IBM Case Studies A life insurance company: Releasing a new product line 11 months early with an agile development methodology

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	A life insurance company: Releasing a new product line 11 months early with an agile development methodology IBM

A life insurance company: Releasing a new product line 11 months early with an agile development methodology

IBM

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Process Analytics Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management
Applicable Industries	Finance & Insurance
Applicable Functions	Business Operation Product Research & Development
Use Cases	Predictive Quality Analytics Supply Chain Visibility
Services	Software Design & Engineering Services System Integration
Challenge	The life insurance company aimed to increase its life insurance sales in the United States by 260 percent. To achieve this, the company made an agreement with a large distribution company. Under the agreement, the organization would begin offering its life insurance products to the distribution company’s more than 130 member firms and their customers. As part of the agreement, the insurer needed to launch a new product line, including a new web portal, within just 18 months. Meeting the deadline posed a tough challenge, and the company decided to shift from waterfall to agile development to accelerate its development processes. Read More
About Customer	The customer is a leading life insurance company that aimed to increase its life insurance sales in the United States by 260 percent. To help achieve the goal, the company made an agreement with a large distribution company. Under the agreement, the organization would begin offering its life insurance products to the distribution company’s more than 130 member firms and their customers. As part of the agreement, the insurer needed to launch a new product line, including a new web portal, within just 18 months. Read More
Solution	The company adopted a DevOps approach, supported by IBM Analytics solutions—transforming its organization from 100 percent waterfall development to 75 percent agile development. The software factory entails five key steps: examining the product backlog, carving out a release backlog, creating a release sprint plan, executing the sprints and validating each release. The company used the DevOps approach to optimize the entire software delivery lifecycle. After each team identifies what it will be delivering for the month, it works to deliver continuously in two-week sprints. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Process Analytics

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management

Applicable Industries

Finance & Insurance

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Product Research & Development

Use Cases

Predictive Quality Analytics

Supply Chain Visibility

Services

Software Design & Engineering Services

System Integration

Challenge

The life insurance company aimed to increase its life insurance sales in the United States by 260 percent. To achieve this, the company made an agreement with a large distribution company. Under the agreement, the organization would begin offering its life insurance products to the distribution company’s more than 130 member firms and their customers. As part of the agreement, the insurer needed to launch a new product line, including a new web portal, within just 18 months. Meeting the deadline posed a tough challenge, and the company decided to shift from waterfall to agile development to accelerate its development processes.

About Customer

The customer is a leading life insurance company that aimed to increase its life insurance sales in the United States by 260 percent. To help achieve the goal, the company made an agreement with a large distribution company. Under the agreement, the organization would begin offering its life insurance products to the distribution company’s more than 130 member firms and their customers. As part of the agreement, the insurer needed to launch a new product line, including a new web portal, within just 18 months.

Solution

The company adopted a DevOps approach, supported by IBM Analytics solutions—transforming its organization from 100 percent waterfall development to 75 percent agile development. The software factory entails five key steps: examining the product backlog, carving out a release backlog, creating a release sprint plan, executing the sprints and validating each release. The company used the DevOps approach to optimize the entire software delivery lifecycle. After each team identifies what it will be delivering for the month, it works to deliver continuously in two-week sprints.

Impact #1	The company increased productivity by 1,600 percent, enabling it to release an important new product line 11 months ahead of schedule.
Impact #2	The solution has helped improve code quality. The company’s IT director comments: “We’ve never missed a release, and we’re always delivering value to our customer.”
Impact #3	The new methodology provides a level of insight into development operations that was previously not possible. “By using the DevOps approach, we have complete transparency across projects and sprints,” concludes the IT director. “And it all comes from one centralized system of truth. Transparency to stakeholders, to product owners and to the team where they can all benefit from that transparency.”

Impact #1

The company increased productivity by 1,600 percent, enabling it to release an important new product line 11 months ahead of schedule.

Impact #2

The solution has helped improve code quality. The company’s IT director comments: “We’ve never missed a release, and we’re always delivering value to our customer.”

Impact #3

The new methodology provides a level of insight into development operations that was previously not possible. “By using the DevOps approach, we have complete transparency across projects and sprints,” concludes the IT director. “And it all comes from one centralized system of truth. Transparency to stakeholders, to product owners and to the team where they can all benefit from that transparency.”

Benefit #1	The solution enabled additional life insurance premiums that increased revenue by USD2.8 million per month.
Benefit #2	The development of a business and IT aligned strategic roadmap that led to the execution of a USD26 million portfolio of deliverables.

Benefit #1

The solution enabled additional life insurance premiums that increased revenue by USD2.8 million per month.

Benefit #2

The development of a business and IT aligned strategic roadmap that led to the execution of a USD26 million portfolio of deliverables.

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Overview

A life insurance company: Releasing a new product line 11 months early with an agile development methodology

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit