Fireman's Fund to use alfabet's planningIT
Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. (FFIC) is implementing alfabet Inc.'s planningIT. alfabet, a software provider in strategic IT planning and management, created planningIT as a solution to support business competitiveness by reducing the complexity of its IT environment, promising to reduce costs and increasing efficiency.
alfabet says planningIT will help FFIC plan and monitor the performance of IT support to ensure business strategy and demands are understood, prioritized and executed, adding that the costs, quality and risks to IT support are known and considered during decision-making.
FFIC says a 9% reduction in the number of its applications is anticipated, as is a similar reduction in the complexity of its application portfolio, by 2011. The company expects to achieve and sustain this by leveraging planningIT to manage and maintain a single, authoritative repository for application portfolio management; understand and report on its complete portfolio of applications; build application rationalization as a repeatable process; and support longer-term strategic planning for application retirement and optimization.
Hitachi Consulting UK Consolidates Swiss Re's Expense Processing
Hitachi Consulting UK has implemented a Cost Operations Shared Service Centre model for Swiss Re. The model is designed to provide consolidated expense processing and reporting for the company's U.S. and UK entities.
Known internally as "BOOST" (BIS and Oracle Operations Standardisation), the project was based on Oracle ERP Financials, and controls overheads, increases efficiency and simplifies data reporting associated with intercompany recharge process, according to Hitachi.
"As both the U.S. and the UK entities were moving toward a new standard chart of accounts, we needed a set of books for each," says Thomas Wright, IT director of L&H Finance Processes for Swiss Re. "Hitachi Consulting created the technical delivery plan, application setup, technical specifications and components, and the strategic project plan to ensure a smooth delivery of our new consolidated operations.
"Before this project, we'd have many expenses from different sources and entities, and our accounts would have to know the cost center structures, codes and expenses in order to effectively process them," Wright continues. "Hitachi Consulting enabled us to view a single, standardized set of accounts."
Hitachi Consulting worked collaboratively with Swiss Re to develop two standard system and process platforms with harmonized financial processes incorporating BIS and Oracle. Hitachi Consulting also helped centralize cost operations into a single-service company model; standardized the processes around global expense policies, procedures and reporting transparency; and eliminated manual workarounds.
Tokio Marine Implements MajescoMastek Billing
Tokio Marine Management, U.S. manager for Japan's oldest and largest property/casualty insurer, will use Commercial Billing Lines, an insurance solution product created by MajescoMastek, the U.S. subsidiary of global technology solutions provider Mastek Limited.
The system is designed to streamline the billing process, and increase the time and cost efficiencies for companies and their clients. A custom billing platform is said to provide additional capabilities, such as agency billing for the company.
MajescoMastek says it went from being part of a multi-vendor consortium brought together to deliver a best-of-breed solution, to becoming the sole solutions provider. By leveraging its global experience and proprietary knowledge in the insurance IT field, MajescoMastek completed the transformation of Tokio Marine Management's Commercial Lines Billing system, the company says.
