LANHAM, Md., Nov. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Group 1 Software, Inc., a Pitney Bowes Company (NYSE: PBI), today announced that Homesite Insurance Group has received a 2006 E-Fusion award for its Business Geographics Underwriting system, which uses Group 1 Software's GeoStan™ geocoding technology to enable faster, more accurate, and more efficient underwriting. The E-Fusion award is designated by a panel of judges at A.M. Best's annual E-Fusion conference, held this year in Boston.
With GeoStan, Homesite is able to determine immediately whether a given home, apartment or condominium is within a risk area for natural disasters, such as floods, brushfire, hurricanes, high winds, and hail, as well as other relevant underwriting criteria, including accurately determining rating territories, among other factors. This information allows Homesite to better manage exposure, make underwriting decisions, and respond promptly to new policy applications.
"Our judges were impressed by this project," said Lee McDonald, vice president of communications with the A.M. Best Company. "We had many extremely sophisticated entries, so receiving the 2006 E-Fusion award in the Underwriting and Pricing category is quite an accomplishment."
"Managing exposure concentration is one of the biggest challenges facing underwriters in the homeowner insurance industry," said Manuel Rios, vice president and chief underwriter for Homesite Group. "By using Group 1 Software's geocoding technology, we are able to assess risk factors much faster and more accurately. For our customers, this means real-time decisions on policy applications, rather than waits of up to 30 days. For Homesite, it means significantly improved business efficiency and better-informed underwriting decisions."
Group 1 Software's geocoding process begins by standardizing and correcting address information, which is then translated into longitude and latitude coordinates and combined with other geospatial data for assessing risk with far greater ease and accuracy as compared to ZIP code or other assessment methods. GeoStan technology combines USPS® postal data with spatial data files from the world's leading data providers to deliver the most comprehensive set of address-level geocodes available.
"Congratulations to Homesite on this prestigious E-Fusion award," said Steve Walden, vice president of Business Geographics for Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software. "Homesite is a perfect example of an industry leader that is leveraging technology to drive their business strategy and growth. We're proud to be a dedicated partner in support of Homesite's drive for underwriting precision and excellence."
In addition to the insurance industry, GeoStan's high-definition data is also used by telecommunications, transportation, finance, routing and mapping companies, among others, for a variety of marketing and operational applications, including identifying customers eligible for location-based services and providing starting and ending locations for optimizing delivery routes.
About Group 1 Software
Group 1 Software (http://www.g1.com/) turns data into results, providing innovative software solutions that enable our clients to better understand and connect with their millions of customers, prospects, and partners. Group 1 Software helps over 3,000 organizations maximize the value of customer data to improve profitability, increase effectiveness, and strengthen customer relationships, through consolidating, cleansing and enriching corporate data, and generating personalized business documents for multi-channel delivery, customer care and efficient business processing. Our comprehensive Customer Communications Management (CCM) solutions span from database to delivery, adding value to every aspect of communication and allowing clients to integrate intelligence throughout their mailstream. As part of Pitney Bowes (NYSE: PBI), a $5.6 billion company, Group 1 Software's solutions are utilized by leaders in the insurance, financial services/banking, GIS/mapping, government, mail services, retail, telecommunications, utility, and other industries, including Entergy, ING, L.L. Bean, MapQuest, Microsoft, Safeco Insurance, Wal-Mart and Wells Fargo.
GeoStan, Group 1, Group 1 Software, and the Group 1 logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Group 1 Software, Inc. Pitney Bowes and the Pitney Bowes Process Bar Design are trademarks or registered trademarks of Pitney Bowes, Inc. All other brand names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
SOURCE: Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software
CONTACT: Doug Gunster of Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software, +1-301-918-0864,
douglas_gunster@g1.com
Web site: http://www.g1.com/
http://www.pb.com/