IBM And TiG Form Global Strategic Alliance to Deliver E-Business Insurance Solutions

Business Wire, May 3, 2000

Business & Technology Editors, Insurance Writers

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. and LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 3, 2000

Next Generation Solutions Assist

with Lowering Claims Management Costs

The Innovation Group (TiG) Corporation and IBM (NYSE:IBM) today announced a global strategic alliance to deliver next generation e-business solutions which can help major insurers reduce costs of claims management by up to 20 percent. Claims management can represent up to 70 percent of an insurer's cost of doing business, according to industry estimates.

IBM and TiG have teamed up to provide a range of e-business solutions tailored to the needs of large enterprise insurers. The two companies will jointly market and sell a range of solutions from TiG's innovative product set worldwide through a dedicated sales and support team.

The first of these is TiG's Innovative Claims Management (ICM), an industry breakthrough believed to be at least 18 months ahead of the market?s current technology. The ICM solution, currently deployed at several large insurers, enables proactive management of the whole claims environment with benefits for the insurer, its service providers and its customers. It is designed to help insurers achieve significant efficiencies in the cost management area while improving the effectiveness of the claims process.

Under the terms of the agreement, TiG will base its offerings on IBM's Application Framework for e-business, an open standards-based technology roadmap that helps developers integrate Internet technologies with traditional information technology. ICM will achieve optimum efficiency by moving to the IBM Application Framework for e-business components, including DB2(r) Universal Database, MQSeries(r) messaging middleware and WebSphere(r) application server family, as well as IBM S/390(r) enterprise servers and IBM Netfinity(r) servers. IBM?s Global Services will provide a full breadth of integration and transformation services for customers of the new strategic alliance, and technical competency centers will be established in the United States and United Kingdom to support the client base.

TiG is working with Royal & SunAlliance (RSA), one of the U.K.'s largest insurers, to define the solution for use in RSA's U.K. personal lines business. Peter Tillotson, Head of Change at RSA, said: "When you're looking to move the business forward, it's nice to find a solution that offers so much potential benefit both to customers and to RSA. And when the solution comes from a company that so obviously shares our philosophy, and commitment to success, it's a very powerful combination."

This alliance, arranged through IBM's PartnerWorld for Developers program, is another example of the strategic alliances that IBM is creating with leading independent software vendors (ISVs), based on a developer alliance initiative announced in November 1999. IBM is committed to providing its financial services customers with comprehensive, innovative and integrated solutions, and works with business partners for best-of-breed offerings. IBM's goal is to team up with a select number of leading financial services ISVs to help companies in this industry address their business challenges and transform themselves into e-businesses. Under the PartnerWorld for Developers initiative, ISVs gain access to new customers and revenue opportunities through IBM?s extensive marketing, sales, and solutions resources. At the same time, ISVs commit to lead with IBM?s middleware, server platforms and services.

"In the insurance industry, shrinking costs is the key to increased profitability, particularly for such cost-intensive, yet vital, processes as claims management," said Andy Williams, general manager, IBM Global Insurance Industry. "This unprecedented offering will help insurance executives around the globe improve their bottom line while enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of service."

TiG selected IBM DB2 Universal Database as the most prevalent database software in the insurance industry. TiG entered into this new relationship with IBM to realize the benefits that only the world?s largest end-to-end information technology company could provide.

"IBM enhances our ability to create e-business applications for the world?s major insurance companies due to their premier line of servers, middleware, services delivery, market prevalence and customer access at the executive level," Rob Terry, chairman and CEO, TiG.

About IBM

IBM is the world's largest information technology (IT) company and provider of IT services, as well as a preeminent technology partner to the world's financial services industry. Working directly with its financial services customers, IBM helps them become more competitive through the innovative deployment of high-impact solutions. These solutions comprise the full range of IBM capabilities including consulting, software, hardware, research and services. Additional information can be found at www.ibm.com/solutions/financialservices.> About The Innovation Group (TiG)