AQS Acquires AscendantOne® Policy Management Suite

AQS, Inc., a provider of policy administration systems for commercial property/casualty insurance, today announced the acquisition of the assets and corresponding personnel of the AscendantOne® Policy Management Suite from ISO Insurance Technology Solutions (ISO-ITS), a unit of Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO). Terms of the transaction were not announced.
The acquisition gives AQS broader carrier-service options, as the company adds the capabilities of the AscendantOne Policy Management Suite and the associated rate-management capabilities to its current policy administration offerings for property/casualty insurers. As part of the transaction, AQS will obtain the tools used to maintain the ISO Rating Service® software. ISO retains ownership of ISO Rating Service and will maintain and support the advisory loss costs, rules, and forms contained in ISO Rating Service.

"Up until this point in our history, AQS has provided commercial lines administration products and services for carriers whose preference was to source the lion's share of product implementation work, development, support, and maintenance to us. Our industry refers to that as the 'full-service' offering," said Dave Kerford, AQS's CEO. "This acquisition allows us to also offer carriers a 'self-service' option, enabling them to have the level of control they desire, when they want it, and to have the option to reach self-sufficiency more quickly. The acquisition also extends the AQS suite of offerings to include systems and services in support of carriers who offer personal lines insurance products. Many carriers, including several of our customers, have a need for the 'enterprise solution set' covering both commercial and personal lines, which we now offer."

The acquisition is another step in the fulfillment of AQS's strategic intent to extend its delivery and deployment options to include everything from full service to self-sufficiency and to cover both commercial and personal lines products. Carriers and customers opting for either service model will be able to leverage AQS's depth of insurance domain expertise -- including those that prefer the relative independence of self-service tools. The AQS Advantage system will continue to be offered and supported as the product associated with the full-service model. The newly acquired self-service system will be sold as AQS Access.

"At ISO, we want to focus on the delivery of ISO advisory content through the ISO Rating Service platform," said Scott Stephenson, ISO's COO. "We chose AQS to take over the AscendantOne policy system because of the company's technical expertise, insurance domain knowledge, and reputation for excellent customer service. In conjunction with the transaction, we wanted our policy administration customers to be in good hands for the long term. We're pleased to have AQS as a strategic ally."

"This transaction creates unprecedented choice and opportunity for property/casualty insurers," added Bruce Davis, AQS's chief marketing officer. "In addition to being able to choose their levels of autonomy and self-service from the beginning of their relationship with us, users will be able to choose from commercial lines and personal lines. And they'll have packaged access to AQS technology and ISO content."