Who's Buying What

WEB-BASED BILLING SYSTEM

The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA), insurer of last resort for windstorm and hail coverage in the coastal counties of Texas, has signed with San Mateo, Calif.-based Guidewire Software Inc. to use its BillingCenter to deploy direct bill functionality to automate policy renewal billing and agency bill functionality to better manage agent commissions.

The Web-based BillingCenter will replace Austin, Texas-based TWIA's existing billing capabilities, which are currently provided by the company's policy administration system.

"Separating the billing functionality from our policy administration system will provide us with the foundation to better tailor our billing operations and focus our efforts on providing the best possible service to our policyholders and agents," says Susan Renshaw, CFO, Texas Windstorm.

SOA-BASED RATING ENGINE

Beazley Group, a London-based global specialist insurance business, has selected the DecisionMaker Rating Enterprise from Honolulu-based Decision Research (DRC) to perform rating and analysis for Beazley's U.S. specialty lines business.

DRC's DecisionMaker Rating Enterprise is a SOA-based rating engine designed to enable business users to model and manage rate plans. The suite integrates all the features of DecisionMaker Rating, Analyzer and Assistant products to deliver a comprehensive solution for management, and roll out of rate programs as well as analysis of current books of business, the company says.

"DecisionMaker Rating gives us a callable engine in which we can model, build, deploy and manage the many rate plans we need for the U.S. market," says Richard Williams, program manager for Beazley Group. "It should help enable our actuaries and underwriting managers to react quickly to changes with minimal IT resources."

GRUPO NACIONAL/IBM OUTSOURCING AGREEMENT

Mexico City-based Grupo Nacional Provincial (GNP) has signed a five-year contract with IBM, with two optional extension years for infrastructure and application outsourcing services, the companies report.

IBM has been hired to simplify and consolidate GNP's information technology infrastructure, making it easier to manage. GNP also will implement new processes and tools to help the internal application development group be more productive, and generate less error-prone applications.

IBM will use Tivoli software for server monitoring and administration, and Rational software for application management, development and maintenance.

For application outsourcing, IBM will consolidate more than 700 applications, and will be the only point of contact, allowing GNP to focus on its core business and the strategic impact of IT.

IBM was selected over incumbent competition because of its services methodology, industry expertise, delivery capabilities, and ability to manage different critical processes, GNP says. As a result of this project, GNP anticipates significant savings on IT operating costs, transformation and modernization of its current environment and compliance with service levels objectives.

BILLING AND ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE SYSTEM

Omaha, Neb.-based Catholic Mutual Group (CMG) has inked a deal with MajescoMastek, the U.S. subsidiary of global technology solutions provider Mastek Ltd., to use its STG Billing and Accounts Receivable system.

CMG provides risk management and other services to 125 dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States and Canada. The nature of CMG's business required a billing system with configuration capability to meet the company's billing requirements, the companies say.

"The functionality that the STG Billing solution offers fits well with our business needs and technology initiative, and gives us a comprehensive solution that will meet our current and future requirements," says Mary Ellen Freyermuth, CMG director of management information systems.

(c) 2009 Insurance Networking News and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Core systems Policy adminstration
MORE FROM DIGITAL INSURANCE