Accenture and SAP Launch Pre-Configured Premium Billing and Payments Solution for Midsize Insurers
Pre-Configured Solution Can Significantly Reduce Implementation Time and Help Insurers Improve Cash Flow Management
ANAHEIM, Calif., June 5, 2005 – Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and SAP America, Inc., a subsidiary of SAP AG (NYSE: SAP), today launched a pre-configured premium billing and payments management solution designed to help midsize insurers reduce the costs, risks and time it takes to implement new premium billing and payments systems. The announcement was made at the Insurance Accounting and Systems Association (IASA) Annual Conference, being held in Anaheim, Calif., June 5 - 8, and follows Accenture and SAP’s recent launch of a pre-configured claims management solution for midsize insurers.
The new offering is comprised of Accenture-built business content, core system interfaces, hardware/software platforms and implementation services, which are embedded in SAP’s insurance billing and payments application, SAP® Insurance Collections and Disbursements. The pre-configured solution can help reduce the number of days it takes insurers to implement and configure a new billing and payments management system by an average of 30 to 50 percent.
Combining Accenture’s insurance billing and payments best practices and systems integration experience with SAP’s software expertise, the pre-configured solution is designed to help midsize insurers to more quickly deploy a premium billing and payments system to help better manage cash flow with one integrated platform. Insurers benefit by implementing the pre-configured solution to help improve cash flow, increase transparency, reduce premium write-offs and automate financial processing with one single system for all insurance-related financial transactions, such as premium receivables and claims payables.
SAP Insurance Collections and Disbursements is one of SAP’s core insurance solutions designed to meet the complex billing and payments requirements of the insurance industry. SAP’s billing and payments solution has been designed to act as the central receivable and payable hub for the entire insurance life cycle. This includes account-level billing for multiple policies (across multiple policy systems), account current/agency bill/broker bill/direct billing, EFT/credit card/lock box billing and annuity transactions, as well as managing payments for commissions, claims and vendors. With more than 70 clients worldwide, SAP Insurance Collections and Disbursements is quickly becoming a standard in the insurance industry for insurance payables and receivables.
“The pre-configured solution can help midsize insurers transform and automate their billing and payments systems to increase working capital and improve transparency of financial processes, which is particularly important given increased regulatory scrutiny and compliance issues,” said Colin Davies, managing partner of Accenture’s Financial Services Solution Group in North America. “The launch of this offering marks the second insurance solution released for midsize insurers by Accenture and SAP in less than one month and exemplifies the commitment of the strategic alliance between Accenture and SAP in insurance.”
“The SAP and Accenture alliance was designed to enable insurers of all sizes to benefit from state-of-the-art insurance solutions,” said Peter MacPherson, vice president, Insurance business unit, SAP America, Inc. ”Through this offering, midsize insurers now have access to a premium billing and disbursements solution where they can improve cash flow, reduce costs and increase customer satisfaction.”
Accenture and SAP Alliance in Financial Services
In September 2003, SAP and Accenture entered into an alliance for the Financial Services industry, offering banks and insurance providers a more effective and low risk way to transform and grow their business, through a dedicated joint development team and sales channel, integrated solutions and services, innovative delivery, and highly efficient implementation. With a 30-year history and experience delivering innovative business solutions for more than 1000 leading financial services institutions, Accenture and SAP work together to help insurers and banks achieve the vision of an open standards-based architecture.
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Committed to delivering innovation, Accenture collaborates with its clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With deep industry and business process expertise, broad global resources and a proven track record, Accenture can mobilize the right people, skills and technologies to help clients improve their performance. With more than 110,000 people in 48 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$13.67 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2004. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software solutions*. Today, more than 27,000 customers in over 120 countries run more than 91,500 installations of SAP® software—from distinct solutions addressing the needs of small and midsize businesses to enterprise-scale suite solutions for global organizations. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver™ platform to drive innovation and enable business change, mySAP™ Business Suite solutions are helping enterprises around the world improve customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. SAP industry solutions support the unique business processes of more than 25 industry segments, including high tech, retail, public sector and financial services. With subsidiaries in more than 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol “SAP.” (Additional information at www.sap.com.)
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Marykate Reese
+1 (917) 452 8738