What is Guidewire?
By Avalith Editorial Team ♦ 1 min read
SHARE ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Let’s start with the basics. Guidewire is a software company based in California that provides a series of services for enhancing your business, with a focus on insurance (think policies, claims, reports, etc). The Guidewire tool itself is used for myriad financial transactions, and one of the best things about it is how easy it is to use. Everything that Guidewire offers is done digitally, making it simple to collaborate and work from anywhere, no matter what your needs and tasks are. This is an example of how technology is reshaping business all over the world.
At a high level, Guidewire software is built on a shared platform to ensure openness and flexibility. It boasts a great design that meets the needs of most property and casualty insurers. The Guidewire apps are coded in Java, and Web service APIs allow Guidewire applications to fit seamlessly into specific architectures and interact with other technology within applications. It’s been thoroughly tested to ensure unparalleled quality and make it one of the safest solutions in the industry today, which is one of the reasons why it’s so frequently used by professionals worldwide.
Some of Guidewire Products’ Main Features
Some of the main features of Guidewire technology include:
Streamlining Processes: outlining processes and goals involving multiple factors and players is easier for insurers with Guidewire’s features and benefits.
Security: users are able to control the application, its functionalities and the data they can access and edit related to accounts, claims and policies.
Cost Efficiency: with Guidewire, insurers can reduce the costs of long-term ownership and consolidate several benefits. These include complete control over the main application, easy access, and the ability to add more servers to accommodate larger populations.
Integration and Automation: insurers are able to integrate their main application with other systems, both internal and external, while automated tests protect the application from failing and make adding a new functionality quickly very simple.
What is Guidewire Software Used For?
The insurance sector is one of the most popular industries for the implementation of Guidewire software. In general, property and casualty (P&C) insurers focus on risks like auto insurance, home insurance, professional liability insurance, marine insurance, etc. The way that P&C companies work is by offering customers compensation for certain risks like accidents, fires, layoffs, and these compensations are evaluated based on different factors (age, deductibles, profession, type of car or home, etc.). Customers pay P&C companies to provide insurance by choosing the policy that’s right for them.
The main products that the Guidewire Solution offers are the Policy Center, Billing Center and Claim Center, and these are also the most widely used products within the P&C sector. Guidewire products and services provide end-to-end support for all insurance transactions and the ability to tailor programs to insurers’ needs.
The Guidewire Billing Center offers insurers a centralized platform for managing all of their transactions, from billing to collection, and offers features that improve accounts receivable, cash flow and customer service. It helps automate processes and provides different features to guarantee client satisfaction and make sure the insurer’s goals are met.
The Claim Center is used to help file property and casualty insurance claims, and lets insurers keep operations simple by handling every party of the transaction on one system.
The Policy Center integrates customer management, analytics and reporting solutions and is used for the entire insurance life cycle, from client policy renewals to modifications to terminations.
Guidewire is most widely used by billing clerks, claims adjusters, customer service representatives and policy administrators.
A Typical Guidewire Workflow
Let’s outline the steps you should follow when using Guidewire software:
Set Goals: make sure you know what your objectives are so that you can keep them top of mind and address related factors throughout the workflow. This will be the foundation for everything you do later on.
Define Your Process: set up a workflow that is easy to understand and simple to follow. This includes necessary actions, decision making and other information you deem necessary for carrying out your process.
Identify Action Items: define the steps you need to take to complete your process. This includes the people who are responsible for different parts of the journey.
Carry Out Testing: make sure to test your workflow to guarantee that it works correctly and as you intended. It should be compatible with the rest of your system and meet the goals you outlined in the first step of this plan.
Configuration: once you’ve tested your workflow and it’s good to go, you will need to integrate it into the system. This means setting up the necessary authorizations and configuring everything accordingly .
Monitoring and Maintenance: your business goals and objectives will likely change, so it’s important that you monitor and maintain your workflow to make sure that it keeps up.
Learning Guidewire
If you’re interested in learning the programming languages required for mastering the Guidewire software suite, you have several options. Firstly, know that you will likely dedicate around two months’ time to your learning process. You won’t be able to learn everything you need to know solely from blogs and videos, so you’ll have to dedicate some time to real projects that apply the insights and information you’ve acquired and help you gain in-depth knowledge on the subject.
There are several Guidewire tutorials online, some of which are free and some of which are paid, and you can choose a self-paced learning path which allows you to study and work at your own pace or courses with instructors. Since so many insurance companies are implementing this software, becoming a Guidewire software developer is a great way to further your professional career.
In conclusion, Guidewire's software emphasizes openness and flexibility. Rigorous testing for quality and safety has established it as a globally trusted solution. At Avalith, we are dedicated to aiding developers in the effective use of Guidewire's sophisticated software suite. Learn more here!