LEXINGTON, MA--(MARKET WIRE)--Oct 26, 2007 -- FirstBest Systems®, Inc. today announced that ICW Group, a leading provider of property and casualty insurance, has selected FirstBest's advanced Underwriting Management Systems(TM) (UMS) to position itself as the carrier of choice for its agents. The FirstBest UMS(TM) is the first business solution to address the entire underwriting life cycle in an easy-to-use, integrated platform, enabling ICW to bring superior speed and results to its underwriting process.

Provided as an on-demand, Web-based platform for underwriting all lines of business, the FirstBest UMS delivers straight-through processing, exception-based underwriting, real-time collaboration, a management dashboard, knowledge management, and an execution platform for predictive modeling -- all in one integrated solution. Carriers deploying this solution benefit from closer agent-underwriter relationships, management visibility into the underwriting process, and the continuous capturing and sharing of underwriting experience and best practices.

"We selected FirstBest's UMS because of its alignment with our strategy. With FirstBest's UMS, we unilaterally become as strong as our strongest underwriter. The solution continuously captures the knowledge of our most experienced people and makes it easy to leverage and share that expertise," said David Hoppen, Chief Operating Officer, ICW Group. "Having the ability to memorialize our institutional knowledge is key to perpetuating and improving our game plan."

"Our selection of FirstBest's UMS enables us to execute on our strategic initiative -- to deploy enterprise underwriting. This solution is clearly filling a void in the marketplace and at ICW by providing a comprehensive underwriting solution based on the latest technologies and aligning with the features and functions required in today's marketplace," said Deborah Smallwood, Chief Transformation Officer at ICW, who joined the company earlier this year from the analyst firm TowerGroup.

"ICW Group understands that the key to competitiveness lies in its core underwriting processes. The FirstBest UMS provides a complete, automated solution for all transactions -- new business, renewals, exceptions, referrals, endorsements, and more -- empowering ICW to scale and adapt in response to market cycles," said John Belizaire, CEO of FirstBest Systems.

About FirstBest Systems(TM), Inc.

Founded in 2006, FirstBest Systems®, Inc. delivers advanced Underwriting Management Systems(TM) (UMS) that enable commercial insurance carriers to profit from better underwriting. FirstBest's UMS(TM) is a business solution provided as a Web-based platform for underwriting all commercial lines of business. It uniquely delivers straight-through processing, exception-based underwriting, real-time collaboration, knowledge management, a management dashboard, and an execution platform for predictive modeling -- in one integrated solution. The deployment of this solution results in increased revenue and profitability, closer agent-underwriter relationships, management visibility into the underwriting process, and the continuous capturing and sharing of underwriting experience and best practices. For more information, please visit www.firstbest.com or call us at 888.863.6095.

About ICW Group

ICW Group is a growing multi-line property and casualty insurance carrier providing workers' compensation, surety, commercial property, DIC and personal and business auto insurance. Its member companies consist of Insurance Company of the West, Explorer Insurance Company and Independence Casualty and Surety. Based in San Diego, Calif., ICW Group is a full-service carrier, providing claims and safety services for its product lines. With its unparalleled financial strength and underwriting acumen, privately held ICW Group is transforming itself into a 'next generation' insurance carrier. More information is available at www.icwgroup.com.

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     Meira Primes
     Vice President of Marketing
     FirstBest Systems
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