Guidewire to Acquire FirstBest Systems
Staff Writer | August 04, 2016
Guidewire Software, a provider of software products to P&C insurers, and FirstBest Systems, a provider of an underwriting management system for P&C insurance, announce they have entered into a definitive agreement for Guidewire to acquire FirstBest.
The addition of FirstBest’s technology and people will enable the expansion of the Guidewire Insurance Platform by providing insurers in the U.S. and Canada writing complex commercial, specialty, and workers’ compensation lines greater support for their risk assessment and decision-making processes.
Insurers recognize the potential profitable growth offered by commercial lines, and are looking for technology to help them address challenges and adapt rapidly to pursue market opportunities. Commercial and specialty lines underwriters currently rely on manual processes, multiple different data sources, and disjointed systems and tools to help them evaluate and underwrite large and complex risks, and to collaborate across internal teams and with agents. They can spend a significant part of their day accessing various sources and tools simply gathering and reviewing data.
Underwriting management systems, like FirstBest UMS, complement and enhance the submission intake, risk analysis, underwriting process, and collaboration capabilities of policy administration systems. Pairing FirstBest with Guidewire PolicyCenter or other policy admin systems is a natural fit for many commercial insurers.
“Like Guidewire, FirstBest has been committed from its founding to advancing the strategic goals of P&C insurers through modern software,” says Marcus Ryu, CEO of Guidewire. “Their expertise in complex risk analysis, and the informational and workflow needs of commercial underwriters will deepen our ability to serve this vital constituency within the industry. We welcome the FirstBest team as well as their customers and partners to the Guidewire community.”
“We are excited to bring our expertise and innovative technology to Guidewire,” says John Belizaire, CEO and founder, FirstBest Systems. “Our team has been focused on delivering transformative solutions for underwriters for over a decade and we look forward to continuing to do so as part of Guidewire.”
“Adding a robust, hosted underwriting management application to complement InsuranceSuite will strengthen our support for commercial insurers,” says Neil Betteridge, vice president, Strategy, Guidewire Software. “Expanding focus on the underwriter was already a major theme on our roadmap, and we are excited to accelerate delivering on this aspect of our product strategy.”
The transaction is expected to close in approximately four weeks. Guidewire does not expect the acquisition of FirstBest to have a material impact on its financial results for fiscal year 2017.
Featured articles
- What to Expect from a Digital Experience Platform Implementation
- ITA Pro Magazine September Edition is Now Available
- It's National IT Professionals Day
- Save the Date for ITA-LIVE 2019
- OneShield Software and UrbanStat Work Together to Improve Real-Time Analytics and Risk Decision-Making
- ITA LIVE 2019 - SAVE THE DATE!
- Insurance Technology Association Announces New Editor-in-Chief
- August 2018 Edition ITA Pro Magazine is Now Available
- Enterprise Architecture in an Agile World
- Top 10 Tips for Securing Your Mobile Devices and Sensitive Client Data
- Industry Insight: 4 Global Insurance Trends in Digital, Data, Content Services and Security
- Diving Deeper into Prioritizing Your Strategic Digital investments
- Why Content Rules
- How Mass Personalization Will Open the Small Business Benefits Market
- At Year End 2017, Will Your Organization Be Protected from Cyber Risks?
- Do Insurance Bots Dream of Mitigating Risk?
- Conditioned to Respond
- Managing & Mobilizing Insurance Data in a Connected World
- Race to the Finish Line
- New Tools, New Opportunities in Claims
- ITA LIVE: Reaching Insurance Industry Crossroads
- Advice to Insurance IT Leaders: Keep Your Eye on the Ball
- New Date, Venue for ITA LIVE 2017
- Guidewire Makes Major Push to Small and Midtier Market by Acquiring ISCS
- Insurance Disruption is Happening Right Now
- Insurity Adds Strategic Investment Partner, General Atlantic
- Beyond Transformation: The Convergence of Finance, Risk, and Actuarial Functions
- The Rapid Evolution of Consumer Protection Regulation
- Talent Hunt: Finding, Attracting, Retaining Top People
- Insurers Flexing Their Distribution Models
- Technology Driving Disruption in Insurance
- Fear of ‘Next Bubble’ Challenges Life, Annuity Carriers
- Technology Allows Commercial Lines Insurers to Stand Out
- Single Sign-on Viewed as Biggest Tech Challenge for Agencies
- ISCS Observes 20th Anniversary; Scurto Predicts Major Changes Ahead
- Policyholders and Their First Impressions
- Progressive Making Progress on the UBI Front
- High and Dry: Insurers Search for Disaster Recovery Plans
- Insurers Sign The (Un)Dotted Line
- Reflections of a Retired Insurance CIO
- Mobile Device Management Just One Answer to BYOD Issue
- Lessons from GEICO and Progressive on Winning the Critical Buying Stage
- You Are a Target for a Cyber Attack
- Web-based Systems are the Next Evolution in Claims Technology
- Gaining a “Wow” Experience from Web Users
- Time to Shift from Business/IT Alignment to Business/IT Alliance
- Healthcare Insurers Changing to Consumer Model
- Organization is the Key for Selecting Software Vendors
- Analysts Expound on the Needs of the Mid-tier Insurance Market
- Finding the Cure for Obamacare’s Website
- New Software Solutions Benefit Insurers on the Inside and Outside
- Products, Market Impede Investment in Systems for Life Insurers
- Combatting Cyber Threats: Predict, Prevent, Persist
- The Future of Telematics Heads Beyond Insurance
- The Shame in Cyber Security Lapses
- Building Policy Administration Systems for the Future
- Insurers Look Into The Eyes of Their Policyholders
- It’s a New Dawn for the ITA
INSURANCE IT NEWS
- 91% of Insurers Have DevOps Initiatives Underway or Planned, Says Novarica
- Sapiens DECISION Expands Insurance Technology Offering
- EIS Group’s Digital Insurance Platform Deployed for Guardian’s Direct to Consumer Business
- Harford Mutual Insurance Company Selects Sapiens’ North American P&C Insurance Platform
- Insurers Starting to Shift IT Spending to Digital and Data from Core, Says 11th Annual Novarica Report
- Paladin Cyber Launches Comprehensive Cyber-Risk Program for Small and Mid-Sized U.S. Businesses
- Catholic Life Insurance in Production with Sapiens’ E-Application Solution LifeApply for Life and Annuities
- Kaboodle Announces New Partner Alliance with SPLICE Software
ELECTRONIC CHAT
The Email Chat is a regular feature of the ITA Pro magazine and website. We send a series of questions to an insurance IT leader in search of thought-provoking responses on important issues facing the insurance industry.
-
Electronic Chat – Shashaanka Ashili
Robert Regis Hyle
Being a hardware engineer with an entrepreneurial fellowship in the surgical device space, he decided to invent a solution to reduce the incidence of... READ MORE
WEB EVENTS
ITA is pleased to present the 2014 Webinar Series. We have many topics for you to choose from and attendance is open to all ITA members. The webinar topics are current and exciting — ranging from predictive analytics to telematics and will focus on the direction insurance carriers need to follow for the future. All webinars are presented by insurance IT professionals along with some of the leading analysts and consultants in the field. There is no cost to attend an ITA webinar. For more information and to register for the webinar, click the “title” of the webinar below.
BLOGS AND COLUMNS
-
Save the Date for ITA-LIVE 2019
Bill Sinn
The Insurance Technology Association is pleased to announce that ITA Live 2019 is scheduled for May 5-7, 2019 at the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort and... READ MORE
-
Enterprise Architecture in an Agile World
Rob McCurley
It has become a common refrain over the past few years to view the practice of enterprise architecture (EA) as something that time has passed by, much... READ MORE
only online
-
Down Market Opportunities Beckon Benefits Insurers
You have surely heard it said that small businesses are the growth engine for America. Today, the phrase has a special ring to it for benefits... READ MORE
-
Technology at the Heart of Change in Insurance
With stagnant growth and lingering low interest rates, the life insurance industry faces a challenging future... READ MORE
-
Got Policies? IVANS Service Helps Feed Commercial Lines Producers
Finding insurance carriers willing to write commercial lines risks has always been a challenge for producers... READ MORE
-
Technology Changes Coming Faster than Ever for Insurers
As Guidewire Software prepares for the start of Connections, its 11th annual user conference that begins on Nov. 2, Brian Desmond, chief marketing... READ MORE
Vendor Views
-
Consider Tackling Insurance Fraud Detection Before Claims Automation
Fraud detection has always been and will continue to be a critical component of claims management. Learning the lessons from current claims Straight... READ MORE
- Vendor Views
Partner News
-
Distracted Living: What It Means for Insurance
One important trend in society over the past decade is our increasing ability to create and consume a seemingly unlimited amount of digital content... READ MORE
- Partner News