Guidewire, AgencyPort Form Alliance

San Mateo, Calif.-based Guidewire announced on Tuesday that it has partnered with AgencyPort Insurance Solutions, a Boston-based provider of web-based property and casualty solutions, to improve the ease of doing business for independent agency distribution partners. Under the alliance, customers of Guidewire's PolicyCenter system will receive agent-friendly, real-time application upload and transaction capabilities via AgencyPort's AgencyConnect and AgencyPortal products.

"Combining the modern portal solution, agency connectivity options, automated underwriting, and real-time policy administration capabilities that a combined AgencyPort/Guidewire solution provides would represent a dramatic improvement in most carriers' ease of doing business initiatives," suggested Novarica principal analyst Chad Hersh in a Guidewire press release that announced the partnership.

According to the same release, the agreement will improve the efficiency of real-time quoting from an agency management system. In addition, Guidewire expects the deal to create a more user friendly experience by providing defaults, corrections and streamlined interviews to bridge gaps between an agency system and a carrier's specific data requirements configured in PolicyCenter.

"Increasingly property & casualty insurers recognize the need for real-time communications and transactions with agents; this alliance is a step in that direction," Priscilla Hung, vice president, Alliances and Corporate Development, Guidewire Software, said in the release.