DevOps Transformation for an Insurance Company

In the competitive world of insurance, agility and efficiency are paramount. HDI, an industry-leading insurance company faced a pivotal challenge: their cloud infrastructure was anchored in Cloud Foundry, but the corporate mandate was to transition entirely to Azure. See how our expertise proved to be vital in this ambitious endeavor. 2-month project successfully completed.

HDI, an international insurance group established in 1903, has grown from a liability insurer for the German industry into a global insurance powerhouse. Their mission is to develop and deliver insurance solutions that active and dynamic companies require for their success.

Client’s Setup:

All assets were meticulously managed in GitLab.
Deployments adhered strictly to Cloud Foundry, forming the bedrock of their operations.

The company was at a crossroads. Their tech stack, though robust, was out of alignment with the organizational shift towards Azure. This misalignment presented potential inefficiencies and scalability issues that needed immediate attention.

Company Requirement:

Migration Need: With the entire company now supporting Azure, there was an urgent requirement to migrate all processes, assets, and deployments from Cloud Foundry to Azure.

This migration wasn’t just a technical necessity; it was a strategic move to ensure uniformity across the company’s IT landscape. The challenge lay in executing this transition smoothly, without disrupting ongoing operations—a tall order given the two-month deadline.

Hicron Software House stepped in with a clear mission. Their approach was methodical, focusing on seamless integration and minimal downtime.

• Complete Migration:

Within the tight two-month window, Hicron successfully migrated all components from GitLab to Azure DevOps and Azure.

• Cost Efficiency:

A new cost model was introduced, enabling the client to pay only for what they used, augmented by precise cost management practices.

• Improved Resource Management:

The migration enabled the use of shared Kubernetes clusters, allowing resources to scale dynamically based on workload demands.
This led to improved efficiency and better resource utilization across the company.
Changes were versioned, ensuring a transparent history of modifications and accountability.

• Enhanced Collaboration:

Integration with existing Azure Kubernetes clusters managed by another team was achieved, fostering inter-team collaboration.
Streamlined processes using Azure DevOps and ArgoCD were established.
Infrastructure configurations such as autoscalers and schedulers were shared across teams, reducing redundancy.

• Standardized Deployments:

Helm charts were implemented for generic and reusable deployment configurations.
Automated cleanup pipelines were set up to manage Docker images efficiently.
Infrastructure replication became straightforward, ensuring consistent results and simplifying both deployment and maintenance.

• Comprehensive Documentation:

Every migration process and configuration was thoroughly documented within the codebase.
Separated documentation files ensured clarity and accessibility for all team members.

• Scalable and Cost-Effective Infrastructure:

The company’s cloud infrastructure was enhanced, making it more scalable and cost-effective.

• Streamlined CI/CD Processes:

Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) processes were streamlined, significantly improving development and deployment efficiency.

• Future-Ready:

The company was now well-positioned to handle future growth and workload variations, thanks to the robust and flexible new setup.

By weaving together strategic expertise, meticulous planning, and flawless execution, our DevOps Team transformed the HDI’s DevOps landscape, setting them on a path to sustained efficiency and growth.