Elephant Insurance Auto Insurance Deploys Guidewire Solution for Rating, Underwriting, and Policy Administration

Guidewire PolicyCenter® is helping direct automobile insurer to increase its operational efficiencies and enhance its customer service capabilities

RICHMOND Va. and FOSTER CITY Calif. , May 03, 2013

Elephant Auto Insurance, a direct-to-consumer writer of automobile insurance, and Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE: GWRE), a provider of flexible core system software to Property/Casualty insurers, today announced that Elephant has successfully implemented Guidewire PolicyCenter® as its new underwriting and policy administration solution. Elephant is also using Guidewire Rating Management™ for more precise control and responsiveness over rating and pricing.

Elephant selected PolicyCenter to update its policy system with one that increased its customer service capabilities, enabled better underwriting risk analysis, and had the flexibility to grow with its business. Following the conclusion of a 10-month PolicyCenter implementation project, the company is now in production in all four of the states in which it does business (Illinois, Maryland, Texas, and Virginia). Elephant began the deployment with renewal processing and is now live with new business as well.

“The PolicyCenter implementation project went very smoothly,” said Heather McKee, operations manager, Elephant Auto Insurance. “We attribute the seamlessness of the project to our experience with Agile methodology and the consistency of the Guidewire systems after our successful ClaimCenter and BillingCenter projects.”

“From an IT perspective, we are very excited that PolicyCenter is now live, as it has made support easier since it shares the same platform with our ClaimCenter and BillingCenter implementations,” said Kevin Whitehouse, IT manager, Elephant Auto Insurance. “In addition, we are looking forward to the opportunities having a common platform will bring, including increased flexibility to make business changes.”

PolicyCenter is enabling Elephant to:

  • Develop and configure rating and system changes internally to better keep pace with business changes and growth;

  • Enhance operational efficiency through the automation of formerly manual tasks;

  • Standardize on a platform that promotes data integrity and seamless integration with other market solutions; and

  • Reduce its exposure to excessive risks by providing instant access to information standards and tools that allow a rapid assessment of applicant risk.

“We are happy that we are now able to leverage the power of the full suite of Guidewire systems,” said Tim MacAleese, deputy director and chief financial officer, Elephant Auto Insurance. “We are pleased with the initial benefits we are already receiving from PolicyCenter and the fact that we can now communicate with and serve our customers according to their preferences.”

“We congratulate Elephant Auto Insurance on their successful deployment of PolicyCenter, and we are pleased that they are also now a live InsuranceSuite customer,” said Alex Naddaff, vice president, Professional Services, Guidewire Software. “We admire the focus Elephant places on its customers, and we are proud to work with them to help them achieve their customer service goals.”

Guidewire PolicyCenter is a flexible underwriting and policy administration system that enables Property/Casualty insurers to grow business profitably by improving efficiency, while responding with agility to market opportunities and enhancing relationships with agents and customers. Designed to support both commercial and personal lines, PolicyCenter helps insurers streamline front and back office processes, from new business submission and quoting through policy renewals. PolicyCenter is available as a standalone system or as part of Guidewire InsuranceSuite™, and can be integrated to an insurer’s legacy systems or third party applications.