NJM Insurance Group Deploys Guidewire ClaimCenter

New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Company (NJM), the largest automobile and workers’ compensation insurer in New Jersey, and Guidewire Software®, a leading global provider of solutions to property casualty insurers, today announced that NJM has deployed Guidewire ClaimCenter® as its new claims system. ClaimCenter is now assisting NJM in adjusting claims for its personal and commercial auto and homeowner’s lines of business. NJM is currently extending ClaimCenter to its workers’ compensation line and improving claims financials capabilities for all lines of business. NJM’s annual written premiums are approximately $1.5 billion; the carrier writes auto, homeowners and workers’ compensation insurance and has earned a 15 percent market share in the highly competitive New Jersey personal auto insurance market.

Known for returning substantial dividends to policyholders every year since 1918, NJM’s “It’s all about policyholders” philosophy has driven its high levels of policyholder service, which have resulted in an average 96.7% of NJM’s personal auto policyholders opting to renew their policies each year over the past five years.

NJM believes that excellence in claims is fundamental to maintaining superior policyholder service. The carrier has undertaken a multi-year, enterprise-wide re-engineering effort to continuously enhance policyholder service by improving business processes in tandem with a move to modern technology. As a key part of this effort, NJM sought a new claims solution to support its current volume of 200,000 claims annually, while positioning it for the future. NJM selected Guidewire ClaimCenter, a scalable and flexible Web-based claims handling system. ClaimCenter was implemented and is in use by over 750 NJM insurance professionals today.

“The first place to make a positive impression in claims handling is at the time of the loss report. ClaimCenter has enabled us to significantly improve our First Notice of Loss (FNOL) service levels and process,” said Michael O’Neil, vice president, general claims, NJM Insurance Group. “ClaimCenter’s intuitive loss screens and automated claim assignment functionality enables us to start adjusting the claim immediately upon loss notification, improving our claims service levels and saving us time and money. The latter ultimately gets returned to our policyholders as dividends.”

With ClaimCenter, NJM gains:

• Real-time claim assignment during FNOL intake;

• A “single source of truth” electronic claim file which combines the information, automated workflows, and task diaries that enable adjusters to focus on timely, service sensitive, and cost effective claims processing;

• Real-time management visibility into claim files and operations, with automated exception escalation and claim review flags;

• Ability to provide an even higher level of claims service to policyholders and claimants; and

• Combined operational- and technological-flexibility to support evolving business needs and growth.

“ClaimCenter is helping us minimize ‘IT-resource leakage’,” said Michael Carey, vice president, information technology, NJM Insurance Group. “With ClaimCenter, our IT professionals can focus on providing the functionality enhancements our business users require instead of merely maintaining our older, limited technology platforms. This is a significant benefit for our policyholders and our business overall.”

“We congratulate NJM Insurance Group, on their successful ClaimCenter implementation,” said John Raguin, chief executive officer, Guidewire Software. “We look forward to working with them on future project phases as they continue to transform their business capabilities.”

Guidewire ClaimCenter is a leading end-to-end claims system for property/casualty insurance. ClaimCenter’s flexible business rules enable claims organizations to optimize and monitor the claim process. Claims executives can define, enforce, and continually refine their preferred claim handling practices. In addition, a modern technology architecture, providing 100% web client, and web services interface enable lower total cost of ownership in any environment.