International growth and acquisitions presented a B2B insurance broker with a key challenge: How can IT be positioned to support continued growth, integration, and transformation while ensuring effective governance across the Group?
for the group-wide strategic alignment of applications, infrastructure and IT security
for clear roles, responsibilities and decision-making processes in IT
for prioritized areas of action, from strategy rollout to cloud readiness
* To respect our clients’ confidentiality, we do not publish project-specific metrics. The results presented reflect the qualitative impact of our collaboration.
International acquisitions made IT an integration challenge.
Growth and acquisitions across Europe changed the IT requirements of the group. The buy-and-build strategy brought together existing structures, new entities and future IT hubs that needed to be more closely aligned across the group.
This was not just about individual systems or technical adjustments. IT as a whole needed to be strategically realigned – across organization, application landscape, infrastructure, security and cross-functional areas. The first step was therefore to establish a common strategic framework: What role should IT play in the future business model and continued growth? How should responsibilities and collaboration be organized? And which transformation areas should take priority so that implementation can be planned across the organization?
Strategy, operating model and roadmap for group-wide IT
4C worked with the client to develop an overarching IT strategy. This involved assessing strategic drivers, the business model, service portfolio, as well as technological trends and risks. The result was an IT target state and a shared understanding of the role IT should play in supporting the group’s future growth.
The strategy was translated into specific strategies for applications, infrastructure and IT security. In addition, 4C developed a future IT operating model that defined the IT organization, processes, roles and responsibilities.
To turn the strategy into a manageable transformation program, 4C developed a prioritized transformation roadmap and a communication plan for rollout and mobilization. The roadmap consolidated key areas of action – from the IT operating model and strategy rollout to replacing a monolithic legacy system, centralizing infrastructure, strengthening IT security and ensuring cloud readiness.
It was important for us not to view IT purely as a technology issue. The roadmap made clear how the different topics are connected, where dependencies exist, and which steps should be addressed first.
Target State and Roadmap for Group-Wide IT Transformation
The strategy work resulted in a shared target state for IT across the group. This provided the client with a basis for addressing organization, the application landscape, infrastructure and IT security as interconnected areas of transformation.
The operating model clarified roles, responsibilities and collaboration within IT. The roadmap highlighted which topics should be prioritized, where dependencies exist, and how short-term foundational work can be linked with longer-term development priorities.
This enabled the IT organization to take a structured approach to the next steps of the transformation – from organization and the application landscape to infrastructure, IT security and cloud readiness.
“What made this particularly interesting was that IT was not simply expected to respond to growth. It also needed to help ensure that further growth could be integrated effectively. The client had recognized this very clearly: a buy-and-build strategy can only succeed in the long term if the IT landscape remains scalable and integration-ready.”
