Aon to buy RMIS vendor Valley Oak Systems

CHICAGO--Aon Corp. said Wednesday that it intends to acquire San Ramon, Calif.-based risk management information system vendor Valley Oak Systems for an undisclosed amount.

Aon expects the deal to close by Jan. 31, 2007.

Valley Oak Systems will join Aon's RiskLabs unit as part of its e-Solutions software group, the Chicago-based brokerage said.Aon acquired Risk Laboratories L.L.C. in 2004 and phased out its own RMIS product in favor of RiskLab's RiskConsole system (BI, March 22, 2004).

RiskConsole was the 10th largest RMIS based on 2,240 installations in risk management departments in 2005, according to Business Insurance's 2006 rankings. Valley Oak System's iVOS system was the eighth largest with 2,930 installations.

With the combination of RiskConsole and iVOS, risk managers will have the only global end-to-end browser-based RMIS solution in the marketplace, according to Kathy Burns, managing director of Aon's eSolutions.

Valley Oak's iVOS system provides claims administration, medical bill review, policy underwriting, case management, billing and event management capabilities, while RiskConsole's strengths lie in data analysis and reporting capabilities.

Valley Oak has 115 employees and reported $15 million in revenues in 2005, according to Randy Wheeler, founder and chief executive officer of Valley Oak Systems.