What Does “Best-in-Class” Really Mean? Guidewire in the Aite Matrix

What Does “Best-in-Class” Really Mean? Guidewire in the Aite Matrix

Nicole Mongillo

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PolicyCenter was recently named “Best-in-Class” in the Aite Matrix: 2020 U.S. P&C Core Systems Evaluation Report. We are extremely proud of this distinction. But what, exactly, does “Best-in-Class” mean? And who cares?


It’s an important question, particularly because analyst rankings are a critical influence in insurer technology evaluations. This is a high-stakes game, and decisions about core systems, in particular, can have ramifications on the rest of the responsible team’s careers. So, let’s take this recent report and use it as an example to break down how a technology vendor might earn a lofty title like “best-in-class” and what that means for the people who use the system.


In this particular report, Aite used their proprietary framework to evaluate 14 core systems offerings on the categories of vendor stability, client strength, client services, and product features. As insurers know, data is no longer a “nice-to-have,” and Aite highlighted this, only evaluating vendors that provide third-party integrations as well as core systems functionality.

PolicyCenter Offers What Insurers Need, Consistently


As the world changes, the needs of policyholders change with it, and insurers must continue to adapt to these needs. PolicyCenter has evolved to meet those changing needs since its release and continues to do so. This is reflected in our leading score in the “Product Features” portion of the Aite matrix. The introduction of the Jutro design framework and Cyence Risk Analytics are two prime examples of this leadership – helping insurers to provide more sophisticated digital experiences and protect policyholders against emerging cyber risks are critical. We’re also enabling increasing agility for our customers. Guidewire Cloud Platform serves as a foundation for innovation well into the future, and a growing integration framework provides access to data at critical moments and ensures that the most exciting emerging technologies will work with PolicyCenter.


Our Customers Come First


Guidewire’s leading Client Strength score, among competitors who all achieved high marks, is one we’re especially proud of. It indicates performance based not on the data we provided for analysis, but on our customers’ feedback. That’s why we’re here – to help make our customers successful – so this metric is critical.


We’re proud that PolicyCenter has earned “Best-in-Class” honors in this Aite Matrix report. We are humbled that our customers so clearly shared their faith in PolicyCenter and Guidewire. We are grateful to analyst firms like Aite who work constantly to help insurers understand the vast and changing technology landscape available to support the insurance industry.


Technology is Here to Support the User

Analyst Jay Sarzen’s general recommendations for insurers in this report’s conclusion reflect the way we do things at Guidewire. While Jay had some great things to say about PolicyCenter and Guidewire in the analysis of our offering, the advice he offered to readers of this report was even more quote-worthy. “Carriers need to assess their own unique needs as they relate to core systems vendors and what they offer. There are varying degrees of evolution, and not every evolutionary change will hit every carrier,” he wrote. We couldn’t agree more.

But... don’t just take our word for it, check out the report for yourself! A copy is available in our Resource Center.

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