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March 09, 2023

Atrium Underwriters ensures its future data estate with SQL Server 2022

While the financial services industry traditionally takes a conservative approach to new technology, London-based Atrium Underwriters considers it to be a key driver of its current success. “Whether it’s getting data, storing data, or analyzing data, technology helps us balance risk and create a profitable book of business,” explained Emma Walter, IT Delivery Manager at Atrium.  

Atrium Underwriters

For years, Atrium has relied on Microsoft SQL Server as its data platform, starting with SQL Server 2012. Today, the company has more than 800 databases, most of which run on SQL Server 2019 on Azure Virtual Machines. In addition, Atrium has a handful of single Azure SQL databases, as well as SSAS and SSRS servers it plans to migrate to Azure.

Recently, Atrium launched a test of SQL Server 2022 as part of the Early Adoption Program. “Data is key to our continued growth, and the more data we can consume, the better,” noted Nic Hopper, Data Architect at Atrium. “We’re building the plan for our future data estate off the back of this program.”

IQP boosts performance without code changes

Atrium evaluated several of the new Intelligent Query Processing (IQP) features available in SQL Server 2022. It started with parameter sensitive plan (PSP) optimization, which eliminates parameter sniffing issues and enables caching of two or more plans for a query at the same time. Each plan is optimal for a subset of the parameter space. By choosing the optimal plan for each specific query, SQL Server 2022 ramps up performance without code changes. “This is a big win for us,” said Hopper. 

“We have a small IT team, and we don’t have time to optimize every bit of code. I can’t overstate how much I’m wowed by the changes to IQP.”

Nic Hopper, Data Architect, Atrium

Hopper and his team also tested memory grant feedback. This feature uses multiple executions of a query to create a baseline for determining if the query is using more or less memory than it was granted and makes adjustments as needed. “We have a lot of legacy code, and we think the changes to memory grant feedback will really benefit us,” Hopper added.

Query store speeds troubleshooting for primary and secondary replicas

Turned on by default in SQL Server 2022, Query Store helps users track performance history and understand how query plan choices impact performance. Atrium tested both Query Store and Query Store for secondary replicas, a new feature in SQL Server 2022. The latter enables the same Query Store functionality on secondary replica workloads that is available for primary replicas. “With these new optimizations to Query Store, it takes next to no work to troubleshoot our query plans,” said Hopper.

New SQL Server 2022 functionality supports data access, security

Atrium tested several other new features of SQL Server 2022, including new functionality for JSON data. “We get critical hazard information that we have to store in a JSON format,” said Hopper. “We welcome anything that that makes it easier for our team to use.”

Atrium also looked at Ledger for SQL Server, which uses blockchain to create a tamper-proof record of all changes to the database. This record could eventually eliminate the need for some manual reporting by providing auditors with evidence of database immutability and integrity. SQL Server 2022 also offers dynamic data masking with granular permissions, secure enclaves, and other security features Atrium is interested in exploring. 

“We have to be vigilant when it comes to privacy and security, and SQL Server 2022 ticks a lot of those boxes.”

Nic Hopper, Data Architect, Atrium

The Atrium team was also excited about the addition of support for Azure Active Directory (AD) authentication to SQL Server 2022. Azure AD improves the end-user experience while increasing security and compliance.

Creating more accurate assessments and competitive advantage with Azure

Access to near real-time data is key to helping underwriters develop more accurate risk assessments. That’s why Atrium was delighted with the results of testing Azure Synapse Link in SQL Server 2022. 

“With the arrival of Synapse Link for SQL Server 2022, we can finally achieve near real-time analytics over our most important operational data, all without the need to build and manage complex packages and pipelines. We see Synapse Link as a major player in quickly getting data from various systems into our reporting layer, where it can be transformed and curated for use by our underwriters,” explained Hopper. 

“With Synapse Link, we expect a huge reduction in infrastructure costs and resourcing time. It also opens the door for future machine learning efforts.”

Nic Hopper, Data Architect, Atrium

Atrium recently completed a proof of concept involving Azure Databricks, Azure Data Factory (ADF), and Azure Data Lake in connection with its aviation underwriting class. While Atrium insures hundreds of planes, the company had no way to manage plane-location data in real time. ADF, Azure Data Lake, and Azure Databricks made it possible to ingest that data, prepare and transform it, and then store it in a lakehouse where it can be accessed by underwriters via a reporting suite. As a result, underwriters now better understand their exposure if something happens at a particular airport. They can also find new business by identifying planes they don’t currently insure. In addition, near real-time data means faster claims processing and a better overall experience for Atrium’s customers.

Putting data directly in the hands of underwriters creates a competitive advantage, according to Walter. “When you make data accessible to people who have the business insight to know what to do with it, you open up new opportunities. Empowering our team with technology gives us a clear upper hand over other underwriting agencies.”

Virtual machines, real-world solutions

Atrium’s Azure ecosystem is made possible through the use of Azure Virtual Machines (VM). “Given the amount of technical debt we had, it made sense for us to lift and shift VMs over to Azure,” Hopper explained. “Anything else would have required us to rewrite code and expend significant effort for very little gain.” He continued, “Although we’ll revisit them as we develop new systems, virtual machines are everything to us at this point. We don’t have to worry about infrastructure or disaster recovery—we’re covered on many angles.” 

Writing a success story

As Atrium moves forward with SQL Server 2022 and its Azure architecture, Hopper and Walter have identified ways by which they’ll measure success. “It starts with adoption,” shared Walter. “People use new technology when they see a clear benefit. If we introduce something that gets adopted, that’s a marker of success.”

For Hopper, success looks like giving the underwriting teams the data they need to answer questions, generate insights, and ultimately grow the business. It also looks like positioning Atrium to take advantage of AI/ML when the time is right.

“We’re always thinking about how we can add value and maximize our impact,” concluded Walter. “SQL Server 2022 and Azure are helping us write a success story.”

“With the arrival of Synapse Link for SQL Server 2022, we can finally achieve near real-time analytics over our most important operational data, all without the need to build and manage complex packages and pipelines.”

Nic Hopper, Data Architect, Atrium

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