Leading Insurance Technology Companies Congratulate Farmers Alliance Mutual Insurance for 2009 Model Carrier of the Year Award Win

NEW YORK, March 11, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BlueWave Technology, HP Exstream, MajescoMastek and OneShield are pleased to congratulate Farmers Alliance Mutual Insurance (Farmers Alliance) for winning the distinguished Model Carrier of the Year Award from Celent, a Boston-based research and advisory firm specializing in financial services. All four technology firms were cited for their role in the effective and innovative use of technology by a carrier which ultimately helped to win this prestigious award for Farmers Alliance.

"Farmers Alliance is honored to receive the Celent Model Carrier Award," said Andy Edwardson, vice president of IT at Farmers Alliance and manager of the company's technology initiative, which was recognized with this award.

Celent's Model Carrier Awards are given annually to 20 individual carriers which are recognized for the most effective and innovative use of technology in specific areas or for specific components. Of the 20 carriers, each year only one is named Model Carrier of the Year. Farmers Alliance won the 2009 award for employing a best-of-breed approach using BlueWave Technology's PipelineClaims for claims, HP Exstream for document automation, MajescoMastek's STG Billing for billing, and OneShield's Dragon for policy management.

"Celent is pleased to recognize Farmers Alliance Mutual Insurance as the Model Carrier of the Year for 2009," says Craig Weber, senior vice president of Celent's insurance practice. "Among many excellent nominations this year, Farmers Alliance was selected for demonstrating improvements in its business through use of IT best practices."

Farmers Alliance's technology modernization initiative, called the "iFAMI" project, was designed to address the changing demands on the insurance industry. By utilizing a SOA architecture, Farmers Alliance can respond to market changes faster, understand the company's book of business better, increase automation and efficiencies, and reduce turnaround time for future implementations. Project objectives for this technology initiative were to deliver critical business applications and integrate new and existing applications along with other external service providers. Integration continues to be realized through a standards-based messaging infrastructure deployed as middleware in a best-of-breed environment.

About BlueWave Technology

BlueWave Technology, developer of PipelineClaims, a state-of-the-art, browser-based, technology solution that combines core claims administration capabilities with business process management (BPM) and configurable business rules, offers rich functionality to help property/casualty insurance companies, third-party administrators (TPAs), and self-insured organizations improve customer service, enhance profitability, drive down claim costs and increase customer retention rates through modern technology with the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO) available in the insurance industry today. For more information about BlueWave Technology or PipelineClaims, please contact Renata Bell at 808-227-5043 or [email protected].

About Celent

Celent is a research and advisory firm dedicated to helping financial institutions formulate comprehensive business and technology strategies. Celent publishes reports identifying trends and best practices in financial services technology and conducts consulting engagements for financial institutions looking to use technology to enhance existing business processes or launch new business strategies. With a team of internationally experienced analysts, Celent is uniquely positioned to offer strategic advice and market insights on a global basis. Celent is a member of the Oliver Wyman Group, which is part of Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC). For more information about Celent or the report, "Core Claims Systems Vendors 2008," please contact Dana Lautin at 646-364-8254 or [email protected].

About Farmers Alliance

Farmers Alliance began in 1888 in the small, rural community of McPherson, Kansas. Started as a fire insurance company to share the mutual exposures of local farmers in the county, Farmers Alliance has grown to an organization that writes more than $120 million of premium across a nine-state region. Insurance products are oriented to a predominately rural market, and more than 50% of the total business is written in the farm insurance area. A wide range of personal and commercial products are offered as well. As a regional insurer, Farmers Alliance is represented by more than 750 Independent Insurance Agencies in the following states: Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota. For more information visit http://www.fami.com.

About MajescoMastek

MajescoMastek is a global technology solutions provider that is focused on providing solutions that deliver business impact and transform enterprises. Our proven track record of successful global implementations has resulted in enduring client relationships across insurance, financial services and government sectors. MajescoMastek's offerings of software, services, people and processes uniquely differentiates us from a pure play product vendor who may not have the architecture and solutioning expertise; a pure play consulting firm which may lack implementation skills and ready to render product platforms; and a pure IT services firm which may lack domain expertise. Our clients span the spectrum and range from global firms to niche players. For more information, visit http://www.majescomastek.com.

About OneShield

OneShield, Inc. is the developer of OneShield Dragon(r), an innovatively modern, rules and tools-based, data-driven policy management suite for personal, commercial and specialty lines of the property/casualty insurance market. Dragon's highly configurable tool-set enables customers to configure all components by combining a defined standards-based business process with web-enabled components, including underwriting, rating, workflow, compliance management, CRM and policy administration so insurance organizations can deploy new products faster and manage existing business better. For additional information, visit www.oneshield.com.

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