You may remember that over the summer we published an update on this blog on the “mainframe elimination,” the long-term IT effort to retire our legacy mainframe systems. At that time, the team was focusing on updates to the financial close system. Now, we are pleased to announce, the mainframe project is complete! In late October a new claim financial system was launched, marking the close of the last project and officially sending the mainframe into its retirement.
If you have not worked closely on the project you may be wondering what all the excitement is about. Besides the project being a multi-year, hard-fought effort by our IT, finance, claims and business unit staff, it also defied the odds.
Time for Change
Moving away from a legacy, mainframe system is a huge change, often only a “dream” for most companies.
“A lot of companies try to do this,” explains Tony DePina, IT Manager, “but it’s very difficult because most companies are very entrenched in these old systems and it costs money to get yourself out.”
And OneBeacon is no exception. However, while the project required a serious investment of time, effort and—yes—money, the potential savings to the company was considered instrumental to our future.
According to Scott McClintock, OneBeacon’s CIO, “when OneBeacon made inroads to becoming a fully specialty company, it presented the opportunity to simplify our environment and to, ultimately, save money.” The potential to “operate at a lower run-rate while also better positioning ourselves with a more flexible environment of systems,” was worth it. However, McClintock explains, “the savings don’t come until you get rid of the platform. And the last pieces are always the most entrenched and hardest to get to.”
Untangling Ourselves
Many companies get held up when attempting to untangle themselves from the sheer amount of old logic, data, files, reports and process related to entrenched systems. According to DePina, OneBeacon’s transition away from the mainframe became possible with our journey to specialty.
“When we started to move away from personal lines, that was the first step, says DePina. “With that decision it meant we could divest ourselves from all that business logic. It made the goal that much more attainable and established a good position for moving forward.”
During the recent claims financial portion of the project, a huge amount of data was able to be discarded. For example:
- 7 million claims were moved off the system.
- An old coding system (that had to be looked up on charts) was replaced with easier to understand language.
- More than 1,100 old and outdated reports were eliminated.
- 40 years of data- 400 data sets, several hundred data tables- were sifted through for relevance.
“In our old environment, with multiple technologies, we had to be versed on multiple systems,” says Lynda Fossing, Claim Operations Director. “Every project we wanted to do in the past was like doing it times two. Eliminating the old technology and consolidating all that data onto one platform allows us to be focused on just one system. “
Flexible Future
All mainframe elimination roads lead to a more efficient, flexible future; one that will be more easily enhanced over time.
“Our business has long wanted and needed the ability to respond quickly to a fast changing market,” says McClintock. “We are now better positioned to respond to that, and at a lower run-rate. “
But the work is not over! Now that the mainframe project is complete, there are many enhancements, and new requests for the team to focus on.
“It’s exciting to move our focus away from the mainframe and get back to servicing the businesses better,” says Mike Shortell, Senior IT Manager. “There is still plenty of work to do, but it feels good to say we’re done with the mainframe!”
Fossing agrees. “There will be no moss growing under our feet. We’re launching right into new projects.”
Thank You
Beyond their excitement over the completion of the project, there is one other thing everyone who has worked on the project is thankful for- the support they received from teammates, colleagues, business partners and senior management.
“With such a major milestone project, we needed support from the top of the house down,” says Shortell. “Having the support of the company, and especially the business folks, was instrumental, and, I think, fostered some great working relationships. “
“Our senior management team has been very supportive,” McClintock adds. “The full understanding of where our focus has been and where that will ultimately lead our company has enabled us to put our energy into this large-scale project, positioning us to provide a flexible and saleable solution moving forward.”
Congratulations to the team on your efforts and all that you have accomplished over the past few years to defy the odds and bring this project to its close!
Not sure what a mainframe looks like? Check out these photos of the removal of our retired system!
