Built Around You.™
Case Study: Virtualization
Comprehensive assessment begets superior solution
An enterprise server virtualization assessment helps a major health insurer leverage the technology in its production environment and recognize significant ROI.
The Client
Based in the US, the client is a national health benefits company with over 12 million members. It offers health and life insurance products in four states. The client employs over 16,500 persons, and annual revenues exceed $13 billion.
Based in the US, the client is a national health benefits company with over 12 million members. It offers health and life insurance products in four states. The client employs over 16,500 persons, and annual revenues exceed $13 billion.
The Situation
The client’s business objective was to substantially increase its membership over a relatively short timeline, which required change in the operational strategy of the IT organization. The projected rise in the computing infrastructure to support the growth presented an enormous challenge: How to cut operational costs, manage growth, and drive greater efficiencies, while continuing to support the business without disruption in services? The client considered optimizing the computing environment through virtualization technology. But serious questions remained about the feasibility and impact of this strategy in the client’s environment.
The client’s business objective was to substantially increase its membership over a relatively short timeline, which required change in the operational strategy of the IT organization. The projected rise in the computing infrastructure to support the growth presented an enormous challenge: How to cut operational costs, manage growth, and drive greater efficiencies, while continuing to support the business without disruption in services? The client considered optimizing the computing environment through virtualization technology. But serious questions remained about the feasibility and impact of this strategy in the client’s environment.
The Sayers Contribution
The client’s IT team engaged Sayers to assess the idea of implementing virtualization technology in its data centers. If feasible, the client wanted to devise a plan to leverage the technology across its production environments, and to understand the potential cost savings of doing so. The client also looked to Sayers to create a “road map” for managing this potential virtual infrastructure going forward.
Sayers’ Solution Team provided technical overviews of the technology options available and made recommendations based on the client’s stated objectives. Sayers worked with multiple IT and business groups within the client’s organization to build consensus and emphasize the shared objective. The process was gradually moved from a test environment to a production environment to prove the concept. Ultimately, the client learned the technology was an excellent strategic fit and offered a compelling return on investment. Sayers provided a practical design and architecture for the future implementation across 1200 servers in the client’s infrastructure.
The client’s IT team engaged Sayers to assess the idea of implementing virtualization technology in its data centers. If feasible, the client wanted to devise a plan to leverage the technology across its production environments, and to understand the potential cost savings of doing so. The client also looked to Sayers to create a “road map” for managing this potential virtual infrastructure going forward.
Sayers’ Solution Team provided technical overviews of the technology options available and made recommendations based on the client’s stated objectives. Sayers worked with multiple IT and business groups within the client’s organization to build consensus and emphasize the shared objective. The process was gradually moved from a test environment to a production environment to prove the concept. Ultimately, the client learned the technology was an excellent strategic fit and offered a compelling return on investment. Sayers provided a practical design and architecture for the future implementation across 1200 servers in the client’s infrastructure.
The Impact
The client received a complete analysis of the technical options available to solve the business challenge. Sayers demonstrated the best technical options, developed the methodology for implementing the technology, determined the efficiencies to be gained by adopting the technology, crafted a roll-out plan, and quantified the return on investment. (In this case, Sayers demonstrated a ROI in excess of $8 million.)
The client received a complete analysis of the technical options available to solve the business challenge. Sayers demonstrated the best technical options, developed the methodology for implementing the technology, determined the efficiencies to be gained by adopting the technology, crafted a roll-out plan, and quantified the return on investment. (In this case, Sayers demonstrated a ROI in excess of $8 million.)