Companies join forces to take state business

CGI-AMS has joined forces with software maker Versata to pursue unemployment benefits modernization efforts among state agencies.

While CGI-AMS contributes experience in public sector integration, Versata provides software design products that the company said reduce the time and cost of application development and maintenance. The companies plan to replicate in other states a solution Versata helped build in Utah: the Comprehensive Unemployment Benefits System (CUBS).

Richard Hardin, executive consultant with CGI-AMS’ Human Services and Labor Practice, said the alliance will target state customers trying to modernize the claims process for unemployment benefits.

Hardin said the ability to transfer CUBS lowers the customers’ risk in fielding an unemployment benefits solution.

“You’ll see, in the next three to four years, half if not more than half of the states looking for a new solution,” added David Chamberlain, Versata’s chief executive officer.

CGI-AMS and Versata aren’t the only partnership targeting the unemployment benefits upgrade market. Adobe Systems and systems integrator Covansys earlier this year announced plans to team on forms-oriented government projects, including unemployment benefits solutions.

CGI-AMS also has ties to Adobe. Earlier this month, the companies announced plans to provide state and local governments with process automation solutions. That alliance involves the integration of CGI-AMS’ AMS Advantage 3 Enterprise Resource Planning suite and Adobe’s LifeCycle software.