OREANDA-NEWS. May 12, 2016. AAA Carolinas, an affiliate of the AAA federation of clubs, and Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE: GWRE), a provider of software products to Property/Casualty (P/C) insurers, today announced that AAA Carolinas has selected Guidewire InsuranceSuite™ as its underwriting, rating, policy administration, billing, and claims management platform. The company has also selected Guidewire Account Management Portal for Policyholders™ and Quote and Buy Portal for Policyholders to enhance the digital experience of its customers. AAA Carolinas will be accessing these products in a private cloud, with implementation, ongoing services, and support provided by Ernst & Young LLP, a Guidewire PartnerConnect™ Consulting Premier member.

AAA Carolinas selected Guidewire’s InsuranceSuite and Digital Portals, as well as EY’s Insurance Nexus™ strategic offering, to transform how they do business and enhance their commitment to serving their agents and policyholders. The company plans to provide an integrated foundation that works together to provide a holistic experience for their users. The company will be implementing the products across all lines of business at the same time, running new business and converting their existing business onto the new systems.

“Speed-to-market is a critically important business driver for us, as aging systems kept us operating as a ‘development shop’ and unable to address agent and policyholder demands in a timely manner,” said

Jim McCafferty, president, AAA Insurance of the Carolinas. “We felt that a hosted, managed services approach would be the best one to take to enable our agents to focus on their core competency: providing our policyholders with the very best insurance and service we can offer. And with Guidewire Digital Portals being tightly integrated with InsuranceSuite, we can also easily offer self-service capabilities as an additional option to our policyholders.”

Shawn Cherry, vice president and chief information officer, AAA Carolinas, said, “We were interested in an integrated suite of products that could offer a consistent look and feel across the portfolio to our agents and employees. Guidewire InsuranceSuite and Digital Portals will enable them to be able to access one customer record across all systems and channels, providing a 360-degree view for customer relationship management.”

“We are honored that AAA Carolinas is putting their trust in EY and entering into this long-term working relationship. Our EY Insurance Nexus strategic offering will be leveraged to implement, host and manage AAA’s solution,” said Rajcan Surface, Partner, Ernst & Young LLP. “We are seeing a growing interest globally in our cloud offering and establishing similar relationships with other insurance carriers.”

Guidewire’s portfolio of products and EY’s Insurance Nexus offering will enable AAA Carolinas to:

  • Improve staff productivity by leveraging comprehensive core system functionality and enhanced user friendliness through decreased manual processes;
  • Provide deeper insight into the company’s book of business due to better business intelligence and data mining; and
  • Lower overall expense ratio.

“AAA Carolinas is continuing an industry trend towards leveraging technology and flexible deployment models in order to enhance what they do best - provide a great experience for their policyholders, agents, and employees,” said

Steve Sherry, senior vice president, Worldwide Sales, Guidewire Software. “We applaud the company’s commitment to help ensure their ability to compete in the rapidly changing insurance marketplace and we look forward to working with them and EY on this project.”

About AAA Carolinas

The American Automobile Association was founded in 1902 when there were only 23,000 motor vehicles and almost no highways in the United States. As times changed, AAA identified the public’s most pressing needs and focused on a two-fold purpose. First, to provide personal, specialized services to members such as emergency road service, travel and touring information, travel agency assistance, new car buying, insurance counseling, automotive repair, and a wide range of other services. Secondly, to work for the improvement in motoring and travel conditions in the areas of safety, highway, and legislation. AAA Carolinas, as a member of the AAA family, is headquartered in Charlotte, NC. Our organization has over 1,600 employees and a variety of positions are available in North and South Carolina. We are one of the largest and fastest growing AAA clubs and are proud to serve our customers in NC and SC.

About EY

The global EY organization is a leader in assurance, tax, transaction, legal, and advisory services. We leverage our experience, knowledge and services to help build trust and confidence in the financial markets and in economies all over the world. We are ideally equipped for this task – with well trained employees, strong teams, excellent services and outstanding client relations. Our global mission is to drive progress and make a difference by building a better working world – for our people, for our clients and for our communities.

The global EY organization refers to all member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited (EYG). Each EYG member firm is a separate legal entity and has no liability for another such entity’s acts or omissions. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information, please visit www.ey.com.

Ernst & Young LLP is a member firm serving clients in the US.

About Guidewire Software

Guidewire delivers the software that Property/Casualty (P/C) insurers need to adapt and succeed in a time of rapid industry change. We combine three elements – core processing, data and analytics, and digital engagement – into a technology platform that enhances insurers’ ability to engage and empower their customers and employees. More than 200 P/C insurers around the world have selected Guidewire. For more information, please visit www.guidewire.com. Follow us on twitter: @Guidewire_PandC.