Xactamate buy out
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Xactamate buy out - 8/13/2006 9:35:26 PM
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With Xactware being bought by ISO , what does that do the the market.
Any thoughts
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RE: Xactamate buy out - 8/13/2006 9:50:52 PM
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trader
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Is the ISO buyout corp, the same company that prints the ISO forms for carriers ?
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RE: Xactamate buy out - 8/13/2006 9:52:32 PM
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katadj
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Appears to be a clear violation of federal law.
One company dictates policy, procedures and pricing, with no competition?
As with Covansas and the NFIP. They OWN EDS, NFS and Flood Direct, where does that leave any flood oriented competitor?
Common sense says we all are in for a world of hurt...............................................
_____________________________
"Excellence often first appears as error. It is only in retrospect that wisdom emerges from ignorance and success from failure." Abraham Lincoln
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RE: Xactamate buy out - 8/13/2006 10:20:15 PM
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LSUFAN
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ISO supply data, analytics, and decision-support services for insurance, finance, real estate, health services, government, and human resources. Its not the the same company that prints the ISO forms for carriers .
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RE: Xactamate buy out - 8/13/2006 10:25:23 PM
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Gale
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Alan, for a less flippant reply to your post last Friday in another thread that if you were John Postava and I that you would be very worried about the Xactimate being purchased by ISO, your point is well taken. New information always has to be reviewed to see if one’s course currently plotted still is the best course possible. ISO is a whopper of a force in many areas and there are a lot of questions to be answered in the coming weeks and months. Since we only learned of this news at the close of last Friday there are more questions to ask than there are answers today.
Questions like why did the largest player in the property estimating solution cash in when they seemed to be at the top of their game? Why did ISO want to add Xactimate to their mix? How much did Xactimate sell out for and what percentage of control does the Loveland family have in ISO if any? Is ISO privately or publicly held? Will Xactimate continue to operate as before or will the power move to the east coast? What will MDA do with the estimating software arm of MSB (IC) in light of this development along with the loss of Met Life to Xactimate per the press release from Xactware?
Perhaps with Xactware and MSB being more in the same league it will be most revealing to see the actions or reactions of MSB (MDA) to this development. We know Xactimate is building a new office complex and moving customer support back in-house. ISO seems to be more international is scope. Are they more into out sourcing/partnering to sustain growth than Xactimate has been? Will the carriers be pleased to see more or less competition in the in the claims handling solutions industry? Will Xactware have to throw the brakes on forward movement until the new owners pass over new directions for example or will ISO just want an annual report from the current Xactware management? In the year following the death of the founder of Xactware who was the actual power in the decision making process?
Typically there can be some loss motion due to changes like this. I know in talking with some long term folks in the MSB group they have been in limbo as far as their future since Boston Ventures took control and now what does it mean to be apart of a huge firm like MDA.
Perhaps it will be as long as 24 months before the pros and cons of the ISO purchase of Xactware start to be known. We do know ISO has been looking to purchase an estimating software vendor for sometime. I expect the founder of Xactimate had plans to sell unless his death was sudden and unexpected due to the fact he only turned over control of the company a few weeks before his death per press releases directly from Xactware. This deal happened just about one year after the death of Mr. Loveland so I expect since ISO was in the market there was some talk of selling before his death. To have sold sooner could have sent signals that the family wanted out badly, etc. Who knows and farther more few cares.
In time the answers to these and other questions will become knowable. In the mean time we at HRI will continue on our course plotted 10 years ago to become the most widely used estimating claims handling solution so we had our work cut out for ourselves before the news from last Friday. : )
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RE: Xactamate buy out - 8/13/2006 11:19:19 PM
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REWARDADJUSTING
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It would be nice if the new owners of Xactimate would throw the entire program in the dumpster and start over again, what a horrable product...
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RE: Xactamate buy out - 8/14/2006 9:20:12 AM
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okclarryd
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Gale,
I'm glad I'm just a 'juster and not a software provider.
_____________________________
LARRY D HARDIN
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RE: Xactamate buy out - 8/14/2006 9:46:58 AM
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johnpostava
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We heard the rumor a couple of months ago. Sorry, Gale, I should have called you to prepare you for the news. ISO with Xact is a formidable competitor for sure. That being said, the insurance carrier market needs and deserves to have choices when it comes to adjusting software. We will continue to provide the best alternative to brand X that we have seen to date. Are we shaking in our boot drives over here? No way. Life goes on in this crazy business and the Lord will never give you more than you can handle.
Xact never saw SIMSOL, MSB or the other players as competition. They sell more software than all of us combined (and their clients pay dearly for that privledge). My feeling is it will be business as usual for a while.
My biggest fear (for the property insurance industry and many of its vendors) is that pricing for home repairs does become somewhat "fixed" as it is in the auto world. If a contractor won't work for X/ISO pricing, will he be restricted in the carriers he can market to and work for (or limited in his profit making ability). Only time will tell. It will be up to the restoration contractors to stand their ground and carriers brave enough to do what is right for policyholders.
_____________________________
John A. Postava, R.P.A.
President
SIMSOL Software, Inc.
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RE: Xactamate buy out - 8/14/2006 11:28:27 AM
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trader
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Ever carrier in the US realizes an insurance estimate sheet is worthless unless a competent repair person will do the work for the bottom line on the sheet.
Someday in the future, contractors may start bidding on jobs again. If this comes about the insurance reconstruction industry will change again.
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RE: Xactamate buy out - 8/14/2006 11:36:58 AM
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johnpostava
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Totally agree with you, Trader. You may be able to cookie-cutter my car repairs but don't mess with my home. If I have a competent contractor I know does good work, I will use him and my carrier will pay for it (not a penny more or a penny less). Just because a preferred contractor's work is guaranteed for a year doesn't mean I want a lesser contractor to do the work over, and over, and over again disrupting my life and home.
I am sure there are many reliable and professional contractors in preferred networks. My point is I want the selection of the contractor to be mine. I just finished a big remodel on my home and I can't imagine what would have happened if the contractor wasn't the best I could find.
_____________________________
John A. Postava, R.P.A.
President
SIMSOL Software, Inc.
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RE: Xactamate buy out - 8/14/2006 4:59:39 PM
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katadj
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When most all in this profession acknowledged the presence of an 800# Gorilla , located in Orem, Utah, A/K/A Xactware, little did we know what would transpire.
The sellout of DDS to the Boston Venture Group of MSB=(Marshall Swift/Boechk) has turned a suitable product into a veritable maze of problems, which no one in the Company seems to be able to, or wish to solve.
Well , with this "new deal" we now have a 8 Million pound Gorilla/Elephant/Rhinoceros to deal with.
Read on compadres, and see what ISO is all about. They service and CONTROL the major portion of the P&C industry.
http://www.iso.com/press_releases/2006/08_10_06.html
http://www.iso.com/about_iso/about03.html
http://www.iso.com/about_iso/about09.html
http://www.iso.com/links/
Refer to post number 3 above for one mans opinion, and I'm betting there will be Hell to pay over this.
_____________________________
"Excellence often first appears as error. It is only in retrospect that wisdom emerges from ignorance and success from failure." Abraham Lincoln
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RE: Xactamate buy out - 8/14/2006 6:56:10 PM
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rhking
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quote:
ORIGINAL: katadj
Appears to be a clear violation of federal law.
If your talking antitrust, then this looks like a clean horizontal acquisition by ISO. Same industry, but different businesses. If this was cloudy, then you would have heard about it from the FTC or DOJ already.
http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/public/guidelines/hmg.htm
http://www.clm.com/pubs/pub-6073563_1.html
< Message edited by rhking -- 8/14/2006 7:56:12 PM >
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RE: Xactamate buy out - 8/14/2006 7:27:29 PM
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aporco
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Carriers want a competent estimate for repairs so that they have an idea of what it should cost. How many times have you received estimates from insured's contractors that are a one item bid -- "Will repair all storm damage for $XXX,XXX." Without an estimate they trust (that's right contractors, for the most part, you're not trusted), the carrier has no idea if Mr Contractor's one line bid is "fair and reasonable." It's just like an auto body shop, they have to do a detail estimate. They can't charge whatever they like, neither can contractors. How many times has an adjuster heard from the insured that a contractor stated one price, then upped it when he learned that the cost was to be covered by insurance? Too many.
< Message edited by aporco -- 8/14/2006 7:41:09 PM >
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RE: Xactamate buy out - 8/15/2006 12:11:13 AM
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Gale
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John the Xactimate story did catch us off guard since we were aware you were talking about selling part of your company to ISO and we had just assumed it would happen that way. It is interesting as to why Xactimate was interested in selling and ISO in buying. The rate of carriers moving from MSB to Xactimate may increase as the result of the sale but I agree it will be a couple years before the nature of the impact of this news will be fully known.
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RE: Xactamate buy out - 8/15/2006 12:21:17 AM
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givemeroofs
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Maybe someone at ISO will listen and make a patch that allows you to label multiple photos like we can in Simsol.
They would probably just charge for it anyway.
I guess if I had a business and someone offered me big bucks and I could retire, it would be hard to pass up.
But like my friend Jim Nordon says, "It stinks, and I don't like it!"
< Message edited by givemeroofs -- 8/15/2006 12:22:33 AM >
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RE: Xactamate buy out - 8/15/2006 12:27:33 PM
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ranger
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In Xactimate 24 I click on the camera and then I click on Load Images and I can label as many photos as I have uploaded. I do not understand how it could be any easier than this.
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RE: Xactamate buy out - 8/15/2006 6:14:51 PM
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givemeroofs
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That's cause it's x 2002
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RE: Xactamate buy out - 8/16/2006 12:17:20 AM
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aporco
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*Gee, here's an interesting: What If? ISO has unbelievable clout with DOIs around the country. What if they lobbied the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to have all states require that only Xactimate could used for estimating insurance claims. The reasoning could be to eliminate the differences in pricing, to bring uniformity to estimates so everyone is on the same page, to ensure a more accurate database and so on. Nothing the Federal government could really do. Insurance regulation is a right unto the individual states. Ma Bell is reforming, GM, Renault and Toyota are talking about some sort of combination, could be monopolies are recycling.
*This post is not intended nor should it be mistaken as an endorsement of Xactimate. All estimating software programs currently available, ****, in my opinion. Until someone creates a program that will inspect the loss, explain the coverages and scope to the insured, download and label the photos (it needs to take the photos, too) and complete the paper work necessary to close the file, whilst I play golf; they all ****. It's a joke folks.
< Message edited by aporco -- 8/16/2006 12:18:51 AM >
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RE: Xactamate buy out - 8/16/2006 12:45:24 AM
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katadj
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Finally someone gets the message, aporco has heard what has been said, and his /her reply says it all.
When the ISO decides that the software of choice and the PRICING of the units, in the software program, are in keeping with their perception, we have a classic case of price fixing, a clear and unabashed violation of the law.
Mr, rhking, with your 3 years of experience, states that we should have had a decision/information or disclosure from our government.
Lets address that issue. Is this the same Government that has created the issues we now have with the immigration act, the NFIP revisions, the failure to increase the minimum wage after 10 years of stagnation, while congress has increased their salary 8 times in the past decade , the FEMA rules and regs, the National Security regulations?
Are you stating that WE , the ones in the trenches , the ones that take fire continuously, are to bend over and accept what the DOJ or any other Gov. wanna be organization states or does NOT state?
Lets just say that our children in Iraq, being killed every day, deserve whatever this administration dictates. What a crock of you know what, that is.
We are nothing but SHEEPLE, listening to, and believing what the media (The seven sisters) reports, and purports, to be the unabridged and unbiased truth. TOTAL BS is one mans opinion.
Nuff said, time for bed.
_____________________________
"Excellence often first appears as error. It is only in retrospect that wisdom emerges from ignorance and success from failure." Abraham Lincoln
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RE: Xactamate buy out - 8/16/2006 1:01:23 AM
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rhking
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quote:
ORIGINAL: aporco
*Gee, here's an interesting: What If? ISO has unbelievable clout with DOIs around the country. What if they lobbied the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to have all states require that only Xactimate could used for estimating insurance claims. The reasoning could be to eliminate the differences in pricing, to bring uniformity to estimates so everyone is on the same page, to ensure a more accurate database and so on. Nothing the Federal government could really do. Insurance regulation is a right unto the individual states. Ma Bell is reforming, GM, Renault and Toyota are talking about some sort of combination, could be monopolies are recycling.
Interesting, but unlikely. Congress regulates interstate trade through the ICC so federal law trumps state law re: interstate trade. If I remember correctly, the courts give the feds a wide reach when defining what does and doesn't affect interstate commerce. The idea makes for good chat though. BTW, GM better hope that Renault and [Nissan] are game for an alliance - might be their only hope for survival. They're running out of subsidiaries to sell - LOL.
_____________________________
Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you a yacht big enough to pull up right alongside it.
- DLR
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