Stonetrust Selects FirstBest Front Office Suite with UMS Express Underwriting Workstation To Increase Agent Satisfaction and Accelerate Profitable Growth

BEDFORD, Mass., Jan. 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- FirstBest® Systems, Inc., provider of insurance software solutions for American and global insurance carriers, today announced that Stonetrust Commercial Insurance Company, a super-regional workers' compensation and employers' liability insurer, has selected and begun deployment of the FirstBest® Front Office Suite including the FirstBest UMS Express pre-configured underwriting workstation, the FirstBest Agent portal and the FirstBest AppReader agency connectivity application. With the new front office applications in use by underwriters and agents in mid-2014, Stonetrust expects to further increase agent satisfaction, transform the underwriting process and accelerate profitable growth.

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"Stonetrust selected the FirstBest Front Office Suite as a core enabler of profitable growth and exceptional customer service for our agents," said Tim Dietrich, President of Stonetrust Commercial Insurance Company.  "We were impressed with the FirstBest Front Office Suite's ability to help another insurer to more than double their book of business without increasing expenses - in just four years.  Our agents are enthusiastic as well, telling us that the FirstBest Agent portal will help them to provide better service to their customers and send more business our way."   

Stonetrust's strategic goals for the FirstBest Front Office Suite include:

• Do more business with each agent – Through an agent portal and agent upload that will enable automated clearance and risk prequalification, quick quote and a streamlined quote process for more complex risks.
• Transform the roles of underwriters with one-stop underwriting – So underwriters can spend time on risks analysis and pricing instead of paper-pushing.
• Drive growth – By increasing underwriting automation to better scale the business, pursue new accounts, and rapidly seize new opportunities.
• Achieve underwriting improvement in less time – Using the prebuilt components and rapid deployment methodology of FirstBest UMS Express.
• Integrate with policy admin and other back-end systems - Adding rich front office capabilities for underwriters and agents while integrating with, and preserving Stonetrust's investment in the CSC Point In policy admin system.

"Leading insurers such as Stonetrust are turning to modern underwriting workstations and agent portals to transform their underwriting and front operations into customer-focused, ultra-efficient, and profitable growth engines for the company," said John Belizaire, Founder and CEO of FirstBest Systems, Inc.  "Sitting in front of the policy admin and other back-end systems, these modern front office and underwriting systems empower agents and underwriters to work together in unison to rapidly submit, quote and close more of the right business."

"Our policy admin system has served us well but it was never designed to drive growth," said Sukhy Dhillon, CIO of Stonetrust Commercial Insurance.  "The FirstBest Front Office Suite will enable us to transform the way that we underwrite business and work with agents, providing new opportunities for us to drive dynamic growth.  Both the Stonetrust team and our agents were impressed with the product's ease of use, the FirstBest team's deep insurance domain knowledge, and our ability to see tangible improvements in far less time with the shortened deployment of FirstBest UMS Express.

The FirstBest Front Office Suite
The FirstBest Front Office Suite™ brings underwriting, service and agent teams together in a collaborative process that helps them to rapidly and effectively submit, evaluate, quote and close business. The Suite's modular and configurable applications include FirstBest UMS Express™, a rapidly deployed, preconfigured underwriting workstation that develops accurate risk profiles based on risk data, modeling tools, third-party data and best practices, so that underwriters can focus on analyzing the risk and delivering answers to their agents in less time.  The Suite also includes the FirstBest Agent™ portal which enables agent-underwriter collaboration and includes dynamic supplemental data, shared documents, notes, and email notifications; as well as the FirstBest AppReader™ agency connectivity application for agent and underwriter form/image conversion to ACORD XML and instant upload to carrier systems, regardless of agency management system, and without proprietary networks or transaction fees.

Agent Survey Results
As part of the planning process, Stonetrust collected feedback from a select group of agents who tested the FirstBest Agent portal:

• 100% stated that the FirstBest Agent Portal would help them to do business with Stonetrust
• 90% indicated that the FirstBest portal would help them to provide better service to their customers
• 70% of respondents stated that they would submit more business to Stonetrust
• 65% indicated that FirstBest Agent would help them to save time in marketing new business opportunities to Stonetrust
• 100% indicated they would be very likely to complete supplemental questions to gain quotes in real-time or in up to 24 hours

Stonetrust Commercial Insurance Company
Stonetrust is a Louisiana domiciled insurance company providing workers' compensation and employers' liability. The company is licensed in five states: Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas.  Stonetrust's mission is to be a professional and capable partner to policyholders and producers while providing workers' compensation coverage at competitive rates.

FirstBest Systems, Inc.
FirstBest® Systems is the leading provider of insurance software solutions that help American and international insurance companies improve underwriting profitability, scale their business and achieve high service levels with brokers, across the enterprise. The patented and proven FirstBest Front Office Suite has processed more than $12 billion in quotes and includes modular underwriting workstation, mobile underwriting, agent/broker portal, and upload applications. Leading American and international carriers such as XL Group plc, OneBeacon Insurance Group, Chesapeake Employers, Beacon Mutual, ICW Group Insurance Companies, Amerisafe, and others rely on FirstBest to improve underwriting efficiencies and quality, institutionalize knowledge and best practices, and empower everyone in the process to rapidly quote, collaborate, issue, and bind business on a single real-time platform from anywhere.  To learn more call 1-781-863-6000.

FirstBest is a registered trademark of FirstBest Systems, Inc. FirstBest Front Office Suite, FirstBest UMS, Underwriting Management System, FirstBest UMS Mobile, FirstBest Agent, FirstBest AppReader, FirstBest Academy, and FirstBest Collaborate are trademarks of FirstBest Systems, Inc.

SOURCE FirstBest Systems, Inc.