NFU Mutual embarks on multi-million IT transformation

Under the £76 million contract, Computacenter will help the company implement a radical IT transformation which will modernise ways of working to deliver long term service improvements and increase the pace of business change at the UK’s largest rural insurer.

Tim Mann, Chief Information Officer at NFU Mutual, commented: “This partnership is a key element of our future plans, providing a modern and flexible infrastructure that will underpin our continued ability to offer first class customer services, support and value for money to our members.”

NFU Mutual has more than 990,000 policy holders, 300 local agencies, £13.5 billion funds under management and 6,500 employees, across the UK.
As part of the IT transformation, which is due to be completed in August 2013, the project will see the implementation of new operating systems and software, as well as new Wintel server, storage, mainframe and virtualised desktop infrastructures and a managed print solution.

Neil Muller, UK Managing Director at Computacenter, commented: “We are delighted to be working with NFU Mutual on such a critical transformational project. By building long-term partnerships, we can develop a full understanding of our customers’ business and IT goals in order to better align our services and deliver customer value.”

Computacenter will be responsible for managing both new and existing workplace technologies, and will provide second and third level support to 6,500 NFU Mutual employees from its group service desk.

The insurance company will also be using Computacenter’s shared datacenters, with its new converged and virtual infrastructure being hosted at Tier III and Tier IV facilities in Manchester and Romford.

The infrastructure will be monitored 24/7 by Computacenter’s Operational Command Centre and managed using the company’s unique industrialised processes.

John Beard, Sector Director of Financial Services at Computacenter, commented: “By combining robust platforms with repeatable processes, we will be able to help NFU Mutual maximise IT performance and resources. This will decrease operational costs while increasing service levels.”

The IT services and solutions provider will be responsible for a comprehensive range of support services, including asset, configuration, capacity, incident, request and change management. The contract, which goes live in April 2013, covers storage, middleware, database, midrange and batch management platforms.