Metropolitan Reporting Bureau, a provider of public safety reports to the insurance industry, and Guidewire Software, a solutions developer to property/casualty and workers' compensation fields, announced an alliance to offer carriers improved claim-processing efficiencies and costs.

As a result of the companies' joint effort, Guidewire ClaimCenter clients now can leverage Metropolitan's services to order public safety reports at any point during the life of the claim. By fully integrating with ClaimCenter and automating much of the report ordering, completion, and tracking processes, insurers receive enhanced claims-adjusting procedures, lower claim costs, and improved customer service.

Combining ClaimCenter's business rules and task assignment engine with the integrated report-ordering capabilities enables Guidewire clients to customize report-ordering thresholds and configure a claims-adjusting environment that either recommends or requires the ordering of a public safety report at predetermined trigger points.

"We continually listen to our clients' needs when it comes to our development direction," says Priscilla Hung, vice president, alliances, at Guidewire. "Public safety report integration was on the top of most lists. The integration with Metropolitan Reporting Bureau allows us to better enable our clients to achieve claims excellence in a time-efficient and cost-effective manner."