FINEOS Corporation, a global provider of innovative enterprise software solutions for insurance, bancassurance, and government, today announced a new deal with the Road Accident Fund ( “RAF” ) of South Africa to deliver FINEOS Claims® to manage bodily injury claims. FINEOS Claims was selected following a world-wide review of market-leading claims solutions and will be used to streamline the entire claims management operations at RAF by automating processes, improving customer service and enforcing best-practice rules. FINEOS Claims was ultimately chosen because it is a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solution that is packaged with traditional claims management capability along with feature-rich case management, payments and CRM single view of the customer. This functionality combined with the strong FINEOS reference base with government insurers made it a natural selection for RAF requirements.
Michael Kelly, CEO of FINEOS, welcomed the deal. “This is a strategic development for FINEOS and represents a further step in the evolution of FINEOS Claims as a world-class claims management solution for life & health, property & casualty (P&C) and government social insurance. South Africa is also a new geo-market for FINEOS and we fully expect our experience there to replicate the growth we’ve seen in Europe, North America and Australasia. The Government in Ireland has put increased focus on South Africa as an export destination for Ireland and we are delighted to announce this significant deal with the South African Government's RAF.”
The announcement coincides with the Irish Government’s trade development mission to South Africa headed by Irish Prime Minister, An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahearn, and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin. The aim of the visit is to support Irish companies in developing a presence in South Africa through trade, investment, partnership and other business linkages. South Africa is an emerging market and offers significant scope for new business development both in South Africa itself and in bordering African markets comprised of up to 185 million people. Commenting on the new deal, Minister Micheál Martin said, "The success of FINEOS in winning this contract shows Irish companies, with the support of Enterprise Ireland, are to the fore in the development of practical, innovative solutions required in a global market. I want to wish FINEOS every success in South Africa and look forward to welcoming them on future Trade Missions to other world markets."
The RAF is the government body that operates South Africa’s compensation programme for people injured in road accidents or the dependants of people killed in accidents arising from the negligent driving of a motor vehicle. It employs 1700 staff and in 2007 processed 260,903 claims and paid out approximately R6.6 billion (€655 million). In recent times, it has faced a number of challenges (including a backlog of approximately 380,000 claims) that led it to carry out an in-depth internal review of its IT systems, human resources, service delivery, and communications. A new business model was eventually agreed to secure 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 new claims management system. According to Jacob Modise, CEO of RAF, “The new solution is intended to replace the legacy system within the RAF which continues to fail our accident victims and does not lend itself to efficient processing of claims.”
Rather than devise a new claims system from scratch, the RAF commissioned a team of consultants from KPMG to review proven solutions in similar enterprises around the world. FINEOS has a well-established track record in the area of managing claims for accident compensation and bodily injury. Its deployment at the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) of New Zealand is one of the largest public sector projects in the country in the last decade. Moreover, FINEOS Claims was also recently selected by the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) in Victoria, Australia, to manage its bodily injury claims. A key differentiator of FINEOS Claims is its comprehensive case management and integrated customer management capabilities which set it apart from traditional solutions which tend to focus more narrowly on the claim rather than the claimant.
According to Jacob Modise, CEO of RAF, “It is pleasing to note that our tender processes resulted in the selection of solutions successfully applied by our counterparts in other parts of the world. We expect this to improve the sharing of experiences and enhance efficiencies.”
About Road Accident Fund (RAF)
The Road Accident Fund (RAF) is a statutory body that, in terms of the provisions of the Road Accident Fund, 1996 (Act 56 of 1996) as amended, provides compensation for loss or damage resulting from injuries or death caused by the negligent driving of motor vehicles within the borders of the Republic of South Africa. The purpose of the Fund and the Act as a whole is to provide cover to users of South African roads who get involved in motor vehicle accidents. In return for a direct and indirect payment of a levy on fuel, the Fund compensates claimants for losses they incur as a result of injuries arising out of the use of motor vehicles. The intention is to reintegrate the road accident victims back into society from an economic and health perspective. The Fund is committed to acting in a manner that ensures that these aims are achieved, notwithstanding the numerous challenges and obstacles that it faces in doing so.
RAF Customers
Any user of roads in South Africa, including drivers, pedestrians, and others is the RAF customer. These customers are covered for potential injury or liability resulting from motor vehicle accidents.
People who are injured in motor vehicle accidents are RAF’s second type of customers. These customers are provided compensation and rehabilitation for injury-related medical care and damages.
The RAF has regional offices in Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, East London and Pretoria. The RAF has begun increasing its footprint to all 9 provinces in South Africa. The Head Office is situated in Menlyn, Pretoria. For more information, please visit www.raf.co.za
About FINEOS Corporation
FINEOS is a global provider of innovative enterprise software solutions for insurance, bancassurance, and government. FINEOS solutions address core business processing requirements including CRM, new business & underwriting, claims & payments, and policy administration. FINEOS solutions are built on a customer and case centric, rules-driven, component-based enterprise platform that serves as a flexible infrastructure for new product introduction, legacy enrichment, and business transformation initiatives. FINEOS is delivering documented benefits for some of the world’s leading insurance carriers, government institutions, bancassurers, retail banks and building societies. The company is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland and has offices in North America, Europe and Australasia. For more information, please visit www.FINEOS.com.