Case Study | Technology
A golden source of truth across 30 sites and data centers with unified taxonomy and automated access.
Navigating the Next Frontier in IT Security & Infrastructure Management
With a global workforce exceeding 41,000 employees, the client stands as a leading provider of reinsurance, primary insurance, and insurance-related risk solutions. Renowned for its pioneering role in risk assessment, the organization is actively spearheading digital transformation across the international insurance landscape, continually enhancing its digital footprint. In its commitment to optimizing customer service, the company is dedicated to the expansion and diversification of its product and service offerings.
This proactive approach ensures comprehensive coverage against a spectrum of emerging risks, ranging from space rocket launches to cyber-attacks and pandemics. To navigate this dynamic landscape successfully, the organization remains steadfast in its pursuit to improve agility and equip itself with the tools and insights necessary to achieve its strategic objectives.
However, amidst this technological evolution, financial institutions grapple with an intricate regulatory environment. Like every other financial organization, the client is compelled to adhere to stringent requirements set by the supervisory authority entrusted with upholding the stability and integrity of the financial system, as well as to comply with international regulations to maintain the highest standards of governance and regulatory adherence.
Driving a Strategic IT Overhaul with ServiceNow CMDB with Visibility and Control
As a pivotal component within the digital transformation program, the client sought a partner to spearhead the development of a cutting-edge ServiceNow Configuration Management Database (CMDB). This centralized system was envisioned to establish a uniform taxonomy for all configuration items utilized across client’s IT ecosystems, facilitating automated access to assets and data sources. Prior to this initiative, the IT teams had relied on numerous disparate databases, frequently managed through manual spreadsheets, and several in-house applications to handle this critical data.
The integration of a ServiceNow CMDB not only promises significant process and efficiency enhancements by providing a unified perspective of the group’s IT infrastructure but also positions the organization to respond with precision and speed to various regulatory and audit data requirements.
Drawing upon extensive industry experience and a demonstrated track record of success, Brillio (earlier CloudStratex) emerged as the ideal choice to bolster client in its endeavors, partnering to spearhead and drive the initiative forward.
An Agile Approach to IT Operations Management
Employing a lean and agile methodology, coupled with a strategic small-scale pilot at one data center, the collaborative teams have successfully condensed the projected program timeline from 15 months to a mere nine, all while achieving remarkable outcomes. The implementation of IT Operations Management (ITOM) Discovery led to the automatic discovery of 99% of all critical components within client’s IT environment.
As a component of the capabilities introduced by ITOM Discovery, the behavior-led approach facilitates a rapid comprehension of all error patterns across the target estate, organizing them thematically rather than necessitating the team to examine individual data centers one by one.
The program extended its reach to encompass over 30 sites and data centers, surpassing the initial projection of 15, and revealed more than 30% more SQL databases than initially anticipated.
Trusting a Golden Source of Truth
The ServiceNow CMDB has solidified its standing as the “golden source of truth” across the client’s organization, with its robust functionality allowing the application of multiple criteria and enabling the extraction of essential data, either from a business process standpoint or for comprehensive audit and regulatory compliance purposes.
Stakeholders throughout the business enjoy the productivity and efficiency benefits that centralized control, transparency, and user-friendly digital tools have delivered. Domain users have started to leverage ServiceNow to assess the state of their components, while the CMDB has also created the foundation for process compliance reporting, thereby enabling client’s management to measure regulatory compliance and respond to auditors far more efficiently.
It has also significantly helped in creating a better understanding of dependencies and their impact on incident and change management, improving stability.
Fortifying Security: Comprehensive Service Mapping and Strategic Process Consolidation
The program continues with ServiceNow Security Operations and Vulnerability Management soon to be added to reinforce client’s data protection and cybersecurity stance. In addition, the client is set to expand the CMDB information industrialization program for an extensive number of applications groupwide. This will result in the consolidation of all ITSM processes into ServiceNow, further strengthening the company’s digital support services through its IT service desk and enabling a complete service mapping across all business domains. The client has also recently implemented the rollout of ServiceNow Software Asset Management, leveraging the data now available in the CMDB. The new CMDB represents a significant step forward on client’s ServiceNow journey, providing a strong baseline with out-of-the-box tools delivering major improvements.