The Hartford, IBM Report Deal for Moving of IT to Cloud, Deal Valued at $500M

The Hartford

and IBM

announced a new six-year technology services agreement to implement a new service model that includes a private cloud infrastructure. The partnership supports The Hartford's strategy to drive profitable growth and increase operational effectiveness as it continues to focus on its property and casualty, group benefits and mutual funds businesses. “As The Hartford continues to execute on its strategic plan, we are making significant technology investments to increase operational effectiveness and improve our competitiveness,” said Andy Napoli, president of Consumer Markets and Enterprise Business Services at The Hartford. “The partnership with IBM will help The Hartford implement a strategic technology infrastructure that will provide us with greater agility and offer us more flexibility and transparency as we continue to grow our businesses.” The Hartford will move to a private cloud-based infrastructure on IBM's PureFlex System. Under the $500 million agreement, IBM will also provide a number of other services related to mainframe, storage, backup and resiliency. The Hartford will define the services it requires, and IBM will be responsible for the solution and delivery of those services. “Today's announcement is an example of how leading organizations are utilizing cloud technology to gain competitive advantage,” said Philip Guido, general manager, IBM Global Technology Services, North America. “Clients today are looking for IT partners who can understand and help drive their business with a focus on innovation and delivering business outcomes, not just IT efficiency. This expansion of our partnership with The Hartford illustrates the work IBM is leading with cloud.” A recent IBM study reveals that 66 percent of organizations are using cloud to strengthen the relationship between IT and lines of business, and the majority are using cloud to integrate and apply mobile, social, analytics and Big Data technologies. As part of the agreement, The Hartford and IBM will also partner on the creation of a joint innovation committee to foster collaboration on strategic initiatives. The project will leverage the expertise of both firms, market insights and research to build new business models and competitive capabilities that will enhance The Hartford's ability to anticipate and meet the needs of customers and agents.