Meet CAA Insurance Co.

Business Benefits

• Reduced overall sales and services processing time by 50%
• Increased underwriting straight-through processing by 30%
• Reduced 3-week training time for new employees to 3-5 days
• Increased auto policy sales by 30%

The Story

CAA Insurance Co. is a provider of auto and property insurance to clients in Ontario and the Maritimes. CAA Insurance is part of the Canadian Automobile Association South Central Ontario (CAA SCO), the largest CAA club in Canada, offering its more than 1.8 million members roadside assistance, travel, and insurance.

Since its foundation in 1974, CAA Insurance has successfully maintained a culture of innovation and continuous improvement tied to meeting the ever-changing needs of its customers. For example, in 2012 CAA Insurance’s business transformation project saw the replacement of its legacy systems, which included more than nine system integrations and the creation of a complete data warehouse solution in less than 14 months, for all lines of business, with Guidewire InsuranceSuite.

“Since all of the systems speak the same language, provide the same user experience, and have a unified look and feel, it enables seamless integration and enhancement,” said Matthew Turack, Group President of CAA Insurance.

As its platform for rating, underwriting and policy administration, claims management, and billing, use of InsuranceSuite facilitated a 50% reduction in overall sales and services processing time and a 30% increase in straight-through processing for underwriting. In the first nine months after going live, CAA made 14 product and rate changes and 142 changes and enhancements in total. CAA has also reduced the training time for new employees from three weeks to 3-5 days. These efficiencies contributed to the insurer’s ability to expand to several new provinces in fewer than three months per province, a project that would have previously taken years.

“Guidewire enables us to go through process improvement methodologies and implement those processes using the systems,” Turack said. “It’s a tool that supports customer engagement and customer information.”

Along the way, CAA Insurance applied its continuous improvement philosophy when, in 2013, it used Guidewire ClaimCenter to help its customers during the second-largest catastrophe claims event in Canada’s history: a localized flood followed by massive sewer backup, resulting in close to $1 billion in losses.

Today, winds of continuous improvement continue to push CAA Insurance forward with a first-ever product offering in Canada: CAA MyPace pay-as-you-drive insurance. Using Guidewire PolicyCenter and BillingCenter to support customer servicing, the line of business, CAA  tested and had it live in six months, and it has resulted in a 30% increase in auto policy sales.

CAA received a 2019 Guidewire Innovation Award for the MyPace offering. “If we didn't have Guidewire, we definitely would not have been able to build MyPace,” Turack said. “It really is part of the foundation that lets us innovate.”