CGI signs contract worth over Pounds 10 million (CDN $22 million) with nordic-based If Skadeforsakring ab for Web-enabled insurance solution
London, England --2001-02-26
CGI Group (Europe) Ltd., a subsidiary of CGI Inc., the largest
Canadian IT services company, today announced the signing of a
contract worth more than Pounds 10 million with If
Skadeforsakring AB (publ) (If), the Nordic-based insurance
company.
Under the terms of the new contract, CGI will implement its new
Web-enabled insurance solution, GIOS (Global Insurance Open
Solution), across all of If's 86 offices in the Nordic Region.
The first major If division to implement GIOS will be Commercial
Lines in Sweden with Norway, Denmark and potentially Finland to
follow. As well as managing the implementation process, CGI is
also responsible for providing If with specialist consultancy and
staff training.
Commenting on the partnership, Bo Ingemarson, CEO, If said, "As
we moved into the 21st century, it became necessary to replace
our legacy systems with one unified, Web-enabled solution which
would be able to provide us with real flexibility. GIOS will
simultaneously unify and simplify our entire administrative
processes, for example, reducing the time spent handling claims
settlements. We are now confident that we will be able to respond
to the fast-moving challenges of our industry."
Under the first phase of the contract, CGI carried out a
performance and scalability benchmark project. This demonstrated
GIOS's capability at being able to easily manage If's 4,000+
users and over six million policies with more than 50 million
insured objects in a demanding user environment.
Covering every aspect of the administration involved in all forms
of insurance - including life and non-life - GIOS can easily be
adapted to any market and is a multi-language, multi-currency
solution. GIOS is capable of managing multiple distribution
channels, business-to-business and business-to-client, in
addition to maintaining products of multiple companies and
supporting all forms of product distribution and servicing.
Ingemarson continued, "One of the primary reasons that we chose
GIOS was the possibilities it created for a single Nordic
solution. In addition to supporting multiple languages, GIOS can
also account for the different local conditions, enabling us to
implement a common flexible product across all the Nordic
countries. This will greatly streamline our administrative
processes, improving the services provided to our customers and
ultimately reducing our infrastructure costs."
Gavin Chapman, managing director at CGI in Europe, commented,
"This new contract highlights the need for a highly flexible
component based solution like GIOS within the insurance market.
GIOS is rapidly becoming the leader in its field which, supported
by our specialist consultants and complementary services, really
positions our customers to achieve competitive advantage both in
the insurance market generally and also from a 'cost per policy'
perspective. As part of our new partnership with If, we look
forward to building a significant presence in the Nordic market."
About If
If P&C insurance is the result of the coordination of two of the
largest Nordic-based insurance companies with operations in
Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. If P&C has a leading
position in the Nordic property and casualty insurance market.
The new company has over 4,000 employees serving over 2.5 million
customers. Annual gross premium income 2000 corresponds to 20.5
billion Swedish kronor (CDN $3.2 billion). Based on pro forma
figures for 1999, the company's market share in the Nordic P&C
insurance market is around 16%.
About CGI
CGI Group (Europe) Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of CGI
Group Inc. whose world headquarters are located in Montreal,
Canada. Founded in 1976, CGI is the largest independent Canadian
information technology consulting firm and the fifth largest in
North America, based on its headcount of 10,000 professionals.
CGI's order backlog totals approximately CDN$7.0 billion and its
revenue stands at CDN$1.4 billion. CGI provides end-to-end IT
services and business solutions to 2,500 clients in Canada,
United States and more than 20 countries around the world. CGI's
shares are listed on the New York Exchange (GIB), as well as on
the Toronto Stock Exchange (GIB.A). They are included in the
Toronto Stock Exchange's TSE 100 index as well as the S&P/TSE
Canadian Information Technology index. Web site: www.cgi.ca.
All statements in this press release that do not directly and
exclusively relate to historical facts constitute
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements
represent CGI Group Inc.'s intentions, plans, expectations, and
beliefs, and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other
factors, of which many are beyond the control of the Company.
These factors could cause actual results to differ materially
from such forward-looking statements.
These factors include and are not restricted to the timing and
size of contracts, acquisitions and other corporate developments,
the ability to attract and retain qualified employees, market
competition in the rapidly-evolving information technology
industry, general economic and business conditions, and other
risks identified in Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A)
in CGI Group Inc.'s annual report or Form 40F filed with the US
Securities & Exchange Commission and the Company's Annual
Information Form filed with Canadian securities commissions. All
of the risk factors included in these filed documents are
included here by reference. CGI disclaims any intention or
obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise. |
