IBM Signs 10-Year IT Outsourcing Agreement With Innovation Auto Risk

Deal to support company's expansion plans while reducing its capital expenditure on IT by 25 percent


BANGALORE, India, July 13  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- IBM (NYSE:IBM) today announced that it has signed a 10-year information technology (IT) outsourcing agreement with Innovation Auto Risk, an established leader in the Indian market providing claims management  services and other related solutions to insurers and fleet management companies. To support its growth and expansion plans, Innovation Auto Risk was seeking an IT solution provider that could supply and manage its IT infrastructure in a resilient yet cost-effective fashion.

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As part of the agreement, IBM will deploy server, storage, networking and security IT infrastructure to be hosted at a data center in Delhi. IBM will provide 24x7 onsite infrastructure monitoring services from an onsite command center. In addition, IBM will provide managed services and ongoing project management for infrastructure procurement, commissioning and configuration, as well as hardware refreshes after five years.

Innovation Auto Risk, headquartered in Delhi, has claims servicing operations across India. It is a joint venture between Auto Risk Management Services Pvt. Ltd., an established leader in the Indian market providing pre-risk inspection services and other related insurance services, and Innovation Group plc., a leading provider of enterprise software, business process outsourcing (BPO) and repair and service network management solutions to the global Property and Casualty industry.

IBM put together a customized end-to-end managed services package and introduced Innovation Auto Risk to an operating-expense driven model, rather than capital-expense driven model. This allowed the company to pay IBM as-it-grows its business operations thus removing the need for large capital influx to sustain its growth and expansion. This agreement aims to reduce Innovation Auto Risk's capital expenditure on IT by 25 percent.

Jyothi Satyanathan - Country Manager - ibm.com, IBM India/South Asia remarked, "With businesses highlighting and focusing on cost-efficiency in these challenging times, IBM has once again proven its partnership value for small and mid-sized customers. Innovation Auto Risk needed to build a robust infrastructure to address the growing claims processing requirements of their customers and we were able to provide this using a unique model that helped them grow without the headaches of managing their back-end and the need for huge capital requirements."

"We are delighted with our agreement with IBM and believe its technology expertise and focus on delivering cost-efficient solutions will help us achieve our growth strategy and higher levels of customer satisfaction," said Manu Mehta, Director, Innovation Auto Risk. "We maintain a stable organization built on a foundation of experience and are committed to give our customers the benefits of the highest levels of service without losing focus on our core businesses. Since we offer cost-effective solutions to insurers helping them to reduce claims cost, we ourselves have to keep our costs at check while introducing latest technologies in India to our customers, in which case IBM helped us to achieve that," he added.

India auto claims are rising with the non-life market for insurance in India estimated at 7 million incidents annually. Innovation Auto Risk address the market requirement for improved claims processes to deal with these rising volumes while providing improved customer service, fraud management and business analytics services.

  The agreement was signed in the second quarter of 2009.

  About Innovation Group plc.


Innovation Group plc (LSE:TIG.L) is the leading provider of enterprise software, business process outsourcing and repair and service network management solutions to the global Property and Casualty industry. Innovation provides contact centers, repair networks, process management, supply chain and technology operations along with decision support analytics to support accident management, repair and estimation and claims management services.

Innovation has over 1,000 global clients including AXA Insurance, RSA, AAA of Northern California, LeasePlan, The Ford Motor Company, Aviva, Toyota (South Africa) and Zurich (UK). The Group processes more than 4 million claims per year with 20% direct claims cost saving achieved. Our 2,400 people are located in United Kingdom, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Pakistan, South Africa, Spain, United States. Innovation achieved revenues of UK 143 million pounds in the financial year ending September 2008. http://www.innovation-group.com/

About Auto Risk Management Pvt Ltd

Headquartered in New Delhi, Auto Risk was incorporated and commenced its operations May, 2002 and works with a team of 1400 people across 489 locations managed by 29 offices. A leading service provider in underwriting Motor & Marine claim Management Motor (OD &TP) investigation & Asset valuation for banks & Financial Institution

Auto Risk supports non life Insurance companies and are a leading service provider (BPO) in underwriting (Motor & Marine), claims management (Motor OD &TP), all investigations & assets valuation for banks and financial institutions. http://www.autorisk.net/

  About IBM
  For more information, visit http://www.ibm.com/services.


  Media Contacts:
  Sowmya Ramachandran
  IBM India/South Asia
  
  Mobile: [phone]

  Goldie Srivastava
  IBM India/South Asia
  
  Mobile: [phone]


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DATASOURCE: IBM



CONTACT:  Sowmya Ramachandran, , Mobile:

[phone]; or Goldie Srivastava, , Mobile: +91

9845181220, both of IBM India/South Asia



Web Site:  http://www.ibm.com/services

http://www.innovation-group.com/

http://www.autorisk.net/ 

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