Hartland, Wis. —
The acquisition is designed to give AQS broader carrier-service options, as the company adds the capabilities of the AscendantOne Policy Management Suite and the associated rate-management capabilities to its current policy administration offerings for property/casualty insurers. As part of the transaction, Hartland, Wis.-based AQS will obtain the tools used to maintain the ISO Rating Service software. ISO retains ownership of ISO Rating Service and will maintain and support the advisory loss costs, rules and forms contained in ISO Rating Service.
"Until this point in our history, AQS has provided commercial lines administration products and services for carriers whose preference was to source the lion's share of product implementation work, development, support and maintenance to us," says Dave Kerford, AQS's CEO. "Our industry refers to that as the 'full-service' offering. This acquisition allows us to also offer carriers a 'self-service' option, enabling them to have the level of control they desire, when they want it, and to have the option to reach self-sufficiency more quickly. The acquisition also extends the AQS suite of offerings to include systems and services in support of carriers who offer personal lines insurance products. Many carriers, including several of our customers, have a need for the 'enterprise solution set' covering both commercial and personal lines, which we now offer."
The acquisition is another step in the fulfillment of AQS's strategic intent to extend its delivery and deployment options to include everything from full service to self-sufficiency and to cover both commercial and personal lines products. Carriers and customers opting for either service model will be able to leverage AQS's depth of insurance domain expertise, including those that prefer the relative independence of self-service tools. The AQS Advantage system will continue to be offered and supported as the product associated with the full-service model. The newly acquired self-service system will be sold as AQS Access.
"At ISO, we want to focus on the delivery of ISO advisory content through the ISO Rating Service platform," says Scott Stephenson, COO at ISO, Jersey City, N.J. "We chose AQS to take over the AscendantOne policy system because of the company's technical expertise, insurance domain knowledge, and reputation for excellent customer service. In conjunction with the transaction, we wanted our policy administration customers to be in good hands for the long term. We're pleased to have AQS as a strategic ally."
Source: Market Wire
