ATLANTA and MONARCH BEACH, Calif., Sept. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Crawford
& Company (NYSE: CRDA; CRDB), the world's largest independent
provider of claims management solutions, has ranked 108th on this
year's InformationWeek 500, an annual listing of the nation's most
innovative users of business technology.
This marks the fourth year in a row Crawford has placed in the rankings. The
annual list was revealed last night at a gala awards ceremony at
the InformationWeek 500 Conference at the St. Regis Monarch Beach
Resort, Dana Point, Calif.
"We are very pleased to be recognized for the fourth consecutive
year by InformationWeek," said Crawford President and Chief
Executive Officer Jeffrey T. Bowman.
"Placing among the 500 top technology innovators validates our
investment in our global strategic IT plan and improved systems. It
says that we can develop a vision and implement solutions that
better serve our clients, which is our ultimate goal."
Crawford outlined the
development and achievements of the Company's global systems
roadmap in its InformationWeek 500 nomination. The roadmap unifies
business intelligence, social networking, business process
management and analytics technologies into a standard global
enterprise portal. It focuses on technologies that drive workforce
optimization, and many of the most recent projects implemented or
underway have featured significant process innovations.
For example, Crawford Community
is a newly developed social application that helps streamline the
assignment of catastrophe adjusters. "We were able to implement
Crawford Community in time for
this year's hurricane season, and it has proven to be successful in
speeding the assignment process and getting adjusters onsite
quickly," said Brian S. Flynn,
Crawford's global chief
information officer. "This type of real-world application both
improves our own processes and helps us satisfy customers."
Other workforce optimization projects underway include automated
claim assignment and scheduling for non-catastrophe claims, client
billing and employee on-boarding. Crawford uses the Appian Business Process
Management (BPM) Suite, a market-leading technology platform, to
develop these and other applications.
"I am proud of our employees and their achievements and thank
them for the work that has resulted in another year of recognition
by InformationWeek," Flynn said. "Their passion for delivering
quality service and willingness to embrace transformational change
best prepares Crawford for future
opportunities. This award acknowledges that innovative risk taking
and execution of our strategic plan continues to pays
dividends."
"The InformationWeek 500 has recognized the most innovative
users of business technology for 24 years, and this year's
innovations were particularly impressive," said InformationWeek
Editor In Chief Rob Preston. "What
the editors looked for are unconventional approaches – new
technologies, new models, new ways of grabbing business
opportunities and solving complex business problems with IT."
InformationWeek identifies and honors the nation's most
innovative users of information technology with its annual 500
listing, and also tracks the technology, strategies, investments
and administrative practices of America's best-known companies.
Past overall winners include PACCAR Inc., The Vanguard Group, CME
Group, National Semiconductor, Con-Way, and Principal Financial
Group. The InformationWeek 500 rankings are unique among corporate
rankings as it spotlights the power of innovation in information
technology, rather than simply identifying the biggest IT spenders.
Additional details on the InformationWeek 500 can be found online
at www.informationweek.com/iw500/.
About Crawford
Based in Atlanta, Ga.,
Crawford & Company 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 InformationWeek Business Technology Network
(http://www.informationweek.com)
The InformationWeek Business Technology Network provides IT
executives with unique analysis and tools that parallel their work
flow—from defining and framing objectives through to the evaluation
and recommendation of solutions. Anchored by InformationWeek, the
multimedia powerhouse that looks across the enterprise, the network
scales across the most critical technology categories with online
properties such as DarkReading.com (security), NetworkComputing.com
(networking and communications) and BYTE (consumer technology). The
network also provides focused content for key IT targets, such as
CIOs, developers and SMBs, via InformationWeek Global CIO, Dr.
Dobb's and InformationWeek SMB, as well as vital vertical
industries with InformationWeek Financial Services, Government and
Healthcare sites. Content is at the nucleus of our information
distribution strategy—IT professionals turn to our experts and
communities to stay informed, get advice and research technologies
to make strategic business decisions.
SOURCE Crawford & Company