Challenge
Heterogeneous isolated monitoring solutions that have grown over the years are to be integrated in a superordinate, uniform and proactive monitoring system. So that all affected technical areas can see the added value from a centralized system, e.g., automation or reduction of maintenance costs, they are actively involved in the project as stakeholders with their needs and ideas. The goal is to establish centralized business service monitoring in the medium-term.
Why USU
Of the solutions examined, the USU applications meet the high functional requirements to a particularly high degree. USU IT Monitoring offers a high degree of flexibility as well as ease of integration, and can be modified by Allianz itself. USU boasts technology and consulting expertise from one source, directly from a German manufacturer. Numerous references verify the successful implementation of similarly complex projects.
Project milestones
Kickoff
Kickoff meeting with details on project targets and organization, tasks, and authorizations/competencies
USU Monitoring solution
Analysis of the existing system environment and implementation of the USU monitoring solution
Normalization & Event Correlatio
Definition of events, processes, and rules (standardization, event correlation)
Monitoring systems
Successive connection of various monitoring systems
Alarm management and reporting
Integration of alarm management and reporting, as well as connection to ticket system
3 phase approach
3 phase approach: 1. Infrastructure monitoring, 2. Application monitoring, 3. Service monitoring
Benefits
- Establishment of a centralized monitoring life cycle based on USU IT Monitoring for transparent and proactive 360 degree monitoring
- Reduction of IT costs and complexity through harmonization of the tool environment
- Integrative system with interfaces to adjacent disciplines allows for automated, continuous processes for the entire monitoring life cycle
- Faster fault detection and correction across platform, team, and system boundaries
More than one million private individuals and more than 100,00 companies rely on Allianz Suisse’s complete solutions and products on matters of insurance, benefits, and investments. More than 3,600 employees at around 120 locations provide expert advice and fast, reliable handling of damage claims. Allianz Technology AG is responsible for implementing all IT matters, and since 2018 has used the centralized solutions and consulting services from USU for centralized monitoring.
In USU we have chosen a knowledgeable partner who offers not only a solution widely established in practice, but also the necessary technical expertise. USU IT Monitoring offers us the basis for effective company wide and proactive monitoring of our complex IT infrastructure from one source.
Oliver Windler, Head of 2nd Level Server & RZ, Allianz Technology AG
Everything in one system
Allianz uses over 40 monitoring systems in various departments to monitor their IT infrastructure. The heterogeneous stand-alone solutions that have grown over the years could no longer meet the requirements for effective monitoring of increasingly complex IT infrastructure. Instead of a “silo-based” solution, the decision-makers at Allianz selected a comprehensive solution approach and evaluated the market in their search for a cross-system monitoring solution that could aggregate all relevant information as a “data collector” and make it available in real time on a central console. As part of a detailed selection process, USU Solution came out ahead because of the variety of functions and ease of system integration, as well as the technical expertise.
Active dialog with all stakeholders
Acceptance by all involved parties was a central requirement for the success of the project. Therefore it was critical to engage in active dialog with all stakeholders from the various departments and clearly define responsibilities and processes. The technical departments had so far acted mostly autonomously, applying their expertise for the benefit of group-wide effective monitoring. This related to the framework conditions of event processing, the definition of threshold values, and the design of the entire alarm management as well as configuration of interfaces with adjacent disciplines such as ticketing. At the same time, the USU IT Monitoring application was implemented and training was provided in this early phase for those responsible and for users. In the first step hardware and the operating system were connected. The required individual plug-ins were automatically installed via an agent module, allowing for rapid startup followed by application monitoring and the integration of supplier systems. The responsible parties at Allianz placed high value on the monitoring quality which considered indicators like deadlocks, aka system blockades, in the area of databases. Because of the excellent cooperation between the partners, the project milestones were reached as scheduled. In addition, the local USU monitoring authority and the global authority for the Allianz group interact, allowing central services to be integrated.
System-wide monitoring brings positive effects
On the path to comprehensive business service monitoring, Allianz Technology has successfully covered a lot of ground. With USU IT Monitoring as the “umbrella solution”, the IT topology is centrally, uniformly, and transparently mapped. Technical problems are detected and resolved before they are noticed by the customer. The monitoring is fully automated and takes place in “real time”. Maintenance and monitoring costs could be reduced significantly with the harmonization of the IT monitoring landscape. By connecting alarm management with the existing IT service management environment, continuous processes are ensured. Currently, service level management and capacity management are being integrated along with extensive reporting using role-based dashboards and self-service analysis and evaluation options. By covering the entire monitoring life cycle, Allianz Suisse has struck a balance between service availability, performance, and cost-effectiveness.
