Guidewire's 'Connections 2014' User Conference Draws More Than 1,300 Attendees

Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE), a provider of software products to Property/Casualty (P/C) insurers, recently hosted its tenth annual user conference, Connections 2014, in San Francisco, California. Connections 2014 provided a forum for the Guidewire community – customers, partners and Guidewire employees – to share their experiences, best practices and receive the latest information about Guidewire’s products.

Connections 2014 kicked off with Guidewire’s chief executive officer, Marcus Ryu, sharing customer stories and videos that illustrated how Guidewire is helping customers transform their businesses. He also discussed how Guidewire will help its customers achieve this mission by remaining focused on the P/C insurance industry, investing in engineering and R&D, lowering the total cost of ownership, and supporting the complete insurance lifecycle.

Neil Betteridge, vice president of strategy, outlined the key themes that are driving future versions of Guidewire products. He highlighted recent new developments and showcased some of the innovative ways Guidewire customers use the company’s products.

Two Guidewire customers presented keynotes on the main stage. Andrzej Klesyk, chief executive officer, PZU S.A. presented a case study about how Guidewire has helped PZU transform its business to maintain its market share advantage in the Polish insurance market. Michael Byam, senior vice president and chief information officer, commercial markets, The Hartford, talked about how Guidewire helped The Hartford modernize its systems to achieve a successful transformation. On the final day of Connections, California Casualty, Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC), FMG, and PZU participated in a customer panel discussion, where they discussed their perspective on different aspects of their transformation journeys.

96 hands-on workshops, roundtable discussions, expert panels, and educational sessions were held during Connections. These sessions provided the opportunity for Guidewire customers such as Allianz Insurance PLC, American Modern Insurance Group, Aviva UK, Mercury Insurance, and PZU to share their experiences, lessons learned, and best practices.

Connections 2014 was sponsored by 19 Guidewire PartnerConnect™ Consulting and Solution partners: Capgemini, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Business Agility, CastleBay Consulting, Cognizant, Deloitte, IBM, CGI, Cynosure, HCL America, iGATE, Stonebridge Consulting, Agencyport Software, HP, Hyland, creator of OnBase, LexisNexis, Mitchell, Perr&Knight and Thunderhead.com – who were on hand to discuss their services/solutions and membership with attendees, and to give presentations and/or moderate roundtable discussions.

“We are inspired by the stories our customers share at Connections about how our products are helping them transform their business to better meet the needs of policyholders and agents, and we’re pleased to be able to celebrate their accomplishments,” said Brian Desmond, senior vice president, Marketing, Guidewire Software. “We thank our customers and partners for helping to make Connections 2014 a great success.”

About Guidewire Software

Guidewire builds software products that help Property/Casualty insurers replace their legacy core systems and transform their business. Designed to be flexible and scalable, Guidewire products enable insurers to deliver excellent service, increase market share and lower operating costs. Guidewire InsuranceSuite™ provides the core systems used by insurers as operational systems of record. Additional products provide support for data management, business intelligence, anytime/anywhere access and guidance and monitoring. More than 180 Property/Casualty insurers around the world have selected Guidewire. For more information, please visit www.guidewire.com. Follow us on twitter: @Guidewire_PandC.

NOTE: Guidewire, Guidewire Software, Guidewire ClaimCenter, Guidewire PolicyCenter, Guidewire BillingCenter, Guidewire InsuranceSuite, Guidewire DataHub, Guidewire InfoCenter, Guidewire Live, Before & After, Guidewire PartnerConnect, Guidewire SolutionConnect, Deliver Insurance Your Way, and the Guidewire logo are trademarks, service marks, or registered trademarks of Guidewire Software, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.