Insurance a hot market for customer service technology says Sword Ciboodle

Recent wins indicate insurers moving to invest in customer relationships

CHICAGO, IL, May 18 /PRNewswire/ - As the economic downturn bites hard in the
financial services sector, it is becoming clear that insurance companies
remain bullish on technology investment, and many are looking to deploy new
customer service technologies to position themselves for growth and to remain
competitive as the economy emerges from the recession. Leading customer
service solution provider, Sword Ciboodle, sees a growing trend towards
investment in customer service enhancement among insurers.
According to an independent report from Forrester Research, Inc., published in
March 2009, "The insurance industry is undergoing a big transformation and
much of that transformation is directed toward how insurers engage with their
customers... Insurers are inquiring about smart technology that creates the
right solutions delivered to the right customer at the right time - and that
reduce transaction costs." ("Inquiry Insights: Financial Services, Q4 2008").
The report continues, "Customer experience solutions considered mature in the
banking industry, like online account opening, bill pay, or interactive chat,
are risky innovations in insurance. Insurers are screaming for tech vendors
who can marry long-standing insurance experience with innovative thinking
about how technology can improve insurance customer experience and a host of
other business challenges."
In the past month, Sword Ciboodle has announced three new deals with insurance
companies, reflecting the increased activity seen by the company in the
insurance market of late.
"Factors including increased competition and the current economic climate are
forcing insurers to explore how they can create cost efficiencies in
processing claims and also improve the service they offer customers," said
Paul White, executive vice president, Sword Ciboodle. "The highly dynamic
nature of the insurance business means that insurance carriers can benefit
from software systems with increased agility and flexibility like ours. This
ensures that their technology infrastructure is able to keep up with the
frequent changes in their business at the pace at which their business
demands."
Following Sword Ciboodle's recent deal with motor insurance provider, Admiral
Group, Steve Webster, Admiral's IT director, stated, "We need to ensure our
business systems are optimised for changes. After going through a stringent
evaluation process, including a successful proof of concept exercise, Sword
Ciboodle has proven itself to be the best fit for what we are looking for,
with the right mix of powerful platform capabilities and strong integration
expertise."
Another Forrester report published in September 2008, "North American
Insurance IT Spending In 2008" states that "Insurance companies... have
discovered that one critical way to demonstrate competitive differentiation is
through the customer experience across all their channels."
"Providing a consistently excellent level of service regardless of what
channel the customer chooses to use has long been at the core of the Sword
Ciboodle value proposition," said White. "Our unique, process-oriented
approach to enhancing the multi-channel customer experience ensures that we
have a compelling and comprehensive CRM offering for insurers."
Sword Group acquired Sword Ciboodle in 2008, bringing with it a wealth of
experience and penetration in the insurance sector. Sword Group already cites
over 50 insurers, including major international players like Axa, Aviva and
Hiscox, as customers of its policy administration and risk aggregation
products. Collectively, Sword Ciboodle and Open Box Plus products have
contributed to the continued revenue and margin growth of the group, with the
global insurance sector as a strategic market.
"The economic downturn is placing more of a focus on the financial viability
of technology vendors, with insurance companies less inclined to take a risk
on suppliers that have attractive technology offerings but lack referenceable
customers," added White. "Our recent insurance wins with Vhi Healthcare, BGL
Group and Admiral coupled with the financial strength and insurance expertise
that we have gained through the wider Sword Group stand us in good stead to
take advantage of this."

About Sword Ciboodle

Sword Ciboodle helps improve the way large organizations interact with their
customers. The combination of award-winning, process-managed CRM software and
specialist consulting and delivery services help Sword Ciboodle's clients
achieve higher revenues from their customers and reduce operational costs.
Sword Ciboodle is consistently recognised by industry analysts as one of the
world's leading customer-centric technology providers. For more information,
please visit www.sword-ciboodle.com.

About Sword Group

Sword Group delivers high value business applications to the world's largest
companies globally.
With operations in 37 countries, Sword today employs over 2000 people and in
fiscal year ending December 2007 generated $263m in consolidated revenue.
An international leader in the delivery of Business Process Improvement
solutions, Sword's skills, infrastructure and experience help our customers
across regulated industries optimize performance, increase efficiencies and
maximize return on investment.
With flexible delivery options, including On Demand and On Premises, combined
with our extensive industry expertise, Sword provides comprehensive support to
customers across insurance & healthcare, energy, banking & finance, telecoms,
utilities, engineering & construction and government.
For more information, please visit www.sword-group.com.
SOURCE Sword ciboodle

Danny Sullivan, inmedia Public Relations Inc., Tel (UK): +44 (0) 141 404 6478,
Tel (US): +1 613 686 5657, dsullivan@inmedia.com