Insurance Industry Leaders Gather for Business and Technology Trends Update at OneShield Client Conference

Adoption of "As-a-Service" technologies and analytics for enhancing the customer experience among factors driving insurers to digitize core systems

MARLBOROUGH, Mass., Dec. 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- OneShield Software hosted clients and partners from across North America in Charleston, South Carolina in late November at the OneShield Client Conference 2015. The annual summit brings together clients and partners of OneShield, a leading provider of core business software and rapid application development solutions for the financial services sector.

"This annual gathering comes at a milestone moment in OneShield's history as we begin to expand our position in markets beyond property and casualty to the broader financial services sector," said OneShield President and CEO Glenn Anschutz. "Leveraging our initial success in the Life Insurance market, we are poised to continue to grow our suite of offerings. By collaborating with clients and partners we will develop point solutions for multiple markets, delivered in the cloud and in an As-a-Service capacity to meet varying global financial service market needs."

Trend: "AAS" Ready to Gain Traction

The rapidly growing adoption of "As-a-Service" (AAS) technology and services as a replacement for legacy and onsite core systems software in the insurance sector was among the biggest "buzz" moments for delegates early in the conference.

AAS is often associated with cloud computing-based solutions allowing users to access third party-managed software applications on-demand over the Internet, as opposed to investing in and maintaining on-premises core systems. In the AAS keynote delivered by Barbra Sheridan McGann, Executive Vice President, Business Operations HfS Research, delegates learned two out of three insurance carriers are ready to outsource complex processes and four out of five want "digitized" core services.

With agile mid-market carriers among the first to seize AAS opportunities, HfS's research indicates that  actuarial and customer-facing applications will be affected initially by the trend, resulting in cost and efficiency gains in areas such as new business development and policy and claims administration. "By 2017," McGann says, "we expect to see traction in the global insurance sector with on-demand, business-outcome-focused use of software and services, what we at HfS call the "As-a-Service Economy."

Trend: The "Next-Gen" Insurer

Karen Furtado, a partner in consulting firm Strategy Meets Action (SMA), gave delegates a glimpse of the next-generation insurer swiftly taking form in many markets. "Reimagining the business of insurance" will not only require carriers to swiftly adopt new technologies, but also pay close attention to changing customer needs and external market forces or influencers changing the demand for insurance products.

For example, auto insurance will be dramatically impacted by Internet-connected cars, the sharing economy (e.g., Uber) and increasingly autonomous vehicles.

OneShield Software: Continued Growth and Financial Services Market Expansion

Leveraging its acclaimed application development platform, and the capability to rapidly automate and digitize complex core business processes, OneShield announced its intention to expand its extensive portfolio of products beyond the insurance sector to other financial services markets.

OneShield Software will leverage their extensive market experience to create standalone, subscription priced and cloud-based AAS solutions for the broader financial services markets.

Not losing ground in its principal market, OneShield was pleased to share how the company remains focused on expanding its client base, evolving industry partnerships and continuing to innovate on its insurance portfolio of products. A key achievement in the past year was the launch of OneShield Billing and OneShield Claims, for OneShield Enterprise, the company's flagship product.  OneShield Claims, specifically, "completes-the-suite" of OneShield's enterprise platform using its open architecture and "Power of One" philosophy – one platform, one toolset, one common object model.

OneShield Client Recognition Ceremony

Six insurance industry leaders were honored at the conference for achieving significant milestones in a variety of categories of innovation, including:

• Trailblazer Recipient: Advantage Insurance Holdings Ltd. of Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
• 10-Year Milestone Recipient: The Hanover Insurance Group of Worcester, MA
• Innovation Recipient: Erie Insurance of Erie, PA.,
• Strategic Product Use Recipient: Travelers Canada of Toronto, ON
• Largest Volume Recipient: Switzerland-based Allied World Assurance Company
• Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Achievement Recipient: Privilege Underwriters Reciprocal Exchange (PURE) of White Plains, NY

Partnering for Excellence

As OneShield continues to build their partner alliances, their demonstrated commitment to these business relationships was illustrated by the record number of market partners who participated in the conference, including:

• Inforce Technologies
• MFX
• NIIT Technologies
• NTT DATA
• Premium Consulting
• Xpertdoc Technologies

Together with OneShield employees, clients and partners alike collaborated in sessions that aimed to fulfill the conference theme of "Partnering for Excellence."

Defining the OneShield Roadmap: Driven by Customer Needs

In addition to working sessions hosted by OneShield throughout the conference, key delegates also participated in OneShield's Technology Leadership Group (TLG) 2.0. Working with the OneShield Management Team, delegates offered input for future product investments, articulated priorities for product enhancements, and discussed the near and long-term product and technology vision for OneShield Software.

INTERESTED IN AN INTERVIEW? CONTACT:

Janice Merkley-BurtSenior Director, Global Corporate Communications
OneShield Software – OneShield.com
M: 416.399.2725 | E: jmburt@oneshield.com

About OneShield Software

OneShield Software delivers core business software solutions to the broader financial services markets specializing in applications for the global P&C and General Insurance industry. Our portfolio of standalone, subscription and cloud-based software products includes enterprise class policy management, billing, claims, rating, product configuration, business intelligence and analytics solutions that leverage a tool based open architecture and single data model platform to streamline your business. OneShield Software automates and simplifies the complexities of core systems with targeted solutions, seamless upgrades, collaborative implementations, and lower total cost of ownership.

With its corporate headquarters in Marlborough, MA and offices in Australia, Canada and India, OneShield Software has a combined 44 products in production across all commercial, personal and specialty lines of business. To learn more, visit oneshield.com.

OneShield and OneShield Insurance Software are registered trademarks of OneShield, Inc. Other capitalized terms used herein are also protected marks of OneShield, Inc. Copyright 2013 - 2015 by OneShield, Inc. All rights reserved.

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