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Microsoft Services

Customer Solution Case Study

Better equipped for the future thanks to internal “Microsoft Department”

“If necessary we have the benefit of direct contact with Microsoft’s development departments via the Technical Account Manager.”

Manfred Ricken, Engineering Manager, Client Server, ITERGO Informationstechnologie GmbH

The insurance industry depends on up-to-date information and complex calculations. Life insurance providers work with calculations that often extend for decades into the future and are therefore highly complicated. During the compilation of an insurance quotation, a consultant will require quick access to applications and data sources to be able to calculate the insurance premium. As an internal service provider of the ERGO Insurance Group, ITERGO looks after a number of well known insurance companies. The company values Microsoft® as a reliable partner with regard to safeguarding IT services. Microsoft supplies its own staff, a number of whom work on site at ITERGO. The consultation package includes the strategic and logical use of new products as well as the ongoing support of IT operations. In this way, ITERGO constantly employs new technology, guarantees excellent availability and value for money, and provides a valuable contribution for the future of the ERGO Insurance Group.

Customer: ITERGO, a part of the ERGO Insurance GroupWeb Site: www.itergo.comCustomer Size: Approximately 1,500Country or Region: GermanyIndustry: Insurance

Customer ProfileITERGO Informationstechnologie GmbH was founded as an independent IT service provider for the ERGO Insurance Group in 2000.

Background Around 1,500 employees deal with all

of Ergo’s internal as well as external IT requirements. ITERGO bases its implementation of IT processes on Microsoft solutions.

Solution A Microsoft Services Architecture and

Planning Advisor and a Dedicated Technical Account Manager (DTAM) work in tandem to support ITERGO during the implementation of these tasks.

Advantages

Thanks to their excellent knowledge of Microsoft products and their familiarity with ITERGO processes, Microsoft Services employees are able to make a significant contribution towards the effective and advantageous use of Microsoft technologies. ITERGO is provided with continuous support by a Dedicated Technical Account Manager.

“We expect to be able to halve database operating costs within five years following the consolidation of SAP applications with the aid of the Microsoft platform.”Manfred Ricken, Engineering Manager, Client Server, ITERGO Informationstechnologie GmbH

ITERGO Informationstechnologie GmbH is the internal IT service provider of the ERGO Insurance Group. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of ERGO and was founded in 2000 following the consolidation of the IT departments of insurance providers Hamburg-Mannheimer, Victoria, D.A.S. and DKV.

Around 1,500 employees design and implement IT tasks and projects for more than 40,000 corporate and remote staff working for multiple insurance companies.

Among other projects, ITERGO is responsible for a number of IBM mainframe systems, more than 1,000 servers and in excess of 40,000 workstations.

The company headquarters are located in Dusseldorf; additional branches are located in Hamburg, Cologne and Munich.

The Importance of ITFrom the administration of customer information and complex calculations to the long-term development of investment assets, the insurance industry is an economic sector reliant on capable IT technology.

“Rapid, flexible and accurate data processing is vital for success within the insurance sector,” explains Manfred Ricken, Engineering Manager, Client Server, at ITERGO.

For the same reason, insurance companies profit more than most from technical IT advantages. For example, the more detailed and extensive insurance-related calculations can be carried out, the more accurately new products, risks or investment opportunities can be evaluated. This makes insurance companies more competitive. All good reasons for ITERGO to establish an excellent working relationship with the provider whose software plays a particularly important role within the company: Microsoft.

For almost ten years now, a team including an Architecture and Planning Advisor and Dedicated Technical Account Manager (DTAM) has been working exclusively for ITERGO. Both individuals work in close co-operation.

The Advisor ensures that up-to-date and appropriate Microsoft technology is applied at just the right time.

The role of the Technical Account Manager includes recommending and initiating measures that enable excellent availability of utilized systems. For this purpose, both Microsoft experts usually work directly on site at ITERGO.

Intelligent Product Selection Saves CostsAfter many years of close co-operation, the list of consultancy and conversion projects realized is extensive. A typical example is the creation of a portal for a CRM system on Microsoft SQL Server® 2005 completed recently, which was supervised by a Microsoft Advisor.

The project became necessary after ITERGO decided that they were not happy with the interface between Siebel CRM and a new version of the previous database system. “Once the portal for the database had been transferred to the Microsoft platform recommended by our Advisor, migration was easy,” says IT Manager Ricken. He was particularly impressed by the commitment displayed by both manufacturers.

In order to simplify the implementation of the project, the Advisor initiated contact between Microsoft and Siebel in order to clarify important details.

Thanks to the communication efforts of the Advisor, ITERGO was also able to participate in a Technical Adoption Program (TAP) for Microsoft Internet Security & Acceleration (ISA) Servers. This program is used by Microsoft to give selected clients the chance to test new products long before they are introduced into the market and to gain some experience.

“For almost ten years now, our co-operation with Microsoft employees has resulted in an effective use of the latest Microsoft technology and a trouble-free IT operation.”

For ITERGO, the advantages were huge. “Some requirements we had with regard to the ISA Server have been incorporated into the development of the new version, and now we do not need to purchase additional software. We will continue to make use of this possibility of integrating our requirements into Microsoft products in the future,” says Ricken.

The company was further able to make substantial savings through IT monitoring: instead of using IBM Tivoli components for the monitoring of Microsoft server systems as was originally planned, Ricken and his colleagues followed the advice of their Advisor and decided to use the Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 with its “Out of the box” solution almost entirely throughout the organization.

Current projects include the complete consolidation of SAP applications on the Microsoft platform. While the application content of SAP has been running on a Microsoft basis for some time, some databases were still operating on a mainframe. These databases were successively imported onto SQL Server. New SAP applications are now installed directly onto the same – thanks to advice supplied by the Advisor. “We expect to be able to halve database operating costs within five years following the consolidation of SAP applications with the aid of the Microsoft platform,” says Ricken.

Prevention Reduces RiskThe Dedicated Technical Account Manager regularly carries out health checks and risk assessments. These measures are intended to optimize stability and safeguard the performance of the IT system.

“We can counteract possible faults as early as possible in this way,” explains Ricken. Health checks carried out to date have included the areas of Active Directory, Exchange Server and SharePoint Portal Server.

If a fault occurs, the Technical Account Manager acts as a mediator between Microsoft and ITERGO and is able to drive solution processes.

This involves much more than mere fault remediation. As part of a joint follow-up, the Microsoft DTAM also assists with the detection of areas of weakness that result in faults.

On the basis of these discoveries, it is possible to develop measures to rule out recurrences. Less spectacular, but just as important, are projects such as the company-wide upgrade of all PC workstations to Windows XP that was carried out a few years ago.

“Our Dedicated Technical Account Manager successfully supported us during development and testing whenever a fault occurred,” Ricken recalls.

Fault-free and Cost EffectiveThe Advisor and the DTAM are sought after subject matter experts within ITERGO. They know the IT system inside out and can provide detailed support. Their knowledge often exceeds mere expertise with regard to the Microsoft products used and for example includes knowledge of SAN systems or company-critical applications such as SAP.

With time, Microsoft staff has also learned about the peculiarities of the insurance industry. From a strategic point of view, ITERGO is therefore using its change and cost-saving potential in a particularly effective way. The company is continuously profiting from excellent IT stability. Continuous maintenance and the support provided by the Dedicated Technical Account Manager are a vital foundation .

If a fault should occur despite all this, it is usually quickly rectified thanks to the direct contact between Microsoft and the relevant departments – a further

important contribution towards reducing IT costs.

ITERGO Informationstechnologie GmbHheadquarters are located in Dusseldorf

Microsoft ServicesAs the consulting, technical support, and customer service arm of the world’s leading software company, Microsoft Services enables the successful adoption, deployment, and use of Microsoft solutions and technologies for all customers.

For more information about Microsoft Services, go to: www.microsoft.com/microsoftservices

Further InformationITERGO Informationstechnologie GmbHVictoriaplatz 140477 DusseldorfTel.: 0211 477-0Fax: 0211 477-2222Email: [email protected]

Business Customer ServicesMicrosoft Deutschland GmbHKonrad-Zuse-Straße 185716 UnterschleißheimTel.: 0180 5 672330*Fax: 0180 5 229554*Email: [email protected]*0.14 Euros/min., national tariff

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Document published January 2009