PDA SOFTWARE IN NEW HANDS

PDA Software Services, Inc., anticipates new growth opportunities as a result of its sale by Branchville, NJ-based Selective Insurance Group to global consulting and technology services company Covansys Corp. (Farmington Hills, MI) for approximately $16.5 million. The deal was announced during this week's IASA Annual Conference & Business Show in San Francisco.

Headquartered in Overland Park, KS, PDA was acquired by Selective in 1998 as part of the carrier's then-newly forming Diversified Insurance Services operation. "PDA was the outside vendor developing our new mobile claim and flood system software products, making it a good fit with Selective's insurance-related businesses and giving us the opportunity to recapture some of our development costs through outside marketing of the products," says James Coleman, executive vice president of the operation.

PDA offers FloodConnect, a Web-based product (reportedly the only one of its kind) that helps private insurers manage flood insurance business through the National Flood Insurance Program. It also offers ClaimConnect, a comprehensive claims management and administration system for P&C insurers. Additionally, PDA develops, implements and maintains systems for states required to meet federal tracking and reporting mandates of the Women, Infants & Children (WIC) program.

"PDA's capabilities provide Covansys with market leadership in an important public sector technology segment and improved business process outsourcing capabilities," says Ned C. Lautenbach, co-chairman and chief executive officer of Covansys. "PDA's capabilities will complement Covansys' strong set of solutions in the public sector industry. Clients of both companies will benefit from the depth of our combined expertise and experience. We welcome PDA's employees to the Covansys team."

While under Selective's wing, PDA enjoyed a "great relationship with a great company," and is now in the position to "walk away with some great systems we're going to re-market," says Steve Hendrix, director of sales and marketing, PDA. Nevertheless, now that the relationship has run its course, the sentiment is that "it's good to get back with an IT organization that really understands our business, our technology core competency," Hendrix adds.

Calling the sale "a win/win for all concerned," Terry Black, PDA's sales manager, says PDA will enjoy scope for expansion within Covansys' insurance vertical. "Their resources will enable us to explore additional products and services," he says.

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