Helvetia Patria Doubles Return on Investment with HP Service-oriented Architecture

According to an independent study by Thoughtware Worldwide, LLC,HP helped the company achieve a 201 percent return on investment(1)over a six-year period with its SOA offering. SOA is an approach formanaging computing environments that uses loosely coupled, reusableand standards-based services to address changing business needs.

Helvetia Patria also reduced e-business IT operational costs by 59percent(1) while it experienced an internal rate of return of 26percent(2). Additionally, the company was able to decrease the amountof time to introduce new products and services as it looks to expandits market share by opening new distribution channels across Europe.

"In the past, we were spending a significant amount of time andinvestment maintaining multiple IT environments that created morechallenges than opportunities for us," said Didier Beck, head of theeBusiness Center, Helvetia Patria Group. "HP is a true partner whoworked with us every step of the way to create a solution that couldspeed our entry into new sales channels and market segments."

Consolidated e-business platform built on SOA

Helvetia Patria turned to HP to implement a centralizedInternet-based platform for the insurance industry that linksinformation among its employees, partners and customers across Europe.

Using HP Nimius software and BEA WebLogic Server, HP built the SOAplatform on an industry-standard, open architecture with integrateduser management and multi-linguistic capabilities.

Collaborating with HP Services experts, Helvetia Patriaconsolidated 15 different types of services and platforms -- fromLinux to IBM CICS OS/390 to .NET programs -- and designed front-endweb services, technical infrastructure, processes and governancecomponents.

The resulting eBusiness Center helped Helvetia Patria bysubstantially decreasing time to market for new products and helpingto expand distribution channels. Additionally, SOA opened newopportunities to expand partnerships (for example, with brokers andagents) and enter different segments of the insurance market.

The HP SOA also has helped the company lower business transactioncosts by improving efficiencies through repeatable processes andconsistent data on clients, policies, claims, benefits and accounting.

"Helvetia Patria is an excellent example of a company using an SOAapproach to develop new business capabilities, at lower costs, whilecapitalizing on its need to respond to business change," said DeborahL. Nelson, vice president, Worldwide Marketing and Alliances, HP. "HPhelped to consolidate the company's IT infrastructure onto a singleplatform, eliminate technology and regional operating silos, andreduce overhead costs while capturing new and greater revenuestreams."

HP's expertise in SOAs spans several years and encompasses partnerofferings, world-class server and storage products, and leadingmanagement software, including HP OpenView SOA Manager. In addition,HP Services has several thousand professionals worldwide who are ableto implement and deploy SOA and open source technology.

The Helvetia Patria study was issued by Thoughtware Worldwide, aSan Francisco-based firm specializing in investment decisions andvalue management. The complete customer case study is available atwww.thoughtwareworldwide.com/downloads/hpv_f.pdf.

Additional information about HP SOA and enterprise offerings forthe financial services and insurance industries is available atwww.hp.com/go/soa and www.hp.com/go/fsi.

About HP

HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses andinstitutions globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure,global services, business and home computing, and imaging andprinting. For the four fiscal quarters ended Jan. 31, 2006, HP revenuetotaled $87.9 billion. More information about HP is available atwww.hp.com.

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(1) Thoughtware Worldwide customer case study on Helvetia Patria,"Quantifying the Value of the eBusiness Center: HP Cost SavingsSolutions for the Insurance Industry," July 8, 2005.

(2) Thoughtware Worldwide customer case study Helvetia Patria,"Helvetia Patria turns to HP to create industry leading e-InsuranceSolutions -- realizes 201% ROI," January 2006.

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