The Hartford, IBM Enter into Technology Services Agreement

By Anil Sharma
TMCnet Contributor

The Hartford, a major player in property and casualty insurance, group benefits and mutual funds, entered into technology services agreement with IBM (News - Alert) to implement a new service model that includes a private cloud infrastructure.

Thanks to the new six-year pact, The Hartford would be able 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, in a statement.

Napoli said that the partnership with IBM will help The Hartford implement a strategic technology infrastructure that will provide the company with greater agility and offer more flexibility and transparency as the company continues to grow its businesses. 

The Hartford will move to a private cloud-based infrastructure on IBM’s PureFlex System.

IBM PureFlex System is a complete, flexible cloud infrastructure system with integrated expertise. The system integrates and optimizes all compute, storage and networking resources to deliver infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) out of the box.

As part of the $500 million agreement, IBM will also provide a number of other services related to mainframe, storage, backup and resiliency.

“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.

Guido said that 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,” he said. 

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.