September 25, 2017
Accenture Completes Cloud-Based IT Transformation for Towergate, Helping Insurance Broker Improve Its Operations and Reduce Annual IT Costs by 30 Percent
NEW YORK; Sept. 25, 2017 – Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has completed an IT modernization and cloud migration project for Towergate, one of Europe’s largest independently owned insurance intermediaries, that helped the company transform its operations and reduce annual IT costs by 30 percent.
The project, launched in March 2016, aimed to address challenges posed by legacy systems and lack of integration across Towergate’s business by targeting four problem areas: networks, data centers, end-user computing and service-support. In just 12 months, Accenture – working closely with alliance partners Microsoft and Avanade – modernized Towergate’s IT operating model, data center, networks, and telephony and end-user computing environments while establishing new service-management processes.
In addition to helping Towergate connect its more than 4,500 employees, Accenture helped the company lower its annual IT costs by £3.8 million (US$5 million) despite the growth of its sprawling infrastructure resulting from 300 acquisitions in the last 20 years. This project catapulted Towergate’s IT infrastructure from an inherited model to market leading. It reduced the number of applications from 2,600 to 222, installed new networks across nearly 100 sites and provided new computers to all employees. With this transformation, Towergate now operates as the first insurance firm to store all data securely in the cloud, eliminating two-thirds of local servers and dramatically reducing systems outages. It has transformed how its employees work, enabling collaboration through a dynamic intranet and video conferencing.
Today, Towergate has a smarter, faster and more reliable IT platform, as well as cloud-based applications that are improving alignment between IT and business functions, driving operational efficiencies, enabling enhanced collaboration between employees and better meeting business needs. With Accenture managing service support for the entire IT infrastructure environment for the next seven years, Towergate can focus on delivering the highest quality insurance products and services to its customers while growing its business into an industry force.
“We could not be more pleased with the outcome of our work with Accenture,” said Gordon Walters, chief information officer of Towergate. “After 300 acquisitions in 20 years, Towergate urgently needed to transform the IT infrastructure of our business to stay successful and create a base from which to grow and develop into the future. By moving to the cloud, we now have service on demand and access to real-time information that gives us an enormous advantage in the insurance market.”
Kamran Ikram, infrastructure and cloud regional director at Accenture, said “A year ago, we embarked on one of the most ambitious IT transformation and cloud migration efforts that the financial services industry has ever seen. Today, Towergate has not only achieved impressive business outcomes but has a real technological edge over the competition. Towergate’s trust in Accenture has enabled us to showcase how we can disrupt and reshape the insurance industry with our cloud expertise.”
Fraser Moffat, UK insurance lead at Avanade, added “Legacy technology comes at a price for many financial services organisations. Not only does it make day-to-day operations inefficient and slow, it also stops businesses from being able to create innovative services and products that customers now expect. We are pleased to have supported Accenture on this project with Towergate, helping it become one of the first companies in the sector to benefit from end-to-end cloud capabilities. Now, the business can get ahead of its customers’ needs and its competition by being able to bring relevant and higher quality products to market quicker and with less cost.”
To provide ongoing support for Towergate’s journey to the cloud, Accenture also plans to leverage its full range of cloud management capabilities. This includes the new Accenture Cloud Platform (ACP) version 4.0, a comprehensive & flexible service delivering a legacy to cloud control plane. Towergate has been most interested in ACP’s Cloud Optimization Service, a managed service that can drive up to 30 percent savings in overall cloud estate costs.
Accenture is a leader in helping organizations move to the cloud to take advantage of a new era of service delivery and flexibility, where applications, infrastructure and business processes are brought together and delivered As-a-Service. Accenture’s Cloud First agenda offers comprehensive, industry-focused cloud services including strategy, implementation, migration and managed services, and assets including the Accenture Cloud Platform that can drive broader transformational programs for clients. Accenture has worked on more than 20,000 cloud computing projects for clients, including three-quarters of the Fortune Global 100, and has more than 44,000 professionals trained in cloud computing. The company has been innovating in cloud technology for over a decade and holds more than 200 granted patents and pending applications across its global cloud portfolio.
About Towergate
Towergate is an entrepreneurial company, led by people with a reputation for innovation and professionalism. Since 1997, when Towergate entered the insurance market, it has grown to become Europe’s largest independently owned insurance intermediary turning over approximately £3 billion of gross written premium across its different companies. Visit us at www.towergateinsurance.co.uk.
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions – underpinned by the world’s largest delivery network – Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With approximately 411,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com.
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Contact:
Mylissa Tsai
Accenture
+1 917 452 9729
mylissa.tsai@accenture.com
Jennifer Grimes
Avanade
+1 503 330 6499
jennifer.c.grimes@avanade.com