Cognizant supports Standard Life with IT transformation programme
In a bid to support the growth ambitions of its Investments, Pensions and Savings businesses, Standard Life recently launched a large scale IT transformation programme. Cognizant served as the firm’s main technology consultant.
With around 6,500 people internationally – through businesses in the UK, Europe, North America, Asia and Australia – serving around 4.5 million customers, Standard Life is one of the globe’s larger investment houses. The company, listed on the London Stock Exchange, is, by revenue, one of the top 500 companies worldwide, as listed in Fortune’s annual Global 500.
To accommodate for growing demand for its services, as well as remain ahead of the game, the IT management team of Standard Life recently decided to overhaul the firm’s technology infrastructure. To support the IT transformation, the Edinburgh headquartered company called in Cognizant, a US-based IT consulting firm with nearly 250,000 employees globally. “We chose Cognizant for their proven end-to-end capabilities in implementing a modern, agile IT infrastructure that enables us to more rapidly respond to new and changing business requirements”, explains Stuart Robertson, Head of IS Transformation at Standard Life.
Cognizant supported Standard Life in deploying a private cloud infrastructure, across two data centres, and migrating all business services to the new infrastructure. The migration involved mainframe transaction platforms, online trading systems, telephony platforms, contact centres, and third-party investment links.
The new system and broader technology ecosystem went live not long ago, with the benefits already visible through the organisation, says Robertson. “The implementation of our Information Systems transformation programme has given us a single approach to provisioning and managing our strategic IT infrastructure, as well as enhanced visibility into utilisation levels and operating costs.” He adds that the new way of working further enables the firm to reduce time-to-market and capital investment, and improve operational resilience to provide consistent availability of business applications.
Venu Lambu, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Markets for Infrastructure Services at Cognizant, says on behalf of the consultancy that he is pleased to have been part of the transition, “Standard Life now has a next-generation IT infrastructure that can enable the continued evolution of the company with a cost structure that is aligned with demand and usage.”
Earlier this year Cognizant was hired by Etihad Airways to digitalise the airline’s guest experience.
