Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE: GWRE), a provider of software products to Property and Casualty (P&C) insurers, recently hosted its 13th annual user conference, Connections 2017, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Connections 2017 provided a forum for the Guidewire community – customers, partners, and Guidewire employees – to come together to learn, collaborate, network, and receive the latest information about Guidewire’s products.
Chief Executive Officer Marcus Ryu opened Connections 2017 by sharing Guidewire’s perspective on the P&C industry trends that are leading insurers to continuously reinvent themselves, as well as Guidewire itself, to adapt and succeed in a rapidly-changing insurance marketplace. Following Marcus’ keynote, Guidewire’s Chief Product Officer Ali Kheirolomoom, Product Strategy Director for InsuranceSuite Daniele Groves, Director of Product Management Jason McDonald, and Vice President of Business Innovation Laura Drabik continued the theme of continual re-invention by sharing Guidewire’s aspiration to provide an industry platform for P&C insurance, recapping the company’s progress over the last year, and sharing its plans for the future. On the last day of the conference, Senior Vice President of Cyence Risk Analytics Arvind Parthasarathi told Cyence’s story, focusing on the role of data listening with respect to understanding and underwriting new and emerging risks.
Four Guidewire customers presented keynotes. Kishore Ponnavolu, Executive Vice President for P&C at MetLife and President of MetLife Auto and Home, provided best practices and lessons learned from the initial rollout of MetLife Auto and Home’s MyDirect portal. Rowan Saunders, President and CEO of Economical Insurance, outlined the company’s launch of Sonnet Insurance Company – Canada’s first and only fully online insurance company – and the lessons learned from overhauling its business to keep pace with current and emerging customer expectations and deepen relations with its independent broker force. Phil Riley, Head of Business Customer Delivery at Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) New Zealand described ACC’s transformation journey and how the company was ensuring that its people, processes, technology, and information are aligned around the changing needs of its customers. Jim Korcykoski, SVP, Chief Technology and Information Security Officer, Nationwide, discussed the challenges and implications of data and analytics driving the next phase of the insurance industry’s transformation. On the final day of Connections, Motor Insurers’ Bureau, icare, and Union Mutual Insurance participated in a customer panel discussion moderated by California Casualty, where they offered their perspectives on aspects of their customer journeys, and how they are adapting and succeeding with innovative projects.
Over 120 hands-on workshops, expert panels, and educational breakout sessions were held during Connections, many involving or led by Guidewire customers. These sessions provided the opportunity for customers such as American Modern Insurance Company, Amica Mutual Insurance, Aviva Canada, The Co-operators, FRIDAY (Baloise Group), Motorists Insurance Group, Nationwide Insurance, San Cristobal Seguros, Touring Assurance, Union Mutual of Vermont, Westfield Insurance, and Workplace Safety and Insurance Board to share their experiences, lessons learned, and best practices.
Connections 2017 was sponsored by the following Guidewire PartnerConnect™ Consulting and Solution partners: Athenium; Blackcomb Consultants; Capgemini; The CastleBay Companies; CGI; Cognizant; Cynosure; Deloitte; Enterprise Rent-A-Car; EY; HCL; Hubio; IBM; ISO; ITS – Insurance Technology Services; IVANS Insurance Solutions; LexisNexis Risk Solutions; Loss Control 360; Mitchell; Octo Telematics, OnBase by Hyland; PwC; Quadient; Salesforce; Smart Communications; Sollers; Vertafore; and V-NEO – who were on hand to discuss their services/solutions with attendees. Platinum sponsors (indicated by *) participated with customers in presentations, and other sponsors moderated roundtable discussions.
Connections 2017 saw Guidewire honor the winners of its customer Innovation Awards program for the 11th consecutive year, and individuals from customer project teams were recognized with the second annual ‘Hero’ award.
“We congratulate this year’s Innovation Award winners, and individual project heroes for their extraordinary work above and beyond the call of duty,” said Brian Desmond, Chief Marketing Officer, Guidewire Software.
Desmond concluded, “Every year we are awed and inspired by the stories our customers share about how they are using Guidewire InsurancePlatform™ to increase speed to market, improve engagement with policyholders and agents and lower operating costs in a rapidly changing marketplace. We thank our customers and partners for helping to make Connections such an enjoyable and useful experience again.”