ATLANTA, Aug. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Crawford &
Company (NYSE: CRDA; CRDB), the world's largest independent
provider of claims management solutions, has purchased the Appian
Business Process Management (BPM) Suite, a market-leading
technology platform that will radically alter the way the company
develops software applications.
"The Appian BPM Suite, with its mobile and social capabilities,
is truly an enabler that will change the way we work with our
business partners and ultimately how we service our clients," said
Brian Flynn, Crawford's global chief information officer.
"Initially, we will use it to drive operational efficiencies, but
ultimately we will use it to help us develop new services and
solutions."
Appian was first introduced to Crawford during development efforts for
repairNet, the Company's managed repair service in the U.K. "We
decided to acquire Appian for global deployment after reviewing the
success of the repairNet project," Flynn said.
BPM helps information technology and business users jointly
build applications that effectively integrate people, process and
information. With effective BPM, an organization can manage and
improve processes that involve human interaction, multiple
applications and complex rules and work flows.
The Appian BPM Suite increases efficiency by:
- Using a business rules engine to automate processes
- Enabling better collaboration among employees and clients by
using a familiar and intuitive social media "feed" interface
- Modifying and updating legacy applications
- Replacing aging modules, and
- Rapidly deploying innovative solutions to mobile devices, such
as smart phones and tablets.
Appian (www.appian.com) is a leader in mobile, cloud and social
BPM. The Appian BPM Suite can be accessed on all major mobile
devices and through a Web browser. The company offers multiple
deployment options, including on-premise and cloud, with seamless
migration between the environments.
"Appian delivers a new, faster, more flexible way to create and
extend enterprise applications, and our mobile and social BPM
leadership increases the number of people who can directly interact
with key organizational processes," said Matthew Calkins, president and CEO of Appian.
"We are excited to help Crawford
build an enterprise-wide BPM program based on our initial project
success together."
In the past three years, Crawford has developed a global systems
roadmap that unifies BPM, applications and data into a standard
global enterprise portal. In conjunction with that plan, the
Company has increased investments in advanced technology to help
feed the growing appetite among insurers and self-insured
businesses for data that helps them manage risks and reduce
costs.
Significant technology advances include Crawford's revolutionary Command Center,
designed to further improve service to clients by providing
up-to-the-minute information on claims status and key performance
indicators. The Company also has implemented RiskTech™, a
new claims system, and Dmitri(SM), a new risk information
management system, for its workers compensation clients, and added
new functionality to the Crawford Claims Management System (CMS).
In addition, it also released a global, cloud-based Enterprise 2.0
social networking program branded "Crawford Innovates," which
allows employees to brainstorm solutions to issues.
For its innovative use of information technology throughout its
global operations, Crawford has
been named to the InformationWeek 500 for the last two
years.
About Crawford
Based in Atlanta, Ga., Crawford
& Company (www.crawfordandcompany.com) is the world's largest
independent provider of claims management solutions to the risk
management and insurance industry as well as self-insured entities,
with an expansive global network serving clients in more than 70
countries. The Crawford System of Claims Solutions(SM) offers
comprehensive, integrated claims services, business process
outsourcing and consulting services for major product lines
including property and casualty claims management, workers
compensation claims and medical management, and legal settlement
administration. The Company's shares are traded on the NYSE under
the symbols CRDA and CRDB.
About Appian
Appian is the global innovator in enterprise and cloud-based
business process management (BPM) software. Appian's combination of
simplicity and power provides everything business users need to
drive transformational process improvement - on the desktop or via
mobile devices. Commercial and government organizations around the
globe use Appian to increase agility and collaboration, and
accelerate business performance. Appian empowers more than 3
million users from large Fortune 100 companies, to the
mid-market and small businesses worldwide. Appian is headquartered
in the Washington, D.C. region,
with professional services and partners around the globe. For more
information, visit www.appian.com.
SOURCE Crawford & Company