Austin Mutual Insurance Company Selects Innovation Group's Innovation Auto

ROLLING MEADOWS, IL--(Marketwire - Oct 24, 2012) -  The Innovation Group plc (Innovation Group) today announced Austin Mutual Insurance Company (Austin Mutual) has selected Innovation Auto to provide end-to-end auto claims and repair services for the company's personal and commercial auto business across nine states. Innovation Auto includes services such as Innovation Managed Repair Network (iMRN™), customer shop of choice, managed independent adjusters, total loss and salvage management, rental management, desk review and adverse subrogation.

"We are extremely pleased to be partnering with Innovation Group to enhance and strengthen our customer experience for auto claims," said Kendall Woodward, claims manager for Austin Mutual. "Their breadth of services and processes combined with best practices and detailed reporting ensure estimate accuracy and will enable Austin Mutual to enhance the entire claims process with consistency to provide our policyholders with options and a superior claim experience keeping with the Austin Mutual Customer Experience (ACE)."

By using all the services of Innovation Auto, Austin Mutual will be able to achieve optimal value across the entire claims process, helping to enhance service, transform the claims process, prepare for growth and position the company as "future ready." As a part of the services, Austin Mutual will receive detailed reporting for their claims, providing cycle time, cost and service details. 

"We are excited to have Austin Mutual as a customer and partner, and look forward to working closely together to innovatively transform Austin Mutual's traditional claims process using our Innovation Auto services," said Bill Langley, CEO North America BPO. "With an increased focus on customer excellence, claims as a service differentiator, and driving out more value in the claims process by insurers, Austin Mutual's strategic use of Innovation Auto will help strengthen their position as a leader in delivering a positive customer experience by providing access to best practice services and supply chain buying power like national insurers." 

As an integral part of Innovation Auto, iMRN has nearly 3,000 repair shops that meet strict guidelines relating to facilities, equipment and training as well as performance goals for customer service, cycle time, quality estimating and repairs. Additionally, iMRN offers nationwide coverage with a choice of shops, consistency and a lifetime warranty on the work performed. More importantly for Austin Mutual and their customers, it provides access to the most trusted, reliable body shops while benefiting from the buying power of a large network provider, ensuring they get the same level of service.

Innovation Auto has been recently recognized with a 2012 Novarica ACE ranking of 94 and a 2012 RAVE Award, highlighting Innovation Group's customer service with a ranking of 96. Furthermore, Innovation Group's business services have been recognized in Novarica, Celent and Gartner research reports as the leader in providing the broadest set of business process services with one of the largest customer bases in the U.S. market. 

About The Innovation Group plc:
The Innovation Group plc (LSE: TIG.L) is a global provider of business process outsourcing and technology solutions to the insurance, fleet and automotive industries. Innovation Group provides contact centres, repair networks, process management, supply chain and technology operations and decision support analytics to support accident management, repair and estimation and claims management services. Innovation Group has over 800 global clients including AXA Insurance, RSA, Encompass, Esurance, Hertz, Main Street America Group, American Modern Insurance Group, LeasePlan, The Ford Motor Company, Aviva, Toyota and Zurich. The Group processes more than 4 million claims per year with 20 per cent direct claims cost saving achieved. Innovation Group's 2,300 people are located in the United Kingdom, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Spain and United States. www.innovation-group.com