Guidewire, Mitchell Partner to Deliver Integrated Claims Workflow

Mitchell andGuidewire Software, Inc. announced their strategic alliance to co-develop an advanced level of integration between Guidewire’s core claims management system and Mitchell’s expert adjusting and workflow solutions in North America. The resulting unified claims environment will help insurers optimize claims workflow and improve decisions across the end-to-end claims process.

Mitchell serves North American p/c insurers with claims outcome solutions for casualty claims (injury) and auto physical damage (APD). Adjusting APD claims requires managing repair estimates and repair shops, while casualty claims require review of medical bills and ensuring that treatments are legitimate and are paid at negotiated rates. Guidewire serves insurers globally with core system software integral to the claims management lifecycle. While Mitchell’s and Guidewire’s systems have been integrated on multiple implementations, claims professionals must still work in these systems separately. Deeper integration of workflow and data and the creation of a unified user interface between Guidewire’s claims management system (Guidewire ClaimCenter) and Mitchell’s expert adjusting solutions is expected to simplify the process.

“This is an important announcement. A deeper integration of Guidewire’s ClaimCenter with Mitchell’s suite of estimation and cost control solutions has the potential to deliver significant value to insurers,” said Donald Light, director, Americas, Property/Casualty Practice, Celent. “Both companies’ increasing emphasis on data management, business intelligence, and analytics also makes this an initiative to watch.”

A unified, single-system view of the claims environment will enable insurers to:

• Improve the efficiency and user experience of claims professionals;
• Enhance overall service for policyholders;
• Make better informed decisions;
• Reduce the cost and complexity of their technology landscape; and
• Streamline the claims workflow for more accurate, consistent, and cost-effective claims management.

“Our mutual customers have expressed their wish for deeper integrations between our products and this relationship is the beginning of our commitment to them,” said Alex Sun, president and chief executive officer, Mitchell. “I am inspired by the potential of what our work together can mean for the industry, as both companies share a vision to accelerate the pace of innovation for the P/C industry. Both organizations have great respect for the other’s accomplishments and capabilities and have spent the better part of a year building to this point – with meaningful resources dedicated to this powerful and unique partnership.”

“Guidewire and Mitchell see an opportunity to advance the state of the art in claims management, to the clear benefit of both our insurer customers and their policyholders,” said Marcus Ryu, chief executive officer, Guidewire Software. “Our development teams are collaborating to optimize the user experience and leverage the data exchange between our respective products. This is new territory beyond the integration work we have undertaken to date at individual customer implementations, and we believe it will yield improved efficiency for adjusters, increased accuracy of claims outcomes, and better service for policyholders.”

According to Stephen Applebaum, senior analyst at Aite Group, “The strategic alliance between Guidewire and Mitchell is an interesting one. Mitchell is the third place market share vendor in P/C market share for auto physical damage claims solutions but is the market leader and has a virtually exclusive market position in casualty claims solutions and analytics, including workers compensation. Aite Group feel this is an important deal in terms of its ability to transform the claims management process for P&C carriers and may signal the dawn of a new age in claims management efficiency.”

Source: Mitchell, Guidewire Software Inc., Aite Group