Crawford & Company Ranks 108th on 2012 InformationWeek 500

ATLANTA and MONARCH BEACH, Calif., Sept. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Crawford & Company (NYSE: CRDA; CRDB), the world's largest independent provider of claims management solutions, has ranked 108th on this year's InformationWeek 500, an annual listing of the nation's most innovative users of business technology.

This marks the fourth year in a row Crawford has placed in the rankings. The annual list was revealed last night at a gala awards ceremony at the InformationWeek 500 Conference at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort, Dana Point, Calif.

"We are very pleased to be recognized for the fourth consecutive year by InformationWeek," said Crawford President and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey T. Bowman. "Placing among the 500 top technology innovators validates our investment in our global strategic IT plan and improved systems. It says that we can develop a vision and implement solutions that better serve our clients, which is our ultimate goal."

Crawford outlined the development and achievements of the Company's global systems roadmap in its InformationWeek 500 nomination. The roadmap unifies business intelligence, social networking, business process management and analytics technologies into a standard global enterprise portal. It focuses on technologies that drive workforce optimization, and many of the most recent projects implemented or underway have featured significant process innovations.

For example, Crawford Community is a newly developed social application that helps streamline the assignment of catastrophe adjusters. "We were able to implement Crawford Community in time for this year's hurricane season, and it has proven to be successful in speeding the assignment process and getting adjusters onsite quickly," said Brian S. Flynn, Crawford's global chief information officer. "This type of real-world application both improves our own processes and helps us satisfy customers."

Other workforce optimization projects underway include automated claim assignment and scheduling for non-catastrophe claims, client billing and employee on-boarding. Crawford uses the Appian Business Process Management (BPM) Suite, a market-leading technology platform, to develop these and other applications.

"I am proud of our employees and their achievements and thank them for the work that has resulted in another year of recognition by InformationWeek," Flynn said. "Their passion for delivering quality service and willingness to embrace transformational change best prepares Crawford for future opportunities. This award acknowledges that innovative risk taking and execution of our strategic plan continues to pays dividends."

"The InformationWeek 500 has recognized the most innovative users of business technology for 24 years, and this year's innovations were particularly impressive," said InformationWeek Editor In Chief Rob Preston. "What the editors looked for are unconventional approaches – new technologies, new models, new ways of grabbing business opportunities and solving complex business problems with IT."

InformationWeek identifies and honors the nation's most innovative users of information technology with its annual 500 listing, and also tracks the technology, strategies, investments and administrative practices of America's best-known companies. Past overall winners include PACCAR Inc., The Vanguard Group, CME Group, National Semiconductor, Con-Way, and Principal Financial Group. The InformationWeek 500 rankings are unique among corporate rankings as it spotlights the power of innovation in information technology, rather than simply identifying the biggest IT spenders. Additional details on the InformationWeek 500 can be found online at www.informationweek.com/iw500/. 

About Crawford
Based in Atlanta, Ga., Crawford & Company is the world's largest independent provider of claims management solutions to the risk management and insurance industry as well as self-insured entities, with an expansive global network serving clients in more than 70 countries. The Crawford System of Claims Solutions(SM) offers comprehensive, integrated claims services, business process outsourcing and consulting services for major product lines including property and casualty claims management, workers compensation claims and medical management, and legal settlement administration. The Company's shares are traded on the NYSE under the symbols CRDA and CRDB.

About InformationWeek Business Technology Network
(http://www.informationweek.com)
The InformationWeek Business Technology Network provides IT executives with unique analysis and tools that parallel their work flow—from defining and framing objectives through to the evaluation and recommendation of solutions. Anchored by InformationWeek, the multimedia powerhouse that looks across the enterprise, the network scales across the most critical technology categories with online properties such as DarkReading.com (security), NetworkComputing.com (networking and communications) and BYTE (consumer technology). The network also provides focused content for key IT targets, such as CIOs, developers and SMBs, via InformationWeek Global CIO, Dr. Dobb's and InformationWeek SMB, as well as vital vertical industries with InformationWeek Financial Services, Government and Healthcare sites. Content is at the nucleus of our information distribution strategy—IT professionals turn to our experts and communities to stay informed, get advice and research technologies to make strategic business decisions.

SOURCE Crawford & Company