Global Insurer Reduces Danger of Reputational Risk with ...



Overview

Country/Region: United Kingdom

Industry: Finance

Customer Profile

A major global insurer operating in Europe, North America, and the Asia Pacific region with a call centre in India.

Business Situation

The insurance company wanted to improve the flow of information from its board of directors to shareholders, investors, and its 20,000 staff by using Webcasts.

Solution

Working with Telegenica, the insurer implemented Stream2, a webcast and content delivery network (CDN) solution, which runs on Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003, part of Microsoft Windows Server System™ integrated server software.

Benefits

■ Reputation safeguarded.

■ Webcasts produced in hours, not days.

■ Offshore call centre training costs reduced.

■ Consistent, timely messages sent to staff.

| | |“The production of Webcasts has been cut from days to hours with Stream2 and Microsoft software. The reporting tools and security features embedded in this solution are a major bonus for us as an enterprise.”

Head of IT, Major Global Insurer

| |

| | | |A leading global insurer wanted to improve the flow of information from its board of directors to |

| | | |shareholders, investors, and its 20,000 staff by using Webcasts. The company also wanted to protect |

| | | |its industry reputation for probity and best practice by ensuring that call centre staff were up to |

| | | |date with legislative and compliance changes. It worked with Microsoft® Partner Telegenica to deliver|

| | | |Stream2, a Webcast and Content Delivery Network (CDN) solution, which runs on Microsoft Windows |

| | | |Server™ 2003, part of Microsoft Windows Server System™ integrated server software. Telegenica |

| | | |maximised use of the insurer’s existing Microsoft assets. It overcame major challenges with superior |

| | | |management tools and hit the deadline for roll out in just eight months. It ensures that staff and |

| | | |investors receive consistent and timely messages from the board of directors. |

| | | | |

| | | | |

|[pic] | | |[pic] |

| | | | |

Situation

Globalisation of organisations is driving many financial services companies to investigate and deploy technologies for bringing workers closer together at a lower cost of information delivery. This information may be consistent communication throughout the enterprise or simply equipping employees with the latest human resources or health and safety information. As businesses expand their reach, seek lower operational costs, and aim to deliver better service to customers, affordable delivery of information becomes paramount.

The major financial services companies are all facing these challenges as well as other pressures unique to their own sectors. One major global insurer, which has now implemented a content delivery network (CDN) solution based on Microsoft® technology, has explained the business drivers that led to its decision to invest in CDN. The Head of IT at the Major Global Insurer, says, “In reviewing the CDN market, where there are some 30 to 40 companies operating worldwide, we naturally looked for a low entry price, quick time to deployment, and rapid return on investment. We also wanted a software-based solution to avoid having to spend huge amounts on new hardware.”

The global insurer also had its own priorities, which were more concerned with risk mitigation than cost benefit considerations. The company had already made a significant investment in business process outsourcing to India. Its highly-trained workforce, nevertheless, needed regular checks to ensure they were fully conversant with the products. The company’s Head of IT says, “Even small regulatory changes can have a major impact on how a product is sold. We administer these products across 24 contract administration engines so there is a heavy requirement for regular refresher and new feature training.”

But, the insurance giant was not just concerned about regulatory compliance and protecting its reputation for good practice. The company also wanted to improve communication with all its 20,000 staff worldwide by using Webcasts to get messages from its Chief Executive Officer, and other senior executives, onto every desktop in the company. “It’s very hard to put a value on having the ability to instantly communicate positive messages,” says the spokesperson. “But, they are proving invaluable in broadcasting our corporate values and in maintaining good staff morale.”

Finally, the insurer also wanted to use Webcasting to communicate embargoed messages to shareholders and the investment community. Webcasts have to be pre-positioned using strict security guidelines to avoid breaching Stock Exchange protocols on the release of sensitive information that can influence market making. The insurer promised that by July 2003 its Webcasting system would be available globally for results announcements.

Solution

The global insurer initially chose a solution from Inktomi, but it abandoned the software in 2002, eight months before it went live. The company looked for an alternative supplier that could meet the July 2003 deadline for roll out. Telegenica, a privately-owned technology enterprise operating in the CDN space, offered the insurer its Stream2 solution that runs on standard Microsoft technology.

Stream2 is ideally suited for Webcasts, training, and conferences. Stephen Pendry, Chief Technology Officer, Telegenica, says, “The Forrester Research market overview on enterprise CDNs published in February 2004, and updated last September, gave Telegenica visibility in the wider CDN market, as well as providing a benchmark against our competitors. Our solution uses standard Microsoft technology and the insurer’s IT people wanted to use standard technology.”

The decision to work with Telegenica, taken in December 2002, was all the more important for Microsoft, because even at this late stage the global insurer had considered Open Source alternatives including Linux. Pendry says, “Stream2 is a software-based solution using edge of network technology that delivers high bandwidth data to desktop PCs, and avoids any necessity for significant bespoke hardware expenditure.”

The customer has a mixture of legacy systems, and five business units, with some using the Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003 operating system, part of Microsoft Windows Server System™ integrated server software, and the Microsoft Windows® 2000 Server operating system. Pendry says, “It was clearly helpful that the customer already had the infrastructure in place for monitoring, back up, and anti virus. On top of that we used Microsoft Media Services (MMS) for videostreaming and Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) from the server platform.”

The insurer was already using Microsoft SharePoint® Portal Server 2003, which was another bonus. “Because they already had a portal using SharePoint Portal Server 2003, all we did was insert the Webcasting site within that portal. This made it easy to manage collaboration issues when building Webcasts. It was very helpful with constructing the transcript, pulling together various media, and joining up Microsoft Office PowerPoint® slides,” adds Pendry.

Despite these advantages, the project was highly complex with a number of risk factors, some related to the diversified structure of the insurer’s business. “We had to liaise very closely with the different business units,” says Pendry. “There was a mixture of technologies with the Frame Relay packet-switching protocol to the United States, virtual private network (VPN) over the Internet in Asia, and high-speed Ethernet within the United Kingdom. We also needed to deploy innovative solutions in traversing the insurer’s different business units’ firewalls.”

Among the other major technical challenges was distribution of media files. If there was a failure in copying files, the process had to restart, which could lose valuable time. Pendry says, “We adopted Microsoft Background Intelligent Transfer System (BITS). This technology brings down little bits of information in the background and will restart even if the network connection is disrupted. One of our biggest design wins was to adopt that technology for phase two of the project so that we could improve delivery by the insurer’s wide area network (WAN).”

Benefits

Webcasting Helps Protect Reputational Risk

The new Webcasting solution using Telegenica software and running on Microsoft technology is helping to protect the global insurer’s reputation for probity and best practice throughout its global sales operation.

The Head of IT says, “You simply can’t quantify the financial benefit in terms of safeguarding the reputation of the company. Even the financial penalties imposed by regulators for misselling are paltry compared to the damage done by the consequent publicity if something goes wrong.”

Webcasts Produced in Hours Not Days for Global Delivery

With Stream2 and Microsoft technology, the global insurer met its July 2003 deadline for embargoed Webcasts from the board of directors to the Stock Exchange.

The Head of IT says, “The production of Webcasts has been cut from days to hours with Stream2 and Microsoft software. The reporting tools and security features embedded in this solution are a major bonus for us as an enterprise.”

Consistent and Timely Communication Throughout the Enterprise

Communication now reaches every part of the global operation at the same time. The Head of IT says, “Previously, video messaging was recorded on videotape and posted out around the globe, but this resulted in some offices receiving the communication days after others. The focus of our internal communication strategy is to encourage staff to identify with the company as one big family, instead of as separate business units. The new Webcasting solution helps to strengthen our corporate culture.”

Staff Training Costs Fall While Quality and Consistency Improve

The global insurer is achieving significant cost savings by using Webcasting for training, while ensuring that consistent themes are delivered across the business.

The insurer is realising a number of specific benefits from the new training system:

● More rapid response time to legislative and compliance changes.

● Staff can complete tests offline with minimum disruption to sales work.

● Rules-based system means untrained staff cannot sell new products.

● Time and money spent on traveling to regional training centres from branch offices is no longer required.

The global insurer’s spokesperson says, “Webcasting is particularly suited to the call centre environment. Staff no longer have to leave their desks to go to the training room. We have estimated annual reductions on training for our staff in India and also achieved savings in the United Kingdom. Staff no longer need to go to London for training.”

Microsoft Windows Server 2003

The Microsoft Windows Server 2003 family helps organizations do more with less. Now you can: Run your IT infrastructure more efficiently; Build better applications faster; Deliver the best infrastructure for enhancing user productivity.

And you can do all this faster, more securely, and at lower cost. For more information about Windows Server 2003, please visit:

windowsserver2003

-----------------------

| |Software and Services

■ Products

− Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003

− '(129L¿Ôu € 02€?’ÈÊÞòô

2

B

D

V

X

”

–

°

²

´

È

Ê

ì

ú

Ð

Ö

×

Ø

Ù

ù

ú

û

ÿ

Þ

üôìôüèüôüèüèüèüèÝèÙèÕèÎÇüÿÃèÙÃÙÃèÙÎÃèÙÃÙÃÙÃü´©¡©–èüŽüèhbHB* |phÿ™hÍ!ShbHCJaJ

halCJaJhÍ!ShÍ!SCJaJhÍ!ShéM”CJaJh shhÒ

hÍ!ShbH

hÍ!ShÍ!SMicrosoft SQL Server 2000

− Microsoft Windows 2000 Server

− Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services

− Web Services

|Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition

− Microsoft Internet Information Server

− Microsoft Media Services

− Microsoft .NET Remoting Framework

− Microsoft Background Intelligent Transfer System (BITS)

Partners

■ Telegenica | |

© 2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, PowerPoint, SharePoint, Windows, Windows Server, and Windows Server System are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Document published June 2005 | | |

For More Information

For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:

For more information about Telegenica products and services, visit the Web site at:



................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download