The Challenge
The Solution
MONTHS TO IMPLEMENT FULL SUITE
NEW POLICIES ISSUED IN THE FIRST TWO WEEKS
UNDER-BUDGET IMPLEMENTATION
"The biggest benefit with InsuranceNow is that you don’t need a larger team or budget. And for maintenance or enhancements, it’s straightforward. It’s easy to use and train on, and it’s paired with excellent support from the Guidewire community."
Doug Benalan, Chief Information Officer
CURE Auto Insurance
Founded in 1990, CURE, initially serving New Jersey and later Pennsylvania, sought expansion into new markets while desiring more flexibility and capability from its technological infrastructure. Transitioning from an outdated legacy system, CURE adopted InsuranceNow and successfully entered the Michigan market, enabling rapid growth and operational efficiency.
The selection of Guidewire InsuranceNow was strategic, focusing on speed-to-market, scalability, data security, and cost efficiency. This cloud-based solution facilitated CURE's launch in Michigan within a remarkable six months, issuing 7,700 quotes and 900 policies in the initial two weeks, all while staying 10% under the projected budget. The flexibility and scalability of InsuranceNow, underpinned by AWS cloud architecture, proved critical for this swift and efficient implementation, even amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and potential operational disruptions.
“InsuranceNow aligns with our business growth,” said Doug Benalan, Chief Information Officer, CURE. “Also, it’s very flexible and scalable for any state expansions. With policy administration, claims, and billing along with Guidewire’s analytics offerings, we were able to set a record implementation time of six months."
Key to InsuranceNow's appeal were its prepackaged implementations for quick setup, API-based flexibility, integral third-party integrations for operational functionality (such as with LexisNexis), and robust data and analytics tools for real-time reporting and decision-making. Importantly, the platform did not demand extensive teams or budgets for maintenance and further enhancements, making it a cost-effective solution for CURE.
The adoption of Guidewire InsuranceNow has brought multiple operational benefits to CURE, including stability during power outages thanks to AWS's hyper-recovery systems and proactive support from Guidewire's team, minimizing potential disruptions.
"With our adoption of the Guidewire platform, another benefit that we didn’t have with other hosted systems is that we can bring on our own developers and engineers to program quick changes if we happen to find a quirk in the system — we can ask one of our developers to fix it."
Rebecca Shaffer, Director of Project Technology
CURE Auto Insurance
CURE's strategic choice of InsuranceNow underscores a significant push towards digital transformation in the insurance sector. The move not only expedited their entrance into Michigan but also poised them for further expansion and adaptation in the digital era, highlighting the importance of flexible, scalable, and robust cloud-based systems in modern business growth strategies.
The latest proof of agility is that CURE can now provide straight-through quote and bind for all Michigan personal injury protection policy options. The insurer used optical character recognition to scan supporting qualified health coverage, Medicaid, and Medicare to provide policies online straight through. “It is a big achievement in our digital transformation journey for CURE,” said Benalan. “Our dedication and efforts have led to this remarkable progress, enhancing our technology footprint with each release.”
“The biggest benefit with InsuranceNow is that you don’t need a larger team or budget,” said Doug Benalan, Chief Information Officer, CURE. “And for maintenance or enhancements, it’s straightforward. It’s easy to use and train on, and it’s paired with excellent support from the Guidewire community.”
