CORE INSURANCE, INSURANCE TECHNOLOGY
Globenewswire | May 22, 2023
Applied Systems® today announced that VP Custom Insurance Solutions has selected Applied Digital Agency to digitally transform their business and customer service models. The agency will leverage Applied Digital Agency to connect the digital roundtrip of insurance and automate day to day operations to increase staff productivity and enable their ambitious growth agenda beyond California.
“As a woman-owned business in a male-dominated field, we’re excited to make a name for ourselves with our forward-thinking approach,” said Ashlynne Vega, Co-Owner, VP Custom Insurance Solutions. “The insurance industry continues to become more tech-focused, so agencies need to keep up or risk getting left behind. Partnering with Applied will elevate our agency and help us stay ahead of the curve.”
Applied’s Digital Agency solution consists of a foundational management system, online customer self-service and mobile technology, commercial lines application digitization and automation, and insurer connectivity, all hosted in the cloud. The fully integrated solution enables agencies to create higher-value business transactions and deliver superior customer experiences throughout the entire insurance lifecycle. By leveraging integrated applications that enable agencies to manage their entire business and eliminate duplicative work typically caused by multiple, disparate systems, digital agencies operate more efficiently, improve customer service, and accelerate growth and profitability across all lines of business.
“Growth-minded agencies are smartly turning to technology more and more to modernize their sales and marketing efforts while automating low value tasks,” said Anupam Gupta, Chief Product Officer, Applied Systems. “Applied’s Digital Agency software will enable VP Custom Insurance Solutions to simply their staff’s daily tasks and make the customer lifecycle – from prospecting to quote, bind, service, and renewals – more modern at each touchpoint.”
About Applied Systems
Applied Systems is the leading global provider of cloud-based software that powers the business of insurance. Recognized as a pioneer in insurance automation and the innovation leader, Applied is the world’s largest provider of agency and brokerage management systems, serving customers throughout the United States, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom. By automating the insurance lifecycle, Applied’s people and products enable millions of people around the world to safeguard and protect what matters most.
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CORE INSURANCE, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
PRnewswire | March 21, 2023
NSM Insurance Group, the nation's leading specialty insurance provider with more than $1.5B in premium across 25+ niche insurance programs in the U.S. and U.K., today announced the completion of its acquisition of Sequoia Reinsurance Services, LLC, IOA Re, LLC and its divisions Rockport Benefits and Insurance Resources and Auditing Services, LLC, subsidiaries of ELMC Risk Solutions, LLC ("ELMC"), a portfolio company of J.C. Flowers & Co. ("J.C. Flowers"). J.C. Flowers is a leading private investment firm dedicated to investing globally in the financial services industry.
"We're entrepreneurs at heart and we seize compelling opportunities to partner with high-performing companies with a proven track record of profitability," said Bill McKernan, President of NSM Insurance Group. "We're excited about the synergies we have with the individual teams and the significant growth potential for each business. Our team is committed, motivated and laser focused on driving the continued growth and innovation of these three businesses."
"J.C. Flowers is proud to have supported ELMC's growth over the years to include some of the most well-respected managing general underwriters in the industry," said Eric Rahe, Managing Director and Co-President of J.C. Flowers. "This is a positive outcome, and we believe these companies will continue to thrive as part of NSM."
Richard Fleder, CEO of ELMC added, "Sequoia Re, IOA Re and Rockport are remarkable MGUs with terrific management teams. We are very happy to have found a great home for them!"
The acquired businesses are industry leaders in the field of medical stop loss insurance and managed care insurance — delivering robust and innovative insurance solutions to their clients and broking partners.
"We're thrilled to join the NSM family of best-in-class insurance offerings that truly lead the way in delivering comprehensive products to our distribution partners," said John Parker, President and CEO of IOA Re. "NSM is well respected throughout the industry for building successful businesses and their unparalleled expertise, resources and capacity will help take our collective businesses to new heights."
Dan Bolgar, President and CEO of Sequoia Reinsurance Services added, "The Sequoia team is delighted to join forces with NSM. Not only is this validation of what the team has built over our short history, but we are joining a firm whose very foundation is delivery of product and consistent value to its risk partners. We know NSM can help us navigate marketplace change while we continue to enhance and innovate our product offerings."
Rockport Benefits is co-led by managing directors Amy Argeros and Heidi Herlihy, industry veterans with extensive experience in the medical stop loss industry. "We are truly energized about partnering with NSM to expand our presence in the marketplace," said Ms. Argeros and Ms. Herlihy. "As a highly-respected and reliable managing general underwriter known for delivering unparalleled service and creative stop loss solutions, we believe the future is very bright with NSM."
Over the past 32 years, NSM has developed a winning formula for building the industry's most successful and sustainable programs, consistently outperforming competitors and driving industry-leading growth and profitability over the last four years. These acquisitions complement NSM's robust portfolio of specialty insurance programs and brands for the commercial P&C industry and consumer insurance — backed by the company's state-of-the-art resources, including IT, operations, marketing, HR and finance.
About NSM Insurance Group
NSM Insurance Group is the nation's leading specialty insurance provider, exclusively focused on building successful insurance programs. For more than 30 years, NSM has been committed to delivering industry-specific insurance programs that help agents meet the unique needs of their customers and fuel market growth through innovative development, underwriting, distribution and claims expertise. The company has built more than $1.5 billion in premium across 25+ specialty insurance programs and brands in the U.S. and U.K. focused on collector cars; pets; social services and behavioral health; addiction treatment; coastal condominiums; towing and garage; trucking; sports and fitness; professional liability for contractors, architects and engineers; habitational; staffing; and workers' compensation. For more information on NSM, visit nsminc.com.
About J.C. Flowers & Co.
J.C. Flowers is a leading private investment firm dedicated to investing globally in the financial services industry. Founded in 1998, the firm has approximately $4 billion of assets under management. J.C. Flowers has offices in New York, London and Palm Beach with a 21-person investment staff who have a combined 300+ years of experience. Over its 25-year history, J.C. Flowers has invested more than $17 billion of capital in 65 portfolio companies in 18 countries across a range of industry subsectors including banking, insurance and reinsurance, securities firms, specialty finance, and services and asset management. For more information, please visit www.jcfco.com.
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RISK MANAGEMENT, INSURANCE TECHNOLOGY
Businesswire | April 11, 2023
Coalition, the world's first Active Insurance provider designed to prevent digital risk before it strikes, today introduced CoalitionAI™, a new initiative to deploy generative AI and large language models to help brokers and businesses protect themselves from cyber risk. U.S.-based brokers and businesses can now access new AI-powered education and chat features, including:
CoalitionAI Broker Copilot: Appointed brokers in the U.S. now have access to the Broker Copilot, a generative AI chatbot embedded into the Coalition broker dashboard that can answer questions about cybersecurity best practices, cyber policy coverage options, and more. The Broker Copilot is trained on publicly-available documents and resources published by Coalition for broker inquiries and education.
CoalitionAI Security Copilot: Businesses using Coalition Control™ – Coalition’s cyber risk assessment and monitoring platform – can now seek and gain details on cyber security vulnerabilities, better understand coverage contingencies, and learn about ways to resolve cyber security issues using the new Security Copilot.
“This new wave of generative AI will unequivocally change the insurance industry and transform the broker experience,” said Joshua Motta, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder at Coalition. “Our Broker Copilot and Security Copilot are just the beginning. Over time the entire Active Insurance experience – from risk selection to active security protection to active response – will all benefit from generative AI that can help reduce the impact of cyber risk.”
The CoalitionAI features released today use a combination of proprietary technology, large language modeling, and generative pre-trained transformers. Coalition plans to introduce additional AI capabilities to support its Active Insurance offerings, including Active Risk Assessment, Active Protection, and Active Response. In the coming months, Coalition brokers and Coalition Control users will gain access to additional AI-driven tools that will strengthen the quoting, underwriting, and incident response experiences.
“AI is already reshaping the cyber risk landscape,” said Tiago Henriques, Coalition’s Vice President of Security Research. “While we are applying our AI expertise to improve the broker and customer experience, we are also focused on keeping up with emerging AI-related vulnerabilities. Part of our commitment to protecting the unprotected is helping our policyholders both understand the risks and reap the benefits of new technologies.”
About Coalition
Coalition is the world's first Active Insurance provider designed to help prevent digital risk before it strikes. By combining comprehensive insurance coverage and cybersecurity tools, Coalition helps businesses manage and mitigate digital risks. Coalition offers its Active Insurance products in the U.S., U.K., and Canada through relationships with leading global insurers, as well as cyber capacity through its own carrier, Coalition Insurance Company. Coalition's Active Risk Platform provides automated security alerts, threat intelligence, expert guidance, and cybersecurity tools to help businesses worldwide remain resilient against cyber attacks. Headquartered in San Francisco, Coalition is a distributed company with a global workforce that collaborates digitally and in office hubs.
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