GAN
increases
mobility
and reduces
communications
costs
Background
Headquartered
in France,
GROUPAMA
is the leading
French insurer
in the Mutual,
Agriculture,
Personal
Health and
Local Authority
markets.
Its subsidiary
GAN, has
been providing
insurance
services
and products
in Portugal
since 1920
to its 200,000
customers.
GAN Portugal manages funds of over 250M Euros
and produces revenues of 45M Euros. GAN accredits
its success to continued innovation and a commitment
to strong investment in IT. Francisco Di Gioia
Ferreira, Director of Information Systems, GAN
Portugal, believes IT provides a competitive advantage.
"As a niche player in the Portuguese
market we need to be creative to gain an advantage,
it’s a question of survival."
Challenge
GAN’s insurance products are distributed
by a network of 800 agents and brokers throughout
Portugal. GAN used LANSA to develop IBM iSeries
applications supporting insurance policies, claims,
invoices, customers, commissions and compensation.
The applications have evolved with years of refinement
and provide the robust platform required for growth.
GAN believed it could reduce its communication
costs and improve agents productivity by Web-enabling
its core iSeries applications.
Solution
& Benefits
newlook reduces costs
New agents
had found
the green
screen interface
cumbersome
to learn
and use.
Communication
costs spiralled
as additional
leased private
network lines
were required
to support
the growing
agent base.
The existing
5250 communication
option also
required
on-site installation
and training.
Francisco
commented,
"We did not
believe
re-development
was required
or justified
so we investigated
Web-enablement
alternatives
and selected
newlook.
Other products
could provide
a solution,
but required
massive amounts
of work including
significant
re-training
and expensive
consulting
support.
newlook's
dynamic architecture
and advanced
functionality
was much
more productive."
GAN required
2 days of
training
to get started,
provided
by Logicalc,
their local
newlook and
LANSA partner.
The requirements
for the first
application
included
revised and
easier navigation,
desktop integration
(with MS
Excel/Word/Outlook),
graphical
enablement
and Web deployment.
GAN completed
the initial
100 screen
application
within a
week.
ROI in 2
months
The return
on investment
analysis
found the
newlook
project costs,
including
software
licensing
and project
resources,
were recovered
by reduced
communications
costs within
2 months.
newlook's
web-deployment
eliminated
the need
for leased
private network
lines, a
saving of
80 Euros
per agent
per month,
or 192K Euros
per annum
for 200 agents.
Additionally,
there was
no requirement
for on-site
installation
or training.
The savings
meant GAN
could offer
Web-based
systems access
to all agents
and brokers.
IT Department
gains Credibility
The
cost savings
provide
an excellent
return on
investment,
but Francisco
sees wider
benefits.
The agents
and brokers
are more
productive
and require
less support.
Francisco
has won more
support from
internal
sponsors
because the
project has
reduced costs
and delivered
tangible
productivity
gains in
such a short
timeframe.
"Our
IT department
has won additional
credibility
and helped
secure funds
for our future
projects.
newlook
has allowed
us
to provide
a competitive
product with
the same
features
and image
as our largest
competitors
for a fraction
of the cost
in record
time."
newlook
at a glance
- Rules-based dynamic environment for fast UI
generation and easy maintenance
- Web-Deployment including automated change
management and SSL support
- Reduce user learning and implementation time
frames with newlook's out-of-the-box
capabilities and intuitive design features
- Reduce complexity and risk without changing
existing
applications
- Integrated 5250 emulation allows your business
users the choice of interface style
- Multiple APIs for seamless desktop integration.
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