Seven vendors dominate the European market for general insurance policy administration systems
London, New York and Boston 15th April 2010 Sword Group, global software solutions company, is delighted to announce that its Policy Administration System (PAS), Open Co+ (Sword Intech), has been cited in a report published by advisory firm Gartner Inc. as a leader in European general insurance with 39 live installations, across 20 customers in 5 countries.
The Gartner research, undertaken by Juergen Weiss and Stephen Forte is the first if its kind in Europe, reflecting the increasing interest in the PAS market. It addresses the needs of general insurers who are investigating replacement or consolidation of their legacy policy administration applications in a market that is still regarded by Gartner as ‘fragmented’. The report provides business and IT managers with a comprehensive overview of the software vendor market with a specific focus on availability, usability and performance of policy administration systems.
With the second largest number of installations in Europe, Sword Intech software was cited by Gartner in the strongest matrix for both customers and countries present when plotting vendor PAS presence dominance. The report acknowledges that Sword Intech is one of the few vendors who can “demonstrate a sufficient number of customer installations in Europe”. In addition to a firm foothold in Europe, Gartner identifies the strength of Sword Intech’s offer as:
• Configuration of the screens and workflows is metadata-driven (not coded)
With carriers seeking faster product innovation cycles, the speed with which the system can change is key. Being metadata driven facilitates this speed of change.
• It offers reportable audit trails for all transactions
With the industry coming under increasing regulatory scrutiny, having IT systems that can provide a comprehensive audit capability is imperative.
• Usability is good – consistent use of mouse clicks for additional screens and navigation. For example, a user right-clicks on a field (to see the details of a broker) and a new window pops up displaying the information so the user does not have to leave the screen he or she is currently on
Good usability minimises the training costs for employees and speed with which end users become productive.
In a highly active and evolving market, Sword Intech sees the European PAS market as a massive opportunity. The Gartner report serves to confirm that Sword is well placed to satisfy general insurers who are looking to replace or consolidate their legacy systems and who are looking for one vendor to support both personal and commercial lines of business.
In addition to European capability, Sword Intech is already recognised as a dominant force in the general Global Insurance Market and in the Lloyd’s and London Markets with leading edge Open Co+ and Open Box+ technology. These mature solutions, developed over 30 years are already chosen by the world’s leading insurers and reinsurers to deliver comprehensive integrated insurance administration systems. Open Co+ is designed to support the general global insurance market and is in use by some of the world’s leading non-life insurers. It offers a comprehensive solution for property and casualty organisations that write or administer any classes of domestic or multi-national insurance business. Open Box+ is Sword Intech’s ‘flagship’ insurance application, specifically designed for the Lloyd’s Market and provides a comprehensive enterprise-wide solution that can be deployed to support both domestic and international multi-company operations. With Open Box+, Sword Intech is well placed to satisfy the growing number of multinational companies setting up Lloyd’s Managing Agents.
Eugene Brien, Business Unit Director, Sword Intech, is delighted with the research findings: “it is great news that Gartner recognised the importance of this market in Europe and to be identified as one of the top PAS vendors is a significant endorsement for us”.
Source: Gartner Industry Research ID Number: G00173886 (Juergen Weiss, Stephen Forte) (extracts quoted in italics) Publication date 9th February
ABOUT SWORD GROUP
Sword Group delivers high value business applications to the world’s largest companies globally. With operations in 37 countries, Sword today employs over 1700 people and generates more than €200m in consolidated revenue. Sword Group provides comprehensive support to customers across insurance and healthcare, energy, banking and finance, telecoms, utilities, engineering and construction and public sector.