SunGard/Sherwood on Track

Although the August acquisition of Sherwood International by SunGard (Wayne, Pa.) is more than six months old, insurance clients have felt little impact as SunGard has kept Sherwood's development, sales and marketing teams largely intact, according to Michael Bain, EVP, sales and marketing, for SunGard Insurance Systems.

"Sherwood is being kept as a separate unit for now," Bain says. "There are consolidation and integration possibilities that we are investigating, but Sherwood is very complementary to SunGard's products."

SunGard's products are out-of-the-box solutions while Sherwood's applications require customization, he says. "For instance, SunGard's COMPASS administration product is a solution that uses components," he says. "Sherwood's products, such as Amarta FastStart and Frontier, are product frameworks that need customization. Different insurers have different requirements and this allows us to meet their needs."

However, Bain adds that SunGard is working on integrating Amarta FastStart with some of SunGard's products. "The idea is to provide a packaged product that combines the best of the technology," he says. "The new integrated product should be ready sometime in 2004."

In terms of clients, there is very little overlap in the U.S. and most existing clients will not notice any change in service. Bain says most of the overlap in the client base is in Europe and South Africa. Also, SunGard gains a significant presence in the reinsurance marketplace with Sherwood's ProCede reinsurance administration system.

Greg MacSweeney is editorial director of InformationWeek Financial Services, whose brands include Wall Street & Technology, Bank Systems & Technology, Advanced Trading, and Insurance & Technology. View Full Bio