IT operations for a leading primary insurer
Zurich Group Germany (ZGD) is a subsidiary of Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich), a leading multi-line insurer serving over 55 million individual and business customers in more than 210 countries and territories. In addition to insurance coverage, the Group increasingly offers preventive services that promote well-being and strengthen climate resilience among other things. ZGD is one of the largest primary insurers in Germany, where around 4,500 employees provide a wide range of property and life insurance products and services to more than 8 million customers. In 2021 the company’s premium income totaled approximately 6.3 billion euros with investments of 53 billion euros.
Approximately 450 employees in the IT division manage integrated application systems for all areas of the German insurance group. The division is also responsible for ensuring IT security as well as user support for applications, infrastructure, and communication facilities.
Empowering the internal teams
In the context of application development ZGD’s IT found itself in 2021 in a situation in which the major portion of software delivery was done by external service providers. The number of different suppliers meant that economies of scale could not be realized in terms of external costs.
Therefore, in 2022 Zurich implemented its new sourcing strategy. This involved defining areas to significantly increase internal share on the value add, areas for collaboration with partners in an agile delivery model or areas for outsourcing. As a new strategic partner Capgemini was selected to support this transformation by providing capabilities for innovative topics and new technologies such as AI and cloud.
Guidewire implementation provides agile framework
ZGD and Capgemini are long-standing partners who work together with a high degree of trust, flexibility and agility. As a result, Capgemini was commissioned to implement Guidewire, a platform for property and casualty insurers that will gradually replace several previous core systems in the P&C context.
Over time, the Guidewire implementation developed into an agile release train-based DevOps collaboration model, which accelerates time-to-market and reduces cost of ownership. ZGD recognized how Capgemini could support other business projects in the areas of cloud, digital and commercial by leveraging the same proven framework.
Building on the successful Guidewire collaboration, ZGD selected Capgemini as a strategic digital transformation partner for its claims management division. The strengthened partnership combines ZGD’s vision and industry expertise with Capgemini’s technical knowledge, deep understanding of the business and strategy, and agile software development. The transfer of services from several former suppliers to Capgemini, together with the expansion of internal competencies, has optimized costs, increased flexibility and maximized impact. Capgemini’s role in the IT transformation enables Zurich IT to sustainably position itself for the future and confidently meet market demands. From mid-2023, both companies will be based on the same campus in Cologne-Deutz, which will further intensify cooperation and communication.
