Friends First wins 'Model Insurer' Status for its FINEOS Claims Project at Celent Awards

DUBLIN --(Business Wire)--

FINEOS Corporation, the market leader in Life and Health claims management software, has today announced that its customer, Friends First has been named as a 'Model Insurer', by industry analyst Celent, in its annual Model Insurer Report. The award was made yesterday at a reception in Boston.

Friends First Life Assurance Company (Friends First) won the award for its on time, within budget deployment of FINEOS Claims which has led to significant cost base savings through operational efficiencies and also enhanced customer service for the insurer.

Celent is a leading analyst firm focusing on the application of information technology in the global insurance and financial services industry. The 'Model Insurer' Award winners are compiled in an industry report which recognises the top global technology initiatives in the insurance industry over the past year.

The individual components or technologies used by the winning model insurers are those that have helped them to improve performance and meet market demands. According to Celent, the 'Model Insurer' winners represent the way things should e done within the industry.

"Celent is pleased to present this award to Friends First," says Karen Monks, Analyst with Celent's Insurance Group and author of the report. "Among the many excellent nominations this year, Friends First exemplified best practices of improved automation and integration, improved risk management, and successful project risk management, proper development, testing, and project management."

Friends First is one of Ireland's most established Life Assurance companies with more than 200,000 customers in Ireland. Friends First is fully owned by the Dutch Insurance Group, Achmea, the largest provider of Non-life, Health and Income Protection insurance products in the Netherlands and also a leading provider of life and pensions.

Working with FINEOS, Friends First automated all stages of the claims and payment processes for its Income Protection, Hospital Cash and Critical Illness lines of business. The rules and workflow automation in the FINEOS Claims system has built in timely triggers and activities to enable a more proactive approach to claims handling and resulted in better management of back to work goals for the policy holder. It is enabling Friends First employees to focus on providing more value-add claims management for its customers.

According to Lisa Feely, Chief Operations Officer at Friends First, "We are delighted to receive this award. Friends First replaced an end of life legacy system with the market-leading solution that aligns with industry best practice. The new system assists us to deliver enhanced customer service and operational efficiency, while also ensuring we have reduced any potential risk. Reducing risk is particularly important given the introduction of European Solvency II regulations. We now have a platform that supports future developments and which allows us to continue to improve our claims service going forward."

Michael Kelly (News - Alert), CEO, FINEOS commented, "This award demonstrates best practice in the insurance industry and is the fourth year FINEOS has been included as part of the Celent Model Insurer report. We would like to congratulate our customer, Friends First, on this great achievement and also their commitment to providing the very best claims service to their customer.

"We will continue to invest in the development of FINEOS Claims with industry input to ensure we remain ahead of the curve when it comes to best practice."

About FINEOS Corporation

FINEOS is a market leading provider of core software solutions for Insurance and Government Accident Compensation Insurance. Our flagship product, FINEOS Claims, is the insurance industry's best-in-class solution for all, Life, Disability and Accident Compensation claims. Established in 1993, the company delivers innovative solutions to a global market and has customers, employees and established bases in North America, Europe, Africa and the Asia Pacific markets. For more information, visit www.FINEOS.com

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