Infosys Technologies Ltd on April 17, 2008 has announced that Conseco, Inc. (NYSE: CNO) has selected Infosys for a five-year contract to provide development and maintenance services to its key business applications. Conseco, a leading insurance provider focused on offering financial security for the life, health and retirement needs of middle-market and senior Americans, is partnering with Infosys to jointly support its extensive business applications. Conseco will be able to leverage Infosys’ capabilities and best practices in applications management to gain operational efficiencies and enhance business value.

“After carefully examining our options, Conseco selected Infosys for this strategic outsourcing initiative because we are confident that Infosys understands the rapidly shifting dynamics in the insurance market, and brings to bear deep technical skills in an innovative service model,” said Russ Bostick, Conseco’s executive vice president and Chief Information Officer. “By partnering with Infosys, we’ll be able to jointly focus on developing and implementing differentiating business solutions that will help Conseco continue to drive future growth.”

Under the terms of the partnership, Infosys will be supporting several mission-critical IT systems that power Conseco’s business ? including new business, policy administration, claims, audit management, marketing, and agent compensation. By centralizing the support, maintenance and development of these applications with Infosys, Conseco will be able to belier navigate business cycles and scale its applications and IT capabilities to meet business demands.

“Infosys is a Company with broad capabilities and a cost-efficient and innovative service delivery model,” Bostick said. “We view Infosys as a strong partner for complex work, and we entered into the outsourcing relationship knowing we would like their advice and implementation assistance with other applications initiatives. We’ve already benefited by emulating Infosys practices in improving our Conseco India Data Services subsidiary, which provides similar services for other mission-critical Conseco systems.”

Eric Paternoster, senior vice president, Insurance, Healthcare and Life Sciences, Infosys Technologies, said the partnership will support Conseco’s business growth and operational excellence goals.

“Conseco is one of the central providers in the middle-market insurance industry today,” Paternoster said. “Understanding that customers want enhanced services at a competitive cost-point has been key to Conseco’s success to date and Infosys is focused on helping Conseco continue to deliver on that promise.”