IVANS started 1997 with the acquisition of BWC Systems, Inc., Cincinnati, a move that IVANS President & CEO Dan Carmichael said was "a major step toward achieving our goal of becoming a seamless electronic pathway for the insurance industry. With the acquisition of BWC Systems, IVANS is investing in its members' future by bolstering its value-added service offerings to improve members' business processes beyond network connectivity for EDI transactions," he added.
BWC Systems is a major provider of interface and EDI solutions for more than 85 insurance companies. It provides turnkey solutions that include software and services that minimize the use of companies' resources. BWC will continue with the same personnel and will operate as the new BWC Systems Division of IVANS.
BWC has expert knowledge of the property/casualty industry; ACORD, CSIO, X12 standards; and has established relationships with all major industry vendors. One of the tasks of the new division will be to monitor standards and respond proactively when changes occur. BWC's ability to respond quickly is exemplified by its introduction of a package of services only two weeks after Oregon mandated electronic reporting of auto liability information, Carmichael noted.
"Bringing IVANS and BWC together combines a vast amount of insurance experience," BWC President Bill Tedrick noted. "Both companies have a long and successful history in agency/company interface and we plan to build on that solid base. We have completed more interface projects jointly than all other vendors combined."
Jim Donaldson, BWC executive vice president, pointed to the synergy that exists between the two companies. "We've worked together for more than seven years and have similar corporate cultures that are solution-oriented. This acquisition is good news for IVANS and BWC customers," he added. "BWC has a solid package of EDI tools that augments IVANS' pathway to electronic commerce."
Dan Carmichael, while not disclosing the acquisition price, noted that the combined net revenues of the two companies should exceed $100 million in 1997. Gross revenues, which include telecommunications revenues, should hit some $400 million.
BWC Systems was incorporated in 1982 and has been serving the insurance industry with translation and interface products since 1985. Used by over 85 property/casualty companies, BWC provides turnkey solutions to insurers ranging from $6.5 million to more than $2.5 billion in direct annual premiums. BWC's products KeyLink™ and Access satisfy companies' requirements for agency/company upload and download interface. Other offerings include M.E.D.S.™ for software distribution; KeyLink for automobile liability insurance reporting, mortgage/lienholder transactions, workers compensation first report of injury and other interface and reporting packages.
IVANS was formed in 1983 as the sister organization of the Insurance Institute for Research/Agency Company Organization for Research and Development (IIR/ACORD). The first agency/company interface registration between J.V. Arthur, Inc. and The Maryland Insurance Co. took place in August of that year. It began working with BWC Systems in September 1990 to facilitate seamless interface implementation.
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IVANS, in keeping with its goal to become the unified electronic pathway for all insurance communications, has responded to upcoming statutory auto liability reporting requirements with a package of software and EDI services developed by the BWC Systems Division. Two states--Oregon and Virginia--will require electronic reporting of new policies, changes and cancellations for both personal and commercial auto coverage using ANSI X12 standards by March of this year. New York, Maryland and Arizona are expected to implement similar requirements within the next six months.
"This program draws upon the extensive interface experience and knowledge of IVANS and other major industry service providers to reduce implementation time in rolling out auto liability insurance reporting," according to Janice Winterhalter, IVANS divisional vice president-marketing. "Additional states probably will require electronic filing in order to take advantage of the greater efficiency, " she predicts.
The program includes critical translation software called KeyLink™ for X12, provided by BWC. KeyLink translates insurance data into ANSI X12 standards. It also provides communications, scheduling and data storage capabilities. "This is a turnkey solution that gets companies in production quickly," BWC President Bill Tedrick says. "It eliminates the company's headache of complying with these mandatory EDI requirements."
Winterhalter points out that IVANS property and casualty interface participants receive discounts of 48% on Information Exchange, an electronic mailbox function that allows the exchange of messages, documents and forms. But IVANS membership is not a requirement to participate in this program, she adds. Non-members can still receive discounts of 25%. While this program is only for state reporting, Winterhalter adds that customers can expand their IVANS services into agency company interface, for example, by joining IVANS as a member and taking advantage of additional discounts and a wider range of services.
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