BarmeniaGothaer migrates 200 billion data records to the cloud with SAP on Azure

With rapid changes in the technology landscape and the need to meet ever-changing security and compliance requirements, BarmeniaGothaer wanted to migrate its IT infrastructure to the cloud.

The company decided to move its IT infrastructure based on SAP BW (Business Warehouse) and SAP BO (BusinessObjects) to Microsoft Azure, using Azure Virtual Instances for SAP, SAP on Azure, and Sentinel for SAP.

BarmeniaGothaer is seeing better use and management of its data and more accurate business intelligence reporting. It has also enhanced security and is better able to scale to customer demand.

Serving more than 6 million customers and generating a premium income of €8 billion, BarmeniaGothaer is one of Germany’s top 10 insurance companies. Founded in 1820, the company has a mission of helping people live in health and financial stability, offering a range of property, health, and life insurance products to cover the specific needs of individuals, families, small—and medium—sized businesses, and industrial customers.

With an emphasis on IT security and compliance, BarmeniaGothaer continually adapts to meet the strict yet evolving technology requirements of both the insurance industry and the German government. But rapid changes in the overall technological landscape presented challenges. “To continue to meet the high levels of service our customers expect, we needed to maximize our data potential and create a more scalable, adaptable foundation,” says Jan-Erik Bolz, Business Intelligence Engineering Lead at BarmeniaGothaer.

With its leadership in both security and cloud technology, Microsoft was the answer. But just as important is that Microsoft understood the specific needs of our industry and our long-established business.

Martina Wahlen, SAP Specialist, BarmeniaGothaer

Proactive security

With 200 billion data records and the challenge of replacing its existing collection of on-premises systems with a more modern solution, BarmeniaGothaer knew it wanted to work with Microsoft. “With its leadership in both security and cloud technology, Microsoft was the answer,” says Martina Wahlen, SAP Specialist at BarmeniaGothaer. “But just as important is that Microsoft understood the specific needs of our industry and our long-established business.” Bolz agrees. “The insurance industry in Germany is traditional, and BarmeniaGothaer had a comparatively late start (in comparison to other industries) to its cloud journey—we had catching up to do.”

BarmeniaGothaer decided to move its IT infrastructure based on SAP BW (Business Warehouse) and SAP BO (BusinessObjects) to Microsoft Azure. “We knew Azure could bring great performance to SAP systems,” says Bolz. The company used Azure Virtual Instances for SAP and Sentinel for SAP. “Azure services met all our technical, functional, regulatory, and security requirements, including GDPR and VAIT compliance,” adds Bolz. The move was supported by Microsoft partner Scheer GmbH, which built and implemented solutions for SAP on Azure and Sentinel for SAP based on BarmeniaGothaer requirements.

Sentinel for SAP supported continuous threat detection and enhanced security, also within the SAP Application itself, for all BarmeniaGothaer SAP systems deployed on Azure or on-premises, cross-correlating across the entire organization. The company also created a security hub using cloud-native Azure services and third-party firewalls for comprehensive security coverage. “We gained a whole new mindset in managing cloud platforms, moving away from traditional datacenter thinking to a more dynamic and proactive security management approach,” says Bolz.

Azure Virtual Instances was implemented to support BarmeniaGothaer in the development, testing, and running of applications in the cloud. These can be scaled up and out to meet the needs of applications, providing a cost-effective solution for the insurance industry’s fluctuating demands caused by economic cycles, regulatory changes, and evolving risks such as climate change and cyberthreats.

Azure addressed our immediate challenges, and it’s positioned us for the future, so we can continue to help people when they need it most.

Jan-Erik Bolz, Business Intelligence Engineering Lead, BarmeniaGothaer

New levels of innovation

With 45% of its data now in the cloud, Wahlen says, the company is already seeing increased productivity and innovation. “With Azure, we can deploy both IT Services and SAP products and solutions within minutes on a trusted, scalable cloud platform.” In addition, Wahlen notes that BarmeniaGothaer is seeing better use and management of its data, along with more accurate business intelligence reporting.

And although Bolz says the migration has not yet led to cost savings, it does support enhanced cost control and planning capabilities, plus detailed tracking of resource usage and associated costs. For example, the company improved billing transparency in the cloud, catalyzing more precise cost analysis and budget setting for IT resources, which was a new level of fiscal management for the company.

“Azure addressed our immediate challenges,” concludes Bolz. “And it’s positioned us for the future, so we can continue to help people when they need it most.”

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