Posted on February 21, 2010.
FINEOS to handle accidents claims in South Africa FINEOS Corporation, a global provider of innovative software solutions for insurance, bancassurance, and government, announced today a new agreement with the Fund for road accidents (RAF) of South Africa to provide FINEOS Claims ([R]) to handle personal injury claims. FINEOS Claims was selected following a global review of claims solutions market leader and will be used to streamline the overall operations of disaster management of the RAF by automating processes, improving customer service and application standards of good practice. FINEOS Claims was ultimately chosen because it is a commercial off the shelf (COTS) solution that comes with traditional claims management capability as well as case management feature-rich, payments and CRM single view of customer. This feature combined with the high
baseline FINEOS with government insurers made it a natural choice for the needs of the RAF.
Michael Kelly, CEO of FINEOS, welcomed the agreement. "This is a strategic development for FINEOS and represents another step in the evolution of FINEOS claims as claims management solution for world-class life and health, property and casualty (P & C) insurance social programs. South Africa is also a new geographic market for FINEOS and we expect our experience there to replicate the growth we have seen in Europe, North America and Australasia. The Irish Government has put more ' emphasis on South Africa as an export destination for Ireland and we are delighted to announce this important agreement with the RAF South African Government. "
This announcement coincides with the mission of the Irish Government Trade Development in South Africa headed by Irish Prime Minister, An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahearn, and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Michael Martin. The purpose of this visit is to support Irish companies to develop a presence in South Africa through trade, investment, partnership and other business relationships. South Africa is an emerging market and offers significant opportunities for developing new business both in South Africa itself and in bordering African markets comprised of up to 185 million people. Commenting on the new deal, Minister Michael Martin said: "The success of FINEOS in winning this contract shows Irish companies, with the support of Enterprise Ireland, are at the forefront in the development of practical solutions necessary in an innovative global market. I wish every success FINEOS in South Africa and we look forward to welcoming them on future Trade Missions to other world markets. "
The RAF is the government agency that administers the compensation program in South Africa for people injured in road accidents or the dependents of those killed in accidents resulting from the negligent driving of a motor vehicle. It employs 1,700 people and in 2007, 260,903 claims processed and paid approximately R6.6 billion (EU655 million). Lately, he has faced a number of challenges (including a backlog of approximately 380,000 claims) that led to undertake a comprehensive review of its internal IT systems, human resources, service delivery and communications. A new business model has finally been agreed to ensure the long-term future of the RAF and enable it to achieve its strategic objectives. A key component of the plan was the introduction of a system for managing new applications. According to Jacob Modise, CEO of RAF, "The new solution is intended to replace the old system within the RAF which continues to fail our accident victims and does not lend itself to an effective complaint handling ".
Rather than invent a new system demands from scratch, the RAF commissioned a team of consultants from KPMG to review proven solutions in similar enterprises in the world. FINEOS has an established history in the field of management of claims from accidents and injuries. Its deployment A.
