements: Advanced technology and technical flexibility, Breadth of functionality, Customer base, and Depth of client services and solutions.   

Members of Celent’s Property/Casualty Insurance research service can download the full report electronically from www.celent.com. Non-members should contact info@celent.com for more information. An abstract of the report is available online at http://www.celent.com/reports/billing-system-vendors-us-propertycasualty-market-2009.

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.