Systems/Enterprise:

INSURANCE COMPANY SELECTS WEBIFY SOA APPLICATIONS

Webify Solutions, a provider of On Demand Applications for the insurance industry, announced that Fireman's Fund Insurance Company (FFIC), a provider of property and casualty insurance products, has selected and begun to implement Webify's service oriented business applications. The solution enables process and transaction integration among diverse business systems within Fireman's Fund while providing the right information to agents at the right time through both portal and direct machine connections. Fireman's Fund selected Webify Solutions and IBM to improve agencies' ease of doing business with FFIC, leverage ACORD specifications, and drive down operational costs through straight-through processing.

Bob Eichenberger, vice president of Front Office Applications at Fireman's Fund, said, "Easy access for our agent community is a high priority for Fireman's Fund. The combined Webify and IBM solution will give us just that -- a best-of-breed platform and a comprehensive suite of service oriented business applications that automate key agent transactions and processes."

The solution will provide direct connections to FFIC's agent automation vendors, such as Applied Systems and AMS, for "once and done" processing of billing inquiry transactions through IVANS. When the system is fully "live" in December of this year, the company will be able to process billing information for all of its 59 operating offices in 26 states. FFIC will then begin installing additional applications from Webify's Insurance Transaction Applications suite.

Webify's Insurance On Demand Applications suite includes ACORD-compliant enterprise applications that automate key front office processes of insurance carriers. These packaged, on demand applications provide real-time connectivity and incremental cross-company process integration in a single, flexible and scalable software solution.

"We are delighted to have the opportunity to provide Fireman's Fund with next generation applications for agent relationship management," said Manoj Saxena, CEO of Webify Solutions. "As one of our charter customers, they are a progressive company that understands the importance of a service oriented architecture (SOA) and on demand applications to support their long-term goal of delivering premium service in a highly competitive and tightly regulated insurance industry."

"IBM was pleased to team with Webify in providing the Fireman's Fund ecosystem with an advanced solution for managing its needs," said Doug Brown, vice president of industry solutions marketing for the IBM Software Group. "IBM's middleware solutions for insurance provide the software infrastructure that, when combined with our partners applications such as Webify, provide solutions of lasting value to our customers."

Webify's insurance transaction applications are designed to address a significant market opportunity. According to Gartner's vice president and research director, Kimberly Harris, "One of the top issues at most property & casualty insurers is legacy system preservation and migration. Because of the cost embedded in these systems, there is a need to leverage their investment. At the same time, there are business requirements -- from partner and supply chain transactions to regulatory compliance -- that must be managed within these companies. Web services and a SOA-based infrastructure enable a people and process-centric approach, collaborative processes and legacy preservation."