Lumley New Zealand Deploys Guidewire ClaimCenter

Rollout began in the initial line of business in March 2009 and proceeded with enhancement releases every four to six weeks on average, bringing new product functionality online for the Lumley NZ claims team, without suffering any production outages.

Lumley New Zealand (Lumley NZ), the underwriting subsidiary of Wesfarmers Insurance (Perth, Australia) has successfully deployed Guidewire (San Mateo, Calif.) ClaimCenter as the first step in its core systems modernization project, according to a joint statement from the vendor and Wesfarmers.

The Aukland-based insurer has deployed ClaimCenter for all lines of business, according to the statement. Rollout began in the initial line of business in March 2009 and proceeded with enhancement releases every four to six weeks on average, bringing new product functionality online for the Lumley NZ claims team, without suffering any production outages.

According to the joint statement, the benefits of the implementation so far include improved processing efficiency reducing open claims by 40 percent; single system of entry of structured data to handle all claim types — compared to three to six systems per claim in the status quo ante; 100 percent system up-time; early identification of potential fraud; and enhanced customer responsiveness.

“With ClaimCenter we are seeing significant improvements in our business, such as a 50 percent reduction in our average claims resolution times,” comments Toni Ferrier, general manager, Lumley Business Solutions, Lumley NZ. “We have been able to free up our claims handlers to proactively manage the claims process, providing better service to our customers and business partners. Our claims handlers are thoroughly enjoying using ClaimCenter.”

“The successful implementation of the ClaimCenter project and our use of agile methodology have empowered our IT team to be much more responsive in making system changes — what used to take weeks with the old systems, now takes hours,” says Brian Fair, CIO, Wesfarmers Insurance. “The IT team are excited about the contributions they are making to help our business better serve its customers, partners and brokers.”

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio