A partnership between Guidewire Software^® and Ward Group^® is offering the property and casualty insurance industry new assessment services for billing, claims and underwriting. The collaboration combines Guidewire’s experience with process and transformation technology with Ward Group’s benchmarking services.

“The Assessment Services from Guidewire and Ward Group effectively combine the expertise of two industry leaders and provide companies with a 360° view of key operations,” explained Ward Group President, Jeff Rieder. “This innovative approach offers a framework to measure and continuously improve claims, billing and underwriting processes.”

Using the assessment services will allow property and casualty carriers to determine how their organizational structures, staffing levels, expense amounts, operational controls and business processes compare to their peers in the industry. In addition, assessment findings can determine performance gaps, highlight operational hotspots, analyze drivers of performance, access quantitative financial and performance benchmarsks,and offer options for improvement.

“Operational excellence in insurance, as in any other industry, requires both process consistency and a willingness to compare oneself objectively to one’s peers,” said Guidewire Software’s Marcus Ryu, vice president, Strategy and Products. “This offering from Guidewire and the Ward Group objectively evaluates the health of a carrier’s core operations — for far less and with greater comparative data than a management consulting project.”