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Curam Software and IBM Team on Integrated Software Solution to Improve Delivery of Social Services By Agencies

Posted on: Friday, 12 June 2009, 06:00 CDT

Solution Focuses on Improving Information Sharing through Business Process Management

HERNDON, Va., June 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Curam Software and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the integration of the Curam Business Application Suite with the IBM Business Process Management (BPM) software portfolio to help social services agencies share information, reduce duplication and improve delivery of services to individuals and families.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO )

Over the last 30 years, human services, workforce services, and social security agencies have made major IT investments to meet the growing demand for services and respond to changing regulatory requirements. While these investments have yielded some improvements, many agencies continue to have a poorly integrated mix of disparate IT systems which cannot easily share citizen or case information with other agencies, leading to duplicate efforts and stymieing the effectiveness of caseworkers looking to improve service to citizens.

Studies show that citizens who need one service from a government agency, such as temporary assistance for needy families (TANF) or food stamps, often require other services such as child care or disability services. Not only does the poor sharing of information between the agencies that deliver these services lead to delays in processing benefits and delivering help to those in need; it also contributes to unnecessary spending by these agencies and lost productivity by workers as they search for information they should have at their fingertips.

Deploying and managing Curam Software on the IBM BPM portfolio helps to eliminate the closed nature and rigidity that has characterized the application architectures of these agencies, and is enabling flexibility, increased responsiveness and sharing of information not possible until now.

"Curam Software is very proud to announce the integration of our market leading solution with IBM's SOA software in order to provide increased value to our customers," said Oisin Clarke, executive vice president of product development, Curam Software. "In a time of economic strain, it is more important than ever for agencies to be able to provide outcome-focused, coordinated services in a family context. Service-oriented architecture allows for quicker time-to-market and the ability to react faster to the changing needs of citizens, translating to improved outcomes for children and families in the long run."

In April 2008, Curam Software was invited to participate in the highly selective IBM-sponsored Customer Acceleration Program (CAP) for the IBM WebSphere Business Process Management portfolio. Through the CAP, IBM and Curam Software worked together to successfully demonstrate the ability of the Curam Business Application Suite to work seamlessly within an SOA environment, by exposing Curam-delivered business services which were assembled and orchestrated using the IBM BPM portfolio.

The Curam Software solution is part of a new category of enterprise software called Social Enterprise Management (SEM) targeted at automating the operations of health, human services, workforce services, and social security agencies. Integrated with the IBM BPM solution, the new joint solution is designed to work with a client's existing technology while helping to knock down silos that block their effectiveness, simplifying policies, assessing constituent needs and speeding referrals to state and community-based resources.

"The integration of Curam Software with the IBM BPM portfolio combines the advantages of commercial off-the-shelf software, an enterprise platform and service-oriented architecture with the business process management tools required by agencies to implement the solutions that meet their strategic objectives," said Sandy Carter, vice president for IBM Software Group Channels. "This combination of industry leading platforms will help our joint clients to work more intelligently while eliminating redundancies and improving performance."

With more than 8,000 customers and 7,400 Business Partners, IBM continues to build on its SOA market leadership. In fact, industry analyst Wintergreen recently announced that IBM holds 70 percent of the worldwide SOA market, a six percent increase over last year. For more information on all of the new products and services announced today or for details on how IBM is helping clients and Business Partners to make smarter, faster decisions by using SOA, visit: http://www.ibm.com/soa

Curam Software is the leading provider of Social Enterprise Management (SEM) software solutions, delivering best-in-class applications for social enterprises globally including, health and human services, workforce services, and social security organizations. Using the Curam Business Application Suite agencies can immediately reap the benefits of client-centric business processes and an outcomes-driven integrated service delivery model. The Curam Business Application Suite, underpinned by the Curam Enterprise Framework, combines the advantages of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software, an enterprise platform and service-oriented architecture with the business and technical flexibility required to allow agencies to implement solutions to meet their strategic objectives. Curam Software is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland with offices throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and India. For more information, visit www.curamsoftware.com.

IBM, WebSphere, Lotus, Tivoli, Rational, SmartSOA, Cognos, DB2 and the IBM e-business logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. For a list of additional IBM trademarks, please see www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml

All other company, product or service names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of others. Statements concerning IBM's future development plans and schedules are made for planning purposes only, and are subject to change or withdrawal without notice. Reseller prices may vary.

Curam is a registered trademark of Curam Software Ltd. All Curam products and service names are trademarks and property of Curam Software Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Copyright (C) 2009 Curam Software Ltd.

Source: AMR Research, Inc. report: "SOA: The State of the Market," by Ian Finley, Tuesday, December 18, 2007.

Contacts: Marie Hill Chris Rubsamen Curam Software IBM Media Relations (703) 738-9828 (914) 766-1803 marie.hill@curamsoftware.com rubsamen@us.ibm.com

SOURCE IBM; Curam Software

Source: PR Newswire

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