Hitachi Consulting UK Enables Innovation Group to Transform Global Claims Administrators’ Business

Consolidation of Multiple Back-Office Financial Applications onto a Single Microsoft Platform Transforms the Company’s Worldwide Claims Business

LONDON — 28 June2010 —[@PR2WEB ] - Hitachi Consulting UK today announced that it is helping the Innovation Group to transform its global claims administrators’ business by consolidating legacy financial systems into a new corporate ledger application.The new application will run on a Microsoft Dynamics® AX platform and integrate with Innovation Group’s latest insurance software, ‘Insurer’.

Innovation Group operates within a number of regions globally including theUK, Spain, France, Germany, Australia, South Africa and the US. The company handles incidents and claims for more than 800 insurance and finance service customers per year. As a result of substantial growth through acquisition, the company was operating ten disparate financial back-office systems. Innovation Group recognised that operating from multiple financial management systems was causing the business a number of challenges, including the manual tasks of month end processes within each region and the consolidation of global accounts.

Tom Mann, Global Enterprise Programme Manager, Innovation Group, commented, “The manual intervention required to invoice, bill and collect was excessive and inefficient, and was having repercussions across the group.”

Following a comprehensive selection process, Innovation Group chose Microsoft Dynamics AX as its platform and awarded the implementation project to Hitachi Consulting UK. One of the deciding factors for Innovation Group was Hitachi Consulting UK’s Dynamics AX Delivery methodology,known as ’Consensus‘, which includes a toolset and accelerators to help reduce risk, delivery times and cost, and facilitate best practice configuration.

Tom Mann added, “Hitachi Consulting’s consultants did a fantastic job. They were extremely flexible and happy to work to our project management methodology, providing reports and updates whenever we required them.They also flagged issues and risks immediately and gave us complete confidence in their ability to deliver on time and budget. They knew what was needed to be done and did absolutely everything necessary to meet our timelines and strict cost parameters. Hitachi Consulting completed the first implementation successfully on time and on budget. Over the course of the project they have become a valued supplier ,and although it was a fixed price project, they continue to provide ongoing support.”

Hitachi Consulting’s consultants completed an initial inception phase. This involved workshops with key stakeholders to validate the assumptions made regarding the adoption of Hitachi Consulting’s best practice processes, the use of standard Dynamics AX without any customisations, as well as to understand and scope the integration with Insurer. Hitachi Consulting’s library of nearly 1,000 best practice business processes, matching configurations and test scripts help to drive down the long-term cost of ownership and improve the overall supportability of the platform. The project also made use of Hitachi Consulting’s offshore development team in Pune, India, whose staff provided excellent support to ensure the project was delivered on time and within budget.

The business benefits that are expected to be realised from the roll-out of the Microsoft Dynamics solution include:
• Operational savings across finance teams as a result of business process automation
•Significantly reduced licence and upgrade costs
• Improved visibility and management of operational finances and cash flow – the company is now in a better position to improve age debtors and control costs
• A scalable platform for future business growth

The first phase of the project was delivered in December 2009. This involved supporting Innovation Group with the first roll-out of its new finance platform to its business in France.It also involved delivering training and support materials to enable Innovation Group to complete the roll-out across Spain, UK, Germany, Australia, South Africa and the US in2010.

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About Hitachi Consulting Corporation
As Hitachi, Ltd.'s (NYSE: HIT) global consulting company, with operations in the United States, Europe and Asia, Hitachi Consulting is a recognized leader in delivering proven business and IT strategies and solutions to Global 2000companies across many industries. With a balanced view of strategy, people,process and technology, we work with companies to understand their unique business needs, and to develop and implement practical business strategies and technology solutions. From business strategy development through application deployment, our consultants are committed to helping clients quickly realize measurable business value and achieve sustainable ROI. Hitachi Consulting's client base includes 25 percent of the Global 100 as well as many leading mid-market companies. We offer a client-focused, collaborative approach and transfer knowledge throughout each engagement.

For more information,call 1.877.664.0010 or visit www.hitachiconsulting.com.

About Hitachi,Ltd.
Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT / TSE: 6501) is a leading global technological and industrial company with total revenues of ¥10,000 billion($102.0 billion) for the year ended March 31, 2009. Hitachi’s business is highly diversified, encompassing operations in the following seven segments:Information & Telecommunication Systems; Electronic Devices; Power &Industrial Systems; Digital Media & Consumer Products; High Functional Materials & Components; Logistics, Services & Others; and Financial Services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit Hitachi's website at http://www.hitachi.com.