Skandia consists of a number of totally different firms, of which insurance coverage and banking are the 2 largest. The insurance coverage enterprise has previous roots: the pension firm was began as early as 1855, whereas the financial institution solely began in 1994, but it was first as a purely phone financial institution.

In gentle of this, the technical foundation on which every firm rests could be very totally different.

“On the insurance coverage facet, we now have mainframe expertise, whereas the financial institution depends on newer, Home windows-based expertise and principally has no legacy,” says Skandia CIO Johan Clausén. “So they’re totally different conditions.”

Proper now, there’s additionally a significant change initiative happening to consolidate and progressively switch to straightforward methods—a course of that’s taking a really very long time. However the problem with the older methods is just not the expertise or the methods themselves, he notes.

“The mainframe could be very dependable and with new integration options resembling z/OS Join, we now have good circumstances to unravel the mixing wants we now have,” he says. “The problem, slightly, is the quantity of methods and the complexity with the variety of methods and enterprise logic.”

As a part of the continuing change, the enterprise system Lumera, previously Itello, which is utilized by many within the monetary business, can be being carried out.

“We are going to run the set up on prem in our personal information facilities,” says Clausén. “It’s a system that’s largely personalized to the client. For the time being, we don’t see any large positive aspects from having it within the cloud the best way the system is constructed. And one more reason for that’s the Schrems II judgment and GDPR the place, amongst different issues, it’s in regards to the threat of placing it within the cloud after which possibly being pressured to convey it dwelling. It may be difficult to place system options within the cloud, however it’s in all probability tougher to convey it dwelling from the cloud.”

Due to this, Skandia has no plans to make a complete transfer towards the cloud regardless of having a multicloud technique utilizing the general public cloud, personal cloud, and on prem relying on what they assume is suitable.

“What’s vital to us is to make knowledgeable choices based mostly on use and which info is to be processed,” he says. “We’re in an business of belief. That’s vital to recollect.”

Not simply altering expertise

Above all, the advantage of lowering complexity is it simplifies enterprise processes, digitization, and it takes much less time to get new performance.

“The vital factor for me is the enterprise switch we make in a shift like this and never simply that we migrate from one system resolution to a different,” says Clausén. “I consistently say no to suppliers who need us to do a so-called elevate and shift, the place we simply go from one expertise to a different. It doesn’t produce the results we would like. Once we construct new, we must always take into consideration how we would like the enterprise to look sooner or later, not simply construct the identical.”

Even earlier than the pandemic, Skandia had switched to working agile in accordance with the Protected framework, which has created fully totally different circumstances for IT and operations to go hand in hand, in accordance with Clausén.

“It’s about involvement and inclusion,” he says. “When everybody works collectively, it’s simpler to affect and clarify to one another the place the most important benefit of agile working strategies lies; that we now have frequent priorities everybody is aware of about and is concerned in, and that there aren’t any priorities on the facet.”

The IT facet is rising

With the agile approach of working, assets that beforehand belonged to initiatives have been moved into IT, which has meant that in his seven years as CIO, the unit has grown to almost 600 workers, practically 1 / 4 of the corporate’s complete 2,300 workers.

And the unit nonetheless has an incredible want for brand spanking new workers. Final 12 months, over 80 individuals had been recruited, and extra progress is the intention for the close to future as properly. For Skandia’s half, the unsure financial instances may even be a bonus in terms of attracting expertise.

“Everyone seems to be affected by the recession, however we’re in an business that has fared comparatively properly in comparison with others,” he says. “The insurance coverage facet has a long-term perspective like few different industries, and the financial institution has achieved good outcomes. So my feeling is we’re in a very good place.”

Sustainability in focus

Consolidation can usually be seen as a approach to extra sustainable outcomes with larger vitality effectivity—one thing not misplaced on Clausén.

For a few years, Skandia, and Clausén particularly, has began to incorporate sustainability as a precedence when making IT choices. Amongst different issues, he’s been concerned in beginning the CIOCO2 initiative as a result of he sees there’s lots to do on the IT facet.

“Too little thought has been given to sustainability in IT and it’s going too slowly,” he says. “After my years on the provider facet, I strongly imagine in driving improvement by setting necessities in procurements.”

He factors out that if a buyer goes to the provider with requests for a way a service needs to be designed, nothing occurs except the provider believes it’s doable to make a revenue within the close to future. However when the identical factor comes from 20 prospects, it turns into tough for the provider to not act.

But when there’s sustainability standards in a procurement and a provider doesn’t meet them in addition to others, it doesn’t essentially sign an finish to that partnership.

“As a substitute, you may set calls for that inside a sure time they will need to have reached a required degree,” he says. “On this approach, you push on and lift the overall degree.”

How suppliers reply when calls for on sustainability are made, nonetheless, can range broadly.  

“There’s nobody who doesn’t assume it’s vital, however some have issue delivering what we would like as a result of their firm has not progressed far sufficient,” says Clausén.