After acquiring Vital Data A/S in Norway, Creative Group Holdings Ltd in the UK and SOCS Groupe SA in France, Columbia, South Carolina-based Policy Management System Corp, a former IBM Corp affiliate – has found the time and energy to announce and complete the takeover of German software and services provider Micado Group GmbH. The goal of the newly-formed company, known as PMSmicado, is to combine Policy Management;s insurance applications with the object-oriented client-server offerings that have been Micado’s main focus since it was founded in 1981. PMSmicado, which supports the Windows and OS/2 operating systems, will bring its object-oriented know-how to Policy Management’s Series III client-server property and casualty insurance systems, PMSmicado executive Markus Klein told Computergram. The German market in particular is unfamiliar with standard solutions, Klein says. It’s hard to get them to stop programming and buy instead. The packaged software idea is nothing new. IBM is trying to do the same in the US. They’re not ready, but we are, Klein says. Although IBM is a competitor, it’s an important ally as well. PMSmicado has also recently agreed to co-operate with IBM Deutschland GmbH. It plans, among other things, to market IBM’s Visual Age.
