Wiener Städtische uses Red Hat OpenShift to improve insurance experience

Serbian insurance provider Wiener Städtische osiguranje (WSO) began digital transformation efforts to reduce service delivery times and improve application programming interface (API)-based integration with third-party partners. The company replaced its existing architecture with an agile, microservices-based approach based on containers running on Red Hat OpenShift and Red Hat 3scale API Management integration technology. Now, WSO can quickly deliver reliable services and connect with partners while maintaining system and data security.

Benefits:

• Improved time to market with an agile, automated development approach
• Established a more dynamic developer culture to keep pace with demand
• Simplified scaling and security to handle around 1,000 calls per day
• Enhanced integration with a growing partner ecosystem

As digital services become standard across many industries, customers not only value the potential financial savings but also the ease of doing business through more personalized, responsive interactions with companies and organizations. Digital transformation has created opportunities for insurance providers to reduce service time to market and deliver customers’ desired self-service experiences while reducing operational costs. 

Established as a greenfield investment by the Vienna Insurance Group, Wiener Städtische osiguranje (WSO) is one of Serbia’s leading insurance providers for corporate and retail clients in terms of market share and premium-generated income. WSO aims to continually grow, refine, and unify its digital service channels, including improving integration with third-party partners such as healthcare providers and car rental companies.

To accelerate its digital transformation efforts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, WSO sought to replace its aging, monolithic IT architecture with a dynamic, microservices-based approach. Its existing technology made change slow and difficult, delaying the launch of new features and integration of new partners.

“Our existing IT architecture didn’t offer the responsiveness and connectivity we needed to support modern, digital service delivery. For example, we want real-time data collected from our digital channels to update our CRM [customer relationship management] system and call center operations without additional manual effort,” said Bojan Ristic, Head of IT Service, Wiener Städtische osiguranje. 

Following a competitive analysis of three vendors, WSO decided to adopt Red Hat OpenShift running in a VMware vSphere virtual server environment. Red Hat OpenShift is an enterprise Kubernetes container platform that supports an integrated, iterative DevOps approach to agile application development. 

“By integrating with our partners, we can create a single source for insurance shopping,” said Ristic. “It is extremely important to that holistic customer experience that our integrations are reliable. Red Hat offers the technology and expertise to support simple integration with the least possible disruption of service.”

To enhance its API approach, WSO also adopted Red Hat 3scale API Management, part of Red Hat Application Foundations (also sold as Red Hat Integration). Integrated with Red Hat OpenShift, this solution provides API traffic control across environments and delivery channels, including a wide range of encryption, authentication, and authorization protocols. Red Hat’s single sign-on technology (SSO) supports administrator and developer login across these products with a single set of credentials for enhanced user control.

WSO worked closely with local Red Hat partner COMING – Computer Engineering to implement its new microservices-based architecture and Red Hat solutions, as well as provide ongoing technical support. The insurance company’s core IT system and CRM platforms are now integrated with its two call centers, and WSO’s sales teams can access the latest CRM data via a dedicated mobile application.

• Improved time to market for new services, such as a mobile health insurance application, with an agile, automated development approach
• Established dynamic IT culture through training to support company-wide change at the speed of business demand
• Improved scalability to support around 1,000 phone calls per day
• Enhanced system integration to support and secure API-based data sharing with a growing partner ecosystem

In addition to plans to expand Red Hat OpenShift to support testing and disaster recovery needs, WSO plans to work with COMING to evaluate adding Red Hat Fuse to its IT environment to further enhance integration internally and with partners.

“It is gratifying to see the return on our investment in digital solutions in our daily operations,” said Ristic. “Beyond simply providing consistency across multiple digital platforms, we’re seeing a new, engaged atmosphere inspiring our teams. In turn, more partners want to work with us, attracting more customers. We’re well on our way to becoming a digital-first organization.”