OREANDA-NEWS. Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE: GWRE), a provider of software products to Property/Casualty insurers and Smart Communications™, a division of Thunderhead and a leader in enterprise customer communications have today announced that they have expanded their long-standing alliance. The companies will collaborate more deeply and better enable integrated enterprise customer communications processes between Smart Communications™ and Guidewire ClaimCenter®, PolicyCenter, and BillingCenter. Guidewire has also become a reseller of Smart Communications™.

The new agreement will provide unique cloud capabilities and pre-built integration for Property/Casualty insurers in North America desiring an all-in-one approach. They can now license the Smart Communications™ solution directly from Guidewire as part of their core system purchase. Guidewire’s Customer Support team will provide the first line of technical support for the Smart Communications™ solution purchased from Guidewire. This will result in a streamlined approach when licensing, implementing, integrating and maintaining Smart Communications™.

Smart Communications™ helps insurers create, manage and deliver multi-channel personalized customer communications enhancing the customer journey and providing the insurer with a faster, more cost-effective and integrated approach to Customer Communications Management. Smart Communications™ is an enterprise-class SaaS solution, available as cloud or hybrid cloud deployments. Thunderhead has been a valued Guidewire PartnerConnect™ Solution partner since 2009 with 45 insurers running Smart Communications™ with one or more of their Guidewire systems today.

“Changing policyholder expectations requires that customer communications be a strategic capability that complements core system functionality. Smart Communications™ has focused innovation in this area,” said Brian Vannoni, vice president and business owner, Core Processing, Guidewire Software. “We are pleased to extend our relationship and provide another option that supplements the good work being done by all of our Ready for Guidewire customer communication management Solution partners.”

“Guidewire is a strong proponent of providing its customers with flexible options,” said Karlyn Carnahan, research director, Insurance, Celent. “This agreement fills a gap for those insurers who want more of an all-in-one approach when it comes to buying document production and core systems, while still offering the flexibility of choice to others.”

“We are thrilled to learn of this enhanced partnership between Guidewire and Thunderhead. In 2015, Pekin Insurance made a significant investment in these two companies’ products as we look to re-engineer our core processing systems and our customer communication tools over the next four years,” said Todd A. Clark, CPCU, senior vice president and chief operating officer, Property & Casualty, Pekin Insurance. “It is a significant endeavor but one we are confident in, and the deeper product and relationship collaboration between Guidewire and Thunderhead will enable our teams to work smarter and improve the overall experience for our agents and policyholders.”

An integrated Guidewire / Smart Communications™ approach to the customer communications process will enable insurers to:

  • Reduce implementation timeframes and costs through continued improvements to the Smart Communications™ pre-built integrations for ClaimCenter, PolicyCenter, and BillingCenter;
  • Choose the deployment option that best meets their needs and reduces their overall ownership costs;
  • Streamline the solution purchasing, installations, and support processes with single points of contact; and
  • Benefit from a shared vision that ensures Guidewire InsuranceSuite™ and Thunderhead Smart Communications™ solutions work well together now and into the future.

“We are excited to extend our relationship with Guidewire in this way. Our shared vision and increased collaboration further establish our market leadership in the sector. Smart Communications™ is the industry leading solution for customer communications and will help insurers maintain their competitive advantage,” said George Wright, senior vice president and general manager, Smart Communications™, a division of Thunderhead. “Our integration with Guidewire, our cloud capabilities and continued innovation will take customer communications for the insurance market to the next level.”