IT is critical in the highly competitive insurance industry and is playing a pivotal role with a focus on modernizing IT infrastructures and permanently cutting costs. Two primary features of centralized and standardized IT services are server-based computing (SBC) and desktop virtualization with thin clients. This lean approach allows employees to always access the same desktop, no matter whether they happen to be in the company headquarter, branch offices or even in their home offices. With solutions developed by IGEL, work sessions can even be transferred from one workstation to another without having to restart the applications each time.  But that’s not all: Thin clients can cut power consumption by up to 51%, save money and help protect the environment through less use of materials, less transport and less electronic waste (e-waste).

Industry Leaflet: Optimum IT Structures for Insurance Companies » IGEL White Paper: Thin clients in the insurance sector »

Customer Stories - Insurance

Alba Insurance (Germany)

Alba Insurance, based in Basel, Switzerland, has modernized its server-based computing (SBC) environment.

Although Alba is 100%-owned by another Swiss insurance company, the Allianz Suisse Insurance Company (Zurich), Alba has been able to make its own mark in the insurance business. The company, which has 250 employees and 12 offices, is active throughout Switzerland, offering all forms of insurance coverage except life insurance. Alba considers its IT system to be a particularly important competitive factor. Modern thin-client workstations create both an efficient and secure IT environment for Alba’s 155 internal office employees

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Basler Insurance (Germany)

Basler Insurance has implemented new thin clients – the stability, flexibility and efficient management of the new devices from IGEL are most impressive.

For over 140 years, Basler Insurance (Basler Versicherungen) has been active on the German market. With its comprehensive lines of insurance products for private customers, business and industry as well as first-class consulting services, the company, with some 1300 employees, is now among the top 30 insurance companies in Germany. Part of the company’s IT strategy includes finding ways to minimize risks and being cost-conscious. A key part of this approach is the centralized provision of host-based and Windows®-based applications over a standardized thin-client infrastructure.

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DAK (Germany)

In support of its newly restructured business processes, Deutsche Angestellten Krankenkasse (DAK), one of Germany’s leading national health insurers, is replacing 5,000 old thin clients with IGEL units featuring significantly improved graphics capability. With their large TFT displays and multi-screen capability, the new IGEL thin clients are making IT workstations more productive, and the on-board IGEL digital services are helping to safeguard this major hardware investment.

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BKK futur (Germany)

BKK futur is a leading health insurance company in Germany. Based in Krefeld, Niederrhein, BKK futur services more than 110,000 policy holders.

After a merger with Stuttgart-based SEL BKK, BKK futur had to quickly and efficiently merge two diverse IT environments. BKK futur had a client-server network with PC workstations, while SEL BKK had adopted a server-based computing architecture.



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BKK ZF & Partner (Germany)

The company health insurance fund, BKK ZF & Partner, emphasises Thin Clients to support insured persons for efficient administration and processing all instances.
 
The company health insurance fund, ZF & Partner, can look back at a long tradition. The company health insurance for social security of employees came into being three years after establishing the ZF Friedrichshafen AG, which today ranks among the leading automobile manufacturer groups for motor power and vehicle engineering. At the time of establishing the company, the health insurance had 324 members. From this small beginning developed a strong insurance company. Today, the company health insurance fund, ZF & Partner, includes over 62,500 insured persons. To offer all members highly qualified services, it needs a corresponding extended and sophisticated IT infrastructure. Employees need access to all relevant data from over 110 workstations at 13 locations.

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BKK Hoechst (Germany)

BKK Hoechst strengthens the defensive power of its IT environment: server-based computing with IGEL Thin Clients optimizes administration and operational capabilities.

The success story of BKK began in 1890. Hoechst AG was established as a social service to protect workers in case they became ill. Of the initial 2,160 members, membership of the Hoechst AG has grown to over 162,000. BKK Hoechst is a flexible and customer oriented insurance company with a reputable fiscal policy. With that in mind, the IT-management of the BKK tries to remain cost efficient, adding value to the business. Since 2002, BKK has gradually migrated to a server-based computing (SBC) environment in order to reduce overall IT costs.

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WWK (Germany)

At WWK Lebensversicherung (WWK Life Insurance), the new standard home-based workstations feature IGEL Thin Clients. As part of WWK’s disaster contingency planning this full-service setup can be readily cloned to provide hundreds of them in just days.

For decades, the modern, independent financial services provider WWK has been one of the leading sources of equity-linked life insurance as well as lines of personal and private property insurance. Since its founding in 1884, the company has also offered its 10,000 sales partners and some one million customers a broad range of additional products from proven, established partners. To ensure that it will continue to be a positive force in the insurance market, WWK has always emphasized security and innovation: two principles that it also applies to its own IT systems.