Industry Leaders Discuss Key Trends and Impact of Transformation, Innovation and Collaboration

FARMINGTON, CT--(Marketwire - Jul 21, 2011) - The Innovation Group plc (Innovation Group), a global provider of business process outsourcing (BPO) and software solutions to the insurance, fleet, automotive and property industries, today announced the company held the inaugural Customer Advisory Board (CAB) meeting in Chicago, Illinois with senior executives representing twelve leading insurance companies using Innovation Group's software and BPO solutions. The meeting highlighted the need for transformation, innovation and collaboration and the significant ongoing impact strategically and competitively of using both software and BPO solutions.

The CAB, a gathering of senior executives from both business and IT, provided invaluable insight into emerging business trends, as well as real-world experience with Innovation Group's solutions, and "voice of the customer" input. The meeting focused on the industry "new normal," discussing how companies must proactively assess and define approaches to the fast-paced business, distribution, customer, outsourcing and technology changes to create competitive, yet sustainable, customer and business value.

Featured speaker, Karlyn Carnahan, principal, Insurance, at Novarica, discussed industry results, external trends, current activities, future trends and business implications. Carnahan highlighted how the economic changes of the last few years have been a catalyst for change. The changes she drew attention to included: how insurers are using technology investments to add new business capabilities, replace core systems, improve underwriting with analytics, and simplifying process with portals; the need for ongoing, sustainable innovation; the increasing importance of data, and most importantly, the criticality of collaboration with customers, agents and solution providers.

"An overriding trend and key to competitive positioning in the industry is collaboration, whether with customers, agents or partners, because the business is changing so fast and insurers do not have all the ideas or solutions to respond to those changes," said Carnahan. "Throughout the meeting, an overriding theme by the insurers was the partnership approach with Innovation Group, from jointly developing new solutions, offering delivery options, ability to change delivery options and a commitment to continuous innovation. The CAB participants are representative of how insurers and solution providers can collaborate and work differently to compete in the new normal."

All the presentations highlighted the business impact of collaboration, transformation and innovation.

• "Online Auto Estimation": A recently announced partner with Innovation Group, Instant Estimator highlighted that if the top 20 carriers used the solution for 40 percent of their claims processing, they would save $1.8B. Instant Estimator can provide an automated auto damage estimate within five minutes, focusing on the 65 percent of claims with exterior damage.
• "Business Transformation Underpinned by Core System Replacement": Presented by Mountain West Farm Bureau/Western Computer Services Inc (WCSI), this session discussed how the implementation of a "best-of-breed" suite has underpinned the business transformation initiative. An early win with analytics created confidence and momentum for the project. The experience and relationship with Innovation Group has developed an enhanced partnership to offer a hosting option for small insurers together.
• Raising the Competitive Bar by The Main Street America Group. As a super regional property/casualty insurance carrier, Main Street America competes against both national and regional insurers. Its challenge is to keep the local touch of a regional carrier while also providing similar products and programs as large-scale nationals for its distribution force of independent agent-customers, as well as its policyholders. Main Street America's claims model includes utilizing strategic partnerships, like Innovation Group, to provide products, scale, and help them provide superior service while "doing more with less."
• "Transformation is a Journey with Ongoing Business Value": Presented by American Modern Insurance Group, this session discussed the company's implementation of their policy business transformation and how it has grown in use from 70 users to more than 20,000 in just over 8 years, providing direct access to agents. Annually, they have updated the cost / benefit case and return on investment (ROI), which has shown continued business value and growth in ROI, helping to fund other initiatives. They noted implementation of new core systems is just the first step of transformation. An ongoing strong partnership, support and involvement is key to building greater ROI over the long-term.

Innovation Group North America CEOs for Software and BPO, Euan King and Bill Langley respectively, kicked off the meeting with an overview highlighting the company's strategy and growth, underpinned by a commitment to long-term partnerships and collaboration with customers and key partners.

"A core tenet of our business is being market driven, which is why this meeting is so valuable to gather ideas and input from our customers for our solutions," said King and Langley. "The combination of our software, BPO services and supply chain provide insurers access, scale and expertise to address the increasing lack of knowledgeable resources and enabling insurers of all sizes to compete like a national-based insurer."

Attendees were encouraged to network with peers, and the event successfully created an opportunity to collaborate and share best practices with other customers while providing an open forum for dialog with Innovation Group executives.

About The Innovation Group plc:
The Innovation Group plc (LSE: TIG.L) is a global provider of business process outsourcing and software solutions to the insurance, fleet, automotive and property 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, CNA, 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