Cloud modernisation of an insurance provider's Supercluster

The challenge

The insurance provider’s Supercluster platform had reached the end of its support lifecycle, increasing the risk of operational failures. Running critical business applications on outdated hardware posed the threat of unplanned downtime and higher costs due to reactive maintenance efforts. In addition, the Oracle e-Business suite was out of support and required migration.

The company needed a robust, cost-effective, and scalable cloud solution to support their business needs while enabling future growth and operational flexibility.

The solution

Working with iOCO, the company embarked on a detailed planning and migration process, moving their insurance platform Supercluster workloads to AWS Cloud while transitioning the Oracle e-Business suite to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. This multi-phase migration approach was designed to minimise disruption and maximise the benefits of cloud computing.

Key elements of the solution included:

1. Cloud compute resources: AWS provided scalable and resilient infrastructure, enabling the company to respond dynamically to demand fluctuations.
2. Cost-efficiency: The shift to a cloud-based, pay-as-you-go model eliminated the need for capital expenditure on hardware, improving cost management.
3. Improved agility: IT teams gained the ability to quickly deploy new solutions and services, enhancing the company’s operational flexibility.
4. Phased migration: To mitigate risks, the migration was completed in stages:

• Phase 1: the insurance platform's Africa workloads
• Phase 2: the insurance platform's South Africa workloads
• Phase 3: the insurance platform's core workloads

The benefits

The cloud modernisation project resulted in several key benefits:

1. Enhanced resiliency: AWS provided robust failover and disaster recovery capabilities, reducing the risk of business disruption.
2. Cost savings: The company avoided significant capital expenses related to hardware replacement and reduced its total cost of ownership (TCO) over five years.
3. Agility and scalability: Cloud infrastructure enabled the insurance provider to scale resources as needed, improving operational efficiency and reducing delays.
4. Future-proofing: The shift to a cloud environment ensured ongoing access to cutting-edge technology, without the need for frequent hardware upgrades.

Key performance indicators (KPIs)

To measure the success of the migration, the following KPIs were tracked:

• System availability: Minimised downtime during and after the migration process.
• Cost optimisation: Realisation of cost savings through reduced maintenance and capital expenditures.
• Time-to-market: Improved speed of deploying new services.
• User satisfaction: Enhanced performance and reliability, resulting in positive user feedback post-migration.

Conclusion

By migrating their insurance platform's Supercluster workloads to AWS, with support from iOCO, this leading insurance provider successfully modernised its IT landscape. The company is now benefiting from a more scalable, resilient, and cost-effective infrastructure that is fully aligned with its growth and business needs, positioning the business for greater flexibility and innovation in the future.

This case study highlights how cloud adoption can help businesses in the insurance sector overcome infrastructure challenges and achieve both immediate and long-term operational benefits.