Montana State Fund Selects Guidewire ClaimCenter as Claims System

Montana State Fund (MSF), the state's largest workers' compensation insurer, and Guidewire Software®, a leading provider of solutions to property and casualty and workers' compensation insurers, today announced that Montana State Fund has selected Guidewire ClaimCenter® as its new claims system. The implementation of the new system will be led by HCL Technologies, a global provider of information technology services to the insurance industry.

Montana State Fund (MSF) provides Montana employers and their employees with competitively priced coverage and service no matter what challenges face the insurance industry. In order to better serve the citizens of the state, MSF is continuously seeking to improve efficiency in its core operations and take advantage of modern technology to improve customer service. After a comprehensive review of available claims processing systems, MSF selected Guidewire ClaimCenter as the platform for innovation and increased efficiency in its claims organization.

"Guidewire ClaimCenter gives us the power and flexibility we need to deliver world-class claims service to the employers and employees of our state," said Harold Williams, chief information officer, Montana State Fund. "ClaimCenter will enable us to increase collaboration with our partners, deliver more information over the Internet, and ensure best-practice handling of every claim."

The selection of ClaimCenter was motivated by the system's support for Montana State Fund's key claims initiatives:

• Extending the claims processing environment to policyholders, agents, partners, providers, and employees

• Systematically enforcing claims management best practices across all policy types, business relationships, and regulatory requirements

• Providing a common electronic reporting solution to all relevant governing and regulatory bodies

• Delivering an enhanced claims toolset to increase adjuster productivity and reduce manual processes

• Streamlining work processes to increase efficiency throughout the claims organization

"We are proud to be serving the citizens of Montana through our selection by Montana State Fund," said John Raguin, chief executive officer, Guidewire Software. "We look forward to a long, collaborative relationship based on our shared commitment to operational excellence and superior customer service."

HCL Technologies, an approved implementation partner of Guidewire Software, will lead the implementation activities for the new claims solution. "We look forward to leveraging our partnership with Guidewire to deliver to Montana State Fund their next-generation claims solution in a timely and cost effective fashion," states Bill Macdonald, Global Insurance Director, HCL Technologies.

Guidewire ClaimCenter enables innovation in claims, using flexible business rules to optimize the claim process and automatically monitoring all operations to catch exceptions and eliminate errors. Claims executives can define and enforce their preferred claim handling practices, and can refine those practices over time. ClaimCenter is available both as a standalone claims system and as a set of individual components to complement any insurer's existing systems. ClaimCenter's modern architecture, web client, XML-based configuration, and web services support ensure lower total cost of ownership in any environment.