(Photo credit: Max Smith, Megapixie.)

As part of  Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Company ’s (TMNF) Business Renovation Project the major Japanese general insurer has deployed Guidewire ClaimCenter as its claims management system.

TMNF considered a number of package software systems as well as the option to build in-house before selecting ClaimCenter in early 2009, according to a Guidewire statement. The Foster City, Calif.-based vendor reports that it won out over other options the carrier considered owing to its system’s ability to reduce development time and costs, based on its track record overseas, its functionality set and configurability.

The first phase of TMNF’s ClaimCenter implementation project covered the development of a claims management system for Automobile Insurance and Compulsory Automobile Liability Insurance (CALI), executed using the Agile development methodology for the first time at the carrier. TMNF’s Business Processes and IT departments assembled in a location in Tokyo to enable the close and constant communication required by the development methodology. The project involved over 100 people, including both TMNF developers and a Guidewire technical advisory team.

TMNF was able to deploy ClaimCenter at about 30 percent less than an in-house-built solution would have cost, owing to standard processes built into ClaimCenter, its highly flexible system architecture, and the fact that Guidewire was able to incorporate functionality specific to the Japanese General Insurance business that was not yet included in the product at that time, the Guidewire statement asserts.