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Who's Buying What: Recent Deals For Technology Software And Services

December 2007

AT&T PROVIDES NETWORK SERVICES FOR PROASSURANCE

AT&T Inc., San Antonio, Texas, has announced a two-year contract with ProAssurance Group for more than $1 million in network services. In addition to establishing virtual private network (VPN) services for ProAssurance in order to enhance communications between 14 company sites across the country, AT&T will install required hardware for the network at ProAssurance's headquarters in Birmingham, Ala. ProAssurance is also leveraging AT&T's Integration Solutions services to help manage and develop its network capabilities over the new VPN.

According to AT&T, ProAssurance requires reliable, secure and efficient network communication to manage its policyholders' accounts. Improved visibility and enhanced reporting systems will enable ProAssurance to streamline its operations and remain focused on protecting customers from medical liability damages, the company says.

BANCORPSOUTH SELECTS FINETRE PLATFORM

Herndon, Va.-based Finetre, a division of Ebix Inc., announced Tupelo, Miss.-based BancorpSouth's agreement to deploy Finetre's AnnuityNet Platform to its advisors as part of the firm's efforts to provide annuity sales and suitability compliance reporting.

Finetre provides Web-based annuity and life insurance automation platforms known as AnnuityNet and LifeSpeed. The platforms operate under a software-as-a-service business model, and enable annuity and life insurance distributors to automate the processing of annuity and life insurance transactions, the company says.

BancorpSouth, a financial holding company in the south-central United States, says it chose Finetre for its industry expertise and long history of superior technology deployments. The AnnuityNet implementation is expected to be completed quickly, and be in production by March 2008.

"BancorpSouth's goal is to gain considerable advantages in sales efficiency, compliance and business control of our annuity operations," says Thomas Howard, president of BancorpSouth Investment Services Inc.

"Finetre's reliability, low error rates and commitment to the financial services industry impressed us. We are confident that our use of AnnuityNet can help us better serve our clients by putting best-of-breed annuity processing and suitability tools in the hands of our insurance representatives," says Tom Murry, managing director of BancorpSouth Insurance Services Inc.

FCCI ENHANCES HR WITH ULTIMATE SOFTWARE'S SAAS

Ultimate Software, Weston, Fla., a provider of end-to-end strategic human resources, payroll and talent management solutions, announced that FCCI Insurance Group, a Sarasota, Fla.-based provider of comprehensive property/casualty insurance, implemented Ultimate Software's UltiPro solution. UltiPro was delivered through Intersourcing, a software-as-a-service offering.

According to FCCI, after an on-time, on-budget implementation of core UltiPro for human resources, payroll and benefits administrative processes completed in just over three months, the company implemented Ultimate Software's UltiPro Recruitment for its talent acquisition functions.

Ultimate Software says that since going live in January 2007, FCCI has streamlined compensation management, improved talent acquisition practices and enhanced management of, and communication with, its geographically dispersed workforce utilizing UltiPro's solutions.

"UltiPro's Salary Budget Administration has given FCCI an easy-to-use tool that has simplified the salary increase process for us," says Nilda Mercado, compensation analyst for FCCI. "Prior to UltiPro, we had a different solution that was supposed to automate the process, but it was not Web-based and was more difficult to use. UltiPro is easier for both managers, and the HR team to use."

MASSMUTUAL CHOOSES SAP'S INTEGRATED PLATFORM

SAP, Newtown Square, Pa., announced that Springfield-based Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. (MassMutual) has implemented SAP for Insurance solutions, which includes the SAP Incentive and Commission Management for Insurance applications. MassMutual says it is looking to consolidate its compensation workflows on a unified business process platform for accurate and efficient distribution of compensation payments to its sales channels.

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