Accenture, Zurich Insurance Deal Extended - Analyst Blog

Using its technical know-how to its advantage, Accenture Plc. ACN has been winning several major deals of late. Recently, insurance company Zurich Insurance Group selected Accenture's Duck Creek Policy software suite to help accelerate its product development processes and enhance customer service. Financial terms of the deal were kept confidential.

Per the contract, Accenture will offer its Duck Creek Policy (which includes Duck Creek Billing, Claims and Policies and property and casualty) software solutions to the Group for its general insurance business in the United Kingdom, which would improve processing of clients' claims.

Zurich Insurance Group happens to be one of the largest insurers serving its customers both in the global and local markets. The company provides general insurance, life insurance and farmer insurance, globally. To manage its worldwide insurance operations, the company has had to adopt efficient software solutions. Accenture's expertise in providing various insurance solutions prompted Zurich to select its insurance suite.

The solution will enable the carrier to settle property and casualty claims as and when a loss is incurred. It will thus be able to maintain its market leading position and service goodwill by leveraging Accenture's Duck Creek Policy suite.

Accenture has been serving the insurance vertical for years. Continuous insurance deal wins underscore the efficacy and popularity of its services. With the Duck Creek acquisition (in Jul 2011), Accenture further enhanced its insurance platform. The solution helps insurance carriers to adapt to changing market conditions and gauge future requirements, thereby enabling them to run high-performance businesses.

In spite of regular deal wins, competition continues to increase at a steady pace, especially from companies like IBM IBM, Computer Sciences Corp. CSC and Hewlett-Packard Co. HPQ. Additionally, a strained spending environment as well as significant exposure to Europe may temper growth to some extent.

These companies have also started aggressive marketing to grab a chunk of the insurance market, with a special focus on the emerging ones. Thus, we believe that Accenture has to come up with innovative and customized solutions for its insurance customers to maintain its current position in the market.

Currently, Accenture has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).