Accenture has completed a cloud-based IT modernization project for European insurance intermediary Towergate.

The modernization and cloud migration project, which was launched in March 2016, has helped Towergate reduce its annual IT costs by 30%.

The company took up the project to overcome problems due to legacy systems and lack of integration across the company’s business.

Accenture executed the project in collaboration with Microsoft and Avanade. The IT operating model, networks, data center, and telephony and end-user computing environments of Towergate were modernized in just 12 months. It has also established new service-management processes.

Accenture has not only helped Towergate in connecting its employees, but also in reducing its annual IT costs by £3.8m (US$5m). In addition, the project has reduced the number of applications from 2,600 to 222. New networks have been installed across 100 sites and new computers have been provided to the employees.

The modernization has enabled Towergate to become one of the first insurance companies to store data in the cloud, reducing the dependency on local servers.

Accenture will provide service support for the IT infrastructure for the next seven years.

Accenture plans to utilize its range of cloud management capabilities, including the new Accenture Cloud Platform (ACP), to provide support for Towergate. The Cloud Optimization Service, a managed servive of ACP, can save cloud estate costs by up to 30%.

Towergate chief information officer Gordon Walters said: “We could not be more pleased with the outcome of our work with Accenture. 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,” Walters added.

Image: Accenture completes cloud-based IT modernization for Towergate. Photo: courtesy of noomhh at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.