FirstBest Systems, developer of advanced Underwriting Management Systems (UMS) that enable commercial insurance carriers to profit from better underwriting, and Valen Technologies, developers of predictive analytics for the commercial insurance industry, have announced a strategic technology alliance. Commercial property/casualty carriers that deploy FirstBest's UMS with Valen's predictive analytics solution can achieve the power of analytics in a comprehensive underwriting solution that is focused on the insurance industry.

Insurance carriers often make significant investments in analytics solutions that don't tie back to core systems. As a result, these investments are underutilized, and carriers can analyze only historical data. FirstBest provides a production environment that integrates real-time operational data with Valen's insurance industry-focused predictive analytics solutions, providing pricing precision at the underwriter's desktop.

"This partnership provides a missing link that has been sorely needed in the insurance industry," says Dax Craig, CEO of Valen. "Making predictive analytic models operational has been a major hurdle for carriers. With FirstBest and Valen, we have a perfect combination of building predictive models and using predictive models. FirstBest understands predictive scoring and rating are essential components to next-generation underwriting. By aligning our solutions, insurance companies will achieve a strategic advantage."