© iS

tock

phot

o/T

hink

stoc

k

A Summit Business Media publication

A reprint from

A W A R D S

2012

Presented by Tech Decisions & NovaricaPresented by Tech Decisions & Novarica

What Does It Take to Be a RAVE Winner?

Although the insurance industry has a long history of building its own technology solutions, the

pendulum has been � rmly paused on the “buy” side of the “buy vs. build” spectrum for the last few years across most core application areas. Insurers are looking for proven solutions built by expert so� ware development organizations that bene� t from both the best practices created by serving a broad range of like customers as well as the support and R&D that exter-nal vendors can provide. Like the insur-ance carrier marketplace that it serves, the insurance technology vendor marketplace is large and diverse with more than 100 signi� cant independent so� ware vendors and portfolio players o� ering enterprise and stand-alone so� ware products across multiple areas of insurance core systems.

One of the most important inputs in evaluating technology products is current client experience. While technology and feature/functions are important, the critical question is how the product contributes to creating business value, and the best source of that information is current clients.

� e Novarica ACE Ranking Survey asks insurer executives to rank their degree of agreement or disagreement with 35 statements across the following � ve catego-ries that relate to the delivery of business value: sta� , organization, functionality, technology, and overall customer satisfac-tion. Of those questions (which are listed online at http://www.novarica.com/acer-ankings), we’ve found the di� erences in responses to the following questions are most pronounced between those solutions that have the highest overall customer satisfaction and those with the lowest.

“Vendor invests aggressively in improv-ing technical performance through new releases and � xes.” (Technology) � is was the area with the largest spread between the high-satisfaction and low-satisfaction groups. It is something that is di� cult to evaluate during a selection process and must be carefully researched through references and detailed questions into client experience.

Continuous improvement is supposed to be one of the major advantages of a vended solution over an internally developed one.

“I have great faith in vendor’s senior management and overall vision.” (Organiza-tion) We see this as correlative rather than predictive. We hope insurers in the low-satisfaction group are reporting a loss of

the faith they presumably had at the time of product selection, rather than a purchase of so� ware from a team in which they had no faith at that time.

“Product is an elegant solution to our business problem, and product is well liked by business users.” (Functionality) � ese also may be correlative, but there may be an element of caution here, too. Products that are selected without su� cient business involvement and “personal investment” are much more likely to result in failure.

“Vendor provides e� ective training and documentation to my business and techni-cal sta� .” (Organization) � is is a universal

weak point among vendors. Even the high-satisfaction group ranked this area lowest among all 35 questions. Yet e� ective train-ing is critical for creating business value.

“Product is easy to integrate into our overall infrastructure.” (Functionality) � is is another area that can be overlooked during selection. Insurers may focus too much on a solution’s capabilities or technol-ogy and not understand how di� cult it will be to integrate it into their environment.

“Vendor aligns its business interests with mine, and vendor has my business success as a top priority.” (Organization) � is is another area that’s di� cult to evalu-ate in advance without detailed reference checking and understanding of the vendor organization, corporate structure, and even compensation schemes.

“Product has signi� cantly enhanced productivity.” (Functionality) In addition to being a symptom of a subpar product, this also may be a symptom of poor upfront analysis and expectation-setting. Insurers should carefully understand and model the impact they expect new systems to have on productivity and then iterate those models based on experiences in pilot programs.

“Product uses technology that � ts our long-term technology vision.” (Technology) Many of the solutions that received low rankings in this area were older, mainframe-based solutions. Insurers actively are looking for solutions that � t these long-term visions.

Insurers that are evaluating new solutions should be careful to look beyond feature/function mixes and technology stacks and carefully consider their potential vendors’ track records in getting clients live, delivering measurable business results, and enhancing their products to keep them current.

In the open comments section of the ACE Ranking Survey, customers tend to focus on responsiveness and relationship even more than speci� cs of the solution. � is is an important re� ection of the fact these are not simple product purchases—insurance IT applications typically involve a long relation-ship with the vendor. As many CIOs have put it, “It’s almost like getting married.”

One of the most important inputs in evaluating

technology products is current client experience.

A reprint from Tech Decisions

A W A R D S

2012

Presented by Tech Decisions & Novarica

A reprint from Tech Decisions

RAVE Awards Demonstrate Customer Value

The RAVE Awards were designed by Tech Decisions and Novarica to recognize those solutions that are

delivering exemplary value to their customers as measured by those customers themselves.

� e RAVE Awards are unlike any other award in the insurance technology space. Rather than being chosen by a board of experts or an open online poll, the winners and honorable mention solutions are those that received the highest aggregate rank-ings from a group of current clients using Novarica’s Average Customer Experience (ACE) Ranking methodology (see p. A9).

As the basis for the RAVE Awards, the ACE Ranking methodology re� ects current customer enthusiasm for each winner and honorable mention recipient, rather than marketing hype or third-party opinion. It re� ects the single most important source of information that insurers turn to when selecting a solution: each other.

� e RAVE Awards are not by any means

a comprehensive review of the entire market-place. More than 1,000 insurer executives (each response validated) have participated in the ACE Rankings since they were launched, and over 75 solutions have been rated by at least three of their clients, the minimum required to gain an ACE Ranking Score.

In this third annual RAVE Awards, we’re recognizing solutions in 10 categories: � Agent Connectivity� Agent Portal� Claims� Document Management� Financials� Life Policy Administration Systems� P&C Policy Administration Systems� Reinsurance Administration� Service� Other

� e goal of the RAVE Awards is not to establish de� nitively the “best” solution in each class. � ere is no such thing as a best solution for all potential clients. � e right � t of

sta� , organization, functionality, and technology is going to vary widely, and what’s best for one company will not bebest for another.

But the RAVE Awards do recog-nize solutions whose current customers are enthusiastic about the value these solutions have brought to their organizations. And since the creation of business value is the � rst and foremost goal of any technology investment, we congratulate the RAVE Award winners and honorable mention recipients on their out-standing achievements!

— Matthew JosefowiczPartner and Managing Director, NovaricaLead Researcher, Novarica ACE Rankings

Matthew Josefowicz

CLAIMS

Core Principles Drive Guidewire’s Solutions

Providing the best customer service for claim-ants is what distinguishes the top property & casualty insurers, so it makes sense that many

of Guidewire So� ware’s ClaimCenter customers believe customer service drives Guidewire’s success as well.

In fact, Brian Desmond, vice president, market-ing for Guidewire, believes the single most important reason for Guidewire’s success is its track record of delivering for its customers.

“� ere are close to 100 Guidewire implementa-tions that are live in production,” he says. “We’ve had an unparalled level of implementation success. � at success rate counts for a lot in an industry that, in the past, has been underserved by technology vendors.”

Desmond explains that one of Guidewire’s core principles is to develop so� ware that is truly upgradeable and helps its customers continually improve through new features and technical capabilities.

“We collaborate closely with our customers throughout the development process,” says Desmond. “Guidewire’s agile develop-

ment approach enables us to show a working product and solicit feedback late into a release cycle.”

Product and regional user groups and an annual user’s conference enable Guidewire to regularly receive feedback from customers as well as preview some of the innovative themes the company has in mind for future versions of its products.

Guidewire is focused on building next-generation p&c core systems, enabling carriers to replace the legacy systems that have prevented them from running their business the way they want to, explains Desmond.

� is singular focus di� erentiates Guidewire from so� ware and services companies that serve multiple

industries, according to Desmond. Some of the advancements Guidewire has achieved over the last year include:

• Released version 7 of Guidewire InsuranceSuite including ClaimCenter, PolicyCenter, and BillingCenter.

• Maintained track record of implementation success with 170+ implementations and no failures.

Brian Desmond

A W A R D S

2012

Presented by Tech Decisions & Novarica

“W� c�� is��� p��i��e�

50% fas��� �i��

G�i������ P��i��C�n���

�h�� �i�� ��� ����i�u�

�ys���, �n� ��’�� ����

���� t� d����� ��� ���

�u���es� t�r�et�.”

Mercury Insurance implemented Guidewire PolicyCenter for flexible underwriting and policy

administration. Since going into production with PolicyCenter, Mercury has been able to quickly

respond to customer needs, and has doubled its new business targets.

Guidewire PolicyCenter provides insurers like Mercury with the business agility, underwriting

excellence, and foundation to help lower operational costs enabling insurers to deliver insurance

the way they want to.

Visit guidewire.com/td1 to explore how Guidewire can help you grow your business faster.

JANET NORRIS

PERSONAL LINES, DIVISIONAL MANAGER

MERCURY INSURANCE GROUP

Guidewire PolicyCenter Helps Mercury Grow Business Faster.