IFG Companies Implements the FirstBest Underwriting Management System

BEDFORD, Mass., Jan. 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- FirstBest^® Systems, Inc., provider of insurance software solutions for U.S. and global insurers, today announced that IFG Companies has successfully implemented the FirstBest Underwriting Management System (FirstBest UMS^®) for its property and inland marine lines of business. IFG implemented FirstBest UMS using UMS Express^™ — an accelerated implementation methodology from FirstBest — in order to quickly scale and gain value in the underwriting process.

"Our existing underwriting environment constrained our response times, but with FirstBest UMS now in place, our underwriters are able to access a real-time queue of their accounts, and efficiently address status and in-flight priority items," said Raymond Karrenbauer, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, IFG Companies. "The company has always been focused on technology-enabled innovation and transformation, and especially with a new team of underwriters joining IFG, we seized a timely opportunity to modernize underwriting workflows with the introduction of FirstBest UMS."

As IFG contemplated market expansion into new products and lines of business, the company wanted a robust and user-friendly technology solution to help manage underwriting workflows and risk evaluation processes. IFG's goal was to establish a common underwriting platform across the property insurance businesses, providing underwriters with complete data access in support of their underwriting risk selection and file reviews.

FirstBest UMS provides IFG with a level of visibility and workflow management not previously achieved with existing systems. With underwriting data and documents centralized and available in UMS, underwriters are able to increase efficiency and speed of execution — by eliminating the constraints of having to navigate multiple systems and sources for data. Through a single UMS electronic file and view of the risk, IFG underwriters can collaborate rapidly on submissions and capture all correspondences (e-mail, notes, attachments, and more) within the context of the submission and account. 

"During the evaluation process, we always had a clear understanding of the differences between the underwriting functionality available in our existing policy administration systems and the new capabilities we would gain with the implementation of a dedicated underwriting workstation solution," said Christopher Lewis, Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer, IFG Companies. "Having successfully integrated FirstBest UMS with our existing business technology environment, we have enabled our organization with mission-critical analytics, tools, and processes to underwrite property business more effectively and efficiently."  

To ensure a successful implementation, IFG took an incremental approach to building out the UMS solution for its newly created property unit. FirstBest UMS was also seamlessly integrated with several of IFG's systems and data sources, including the company's clearance and pricing platforms, document management system, and core policy administration system.

"FirstBest congratulates IFG on its successful implementation," noted John Belizaire, CEO and Founder, FirstBest Systems. "Due to the synergies of our respective teams, the UMS Express implementation experience was collaborative, well-organized, and fast. We look forward to supporting IFG's underwriting team as it leverages a modern underwriting workstation to optimize underwriting proficiency, responsiveness, and flexibility."

About IFG Companies
Founded in 1985, IFG Companies is one of the largest privately held insurance groups in the United States. A forward-thinking company, IFG Companies is focused on the changes in the industry and technology. Investing in the future positions IFG for continued success within a constantly evolving marketplace. Relying on strong producer relationships and a knowledgeable team of underwriters, IFG provides property-casualty insurance on both an admitted and non-admitted basis.

About FirstBest
FirstBest^® Systems is the leading provider of insurance software solutions and services that help U.S. and global insurance companies improve underwriting profitability, scale their business, and achieve high service levels with agents and brokers. The patented and proven FirstBest Suite^™ powers the underwriting operations of leading commercial property/casualty, specialty, and workers' compensation insurers. Processing more than $22 billion in quotes and featuring a modular set of applications, the FirstBest Suite incorporates a dedicated underwriting workstation (FirstBest UMS^®), mobile underwriting (FirstBest UMS Mobile^™), an agent/broker portal (FirstBest Agent^™), data integration/upload applications (FirstBest AppReader^™), configuration tools (FirstBest Business Analyst Studio^™), and an integrated analytics engine (FirstBest Insight^™). Leading American and international insurers, such as Amerisafe, Atlas, Axis, Beacon Mutual, Chesapeake Employers, ICW Group, Markel, OneBeacon, QBE, PacificComp, and XL-Catlin rely on FirstBest to improve underwriting efficiencies and quality. FirstBest helps insurers institutionalize risk-assessment knowledge and best practices. With FirstBest solutions, all constituents in the underwriting process can rapidly collaborate to quote, bind, and issue business on a single, data-powered, real-time platform. To learn more, call 1-781-863-6000, or visit www.FirstBest.com.

FirstBest and FirstBest UMS are registered trademarks of FirstBest Systems, Inc. FirstBest Front Office Suite, FirstBest Suite, FirstBest Dynamic Synchronization, FirstBest UMS Mobile, FirstBest Business Analyst (BA) Studio, FirstBest Agent, FirstBest AppReader, and FirstBest Insight are trademarks of FirstBest Systems.

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SOURCE FirstBest Systems, Inc.