Industry analyst firm Novarica announced today that two longtime customers of Duck Creek Technologies, Northbridge Financial and StarStone, have been named winners of 2019 Impact Awards from the Novarica Insurance Technology Research Council, a peer community of hundreds of insurer CIOs. More than 50 Council members reviewed dozens of industry case studies from the past year to select winners for the 8th annual Impact Awards.
Northbridge Financial implemented a new core platform (using Duck Creek Policy and Rating) for its commercial businesses over five years to streamline underwriting and improve stakeholder experience. Results include a 3.4-point reduction in combined ratio (down to 95.6% from 98.2%) and a projected 25% increase in underwriting efficiency. 70% of policy renewals are now automated. The company attributes the success of this project to a strong relationship between business and IT and a focus on business problems.
“Northbridge Financial’s systems transformation is a great example of the results that insurers can achieve by embracing modern core systems,” said Matthew Josefowicz, President/CEO of Novarica and moderator of the Council.
StarStone implemented a machine learning platform (integrated with Duck Creek Policy) to identify misclassified casualty risks from portal submissions. Developed over four months and integrated in fewer than two, the models improved underwriting efficiency and loss ratios while maintaining a Net Promoter Score of 92.8%. The modular design of Duck Creek Policy allowed teams to work simultaneously on enhancements, the platform upgrade, and integration. Executive support helped secure time, funding, and resources for experimentation, learning, and redirection. The StarStone project team also pointed to the U.S. CEO’s understanding of the value of testing and incremental improvements as an important factor in their success.
“StarStone’s machine learning initiative is a great example of the immediate value that insurers are driving with artificial intelligence,” said Novarica’s Josefowicz.
“It is always a pleasure to help our customers grow and succeed through the use of our solutions,” said Michael Jackowski, CEO of Duck Creek. “Our congratulations to Northbridge and StarStone for these wins. Modernization projects are always rewarding in their own right, but to be recognized at such a high level for the quality of these undertakings is an amazing achievement.”
About the Novarica Impact Awards
The Novarica Research Council Impact Awards are the largest purely peer-juried awards in insurance technology. Council members vote annually to recognize the efforts of their peers to use technology to drive business value in digital, data/analytics, core systems, and IT operations. No vendors, consultants, journalists, or members of the Novarica team participate in the selection committee, making the Novarica Impact Awards distinctive in being a purely peer-juried award.
The Novarica Insurance Technology Research Council is a free, moderated, knowledge-sharing community of more than 300 insurer CIOs and senior executives. In addition to recognizing successful initiatives through the Impact Awards, members participate in anonymized studies and private, vendor-free events. More information at https://novarica.com/council/
About Duck Creek Technologies
Duck Creek Technologies paves a genuine path to the future for P&C insurance companies. Decades of insurance experience underpin advanced technologies specifically designed to accommodate change – allowing carriers to navigate uncertainty and capture market opportunities faster than their competitors. Duck Creek solutions are available standalone or as a full suite. All are available via Duck Creek OnDemand, the provider’s SaaS solution for the P&C insurance industry. For more information, visit www.duckcreek.com.
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Racepoint Global
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