(View of downtown San Francisco, location of the Guidewire Connections 2014 annual user conference. Photo credit: Christian Mehlführer.)

Guidewire Software (Foster City, Calif.) has launched an enhanced PartnerConnect global alliance program to consolidate its network of consulting services providers, including several new regional consultancies and third-party solution providers whose products and technology enhance, extend and complement the capabilities of Guidewire products, the vendor announced at the Connections 2014 annual user conference in San Francisco.

“Bringing our system integration/consulting and solution provider programs together into one well-defined comprehensive redesigned PartnerConnect program allows us to most effectively serve the needs of our global customer base,” comments Chris Elsmore, Guidewire Software vice president, Global Alliances and Business Development. “Our well-established partner network is an integral part of our customers’ success, our growth, and Go-to-Market strategy.

The new program includes 32 PartnerConnect member providers based in more than 25 countries, including firms based in the following regions: EMEA: BearingPoint, EPAM, iGATE, Jet Infosystems and Technoserv Consulting; Asia-Pacific: B-Prost and JIEC; Americas: Cynosure.

Guidewire’s alliance partners are of two types, Consulting and Solution partners. These categories are further divided into three tiers, Premier, Advantage and Select, based on the achievements and contributions of the partners, including insurance industry expertise, number of Guidewire-certified employees, number of integration accelerators contributed and number of customer successes.

Guidewire’s PartnerConnect Consulting partners provide consulting services such as business transformation and strategy, implementation, as well as related delivery services. Currently the partners’ practices worldwide count more than 4,300 consultants who have been trained or are experienced on Guidewire products.

Solution partners provide software, technology, and data solutions as well as insurance support services. Our solution partners help drive business value by developing and delivering additional integrations, extensions, and other complementary solutions for Guidewire Software.

Benefits of the PartnerConnect program to customers include the following, according to Guidewire:

• A formal framework to ensure global consistency in the training and certification of consultants assisting Property/Casualty insurers in the implementation of Guidewire InsuranceSuite products;
• Insurer access to complementary pre-integrated technology and data solutions that can further support their business transformation initiatives;
• Regional language and local support resources; and
• A new relationship building level (Select) that allows for the onboarding and ramping up of new partners.

The full list of PartnerConnect members is as follows:

Solution partners:

Hyland/OnBase

Agencyport

LexisNexis

Mitchell

Perr&Knight

Thunderhead.com

Consulting partners:

Adaptra

B-Prost HP

BearingPoint

Business Agility

Capgemini

CastleBay Consulting

Centric Consulting

CGI

Cognizant

Cynosure

Deloitte Consulting LLP

EPAM

EY

GFT Group

HCL

IBM

IGATE

Jet Infosystems

JIEC

PwC

Sollers Consulting

Stonebridge Consulting Group

Technoserv Consulting

Tenzing

V-NEO