QBE Europe Signs Outsourcing Deal With Accenture

QBE Europe, a subsidiary of QBE Insurance Group (Sydney, Australia), has signed a five-year agreement for Accenture (New York) to provide application development and maintenance (AD/M) services. The parties to the deal did not disclose financial terms.

Under the terms of the agreement, QBE will outsource to Accenture its AD/M activities to help accelerate its current business transformation program, which is designed to improve service levels to brokers, customers and underwriters, and enhance operational efficiency, according to an Accenture press release. Accenture will also provide a change management program to QBE to help accelerate the roll-out of the insurer's core underwriting systems, improve its underwriting front-end and simplify its IT infrastructure.

"It is critical that we look to shape our business to maximize the opportunities that a rising market will present," says Steven Burns, CEO, QBE European Operations. "Our decision to partner with Accenture will help fulfill our strategic need to rationalize the platforms supporting our underwriting and product delivery and to simplify our legacy IT estate for future growth and acquisitions."

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