1. DevOps
Insurance
Nationwide embraces a DevOps approach, improves software quality by 50 percent
50% increase
in software quality over the last three years
90% on-time delivery
with the DevOps approach, a 50% increase over the waterfall method
The transformation: Nationwide engaged IBM to support its agile transformation and help enable a DevOps approach to application development and delivery across its distributed and mainframe environments.
70% decrease
in user downtime
Client Name:
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co.
Case study Link:
Pull Quote:
“The more agile we can be, from an IT perspective, the more agile I think the business can be, in terms of going from idea development to actually being able to deploy a product that’s in use by our customers.”
—Carmen DeArdo, director, application development leader, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co.
Company Background:
Over the past 80 years, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. has grown from a small mutual auto insurer owned by policyholders into one of the world’s largest insurance and financial services companies, with more than USD135 billion in statutory assets. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Nationwide has an IT staff of more than 5,000 employees working in various locations across the country.
Solution components:
Software
IBM® Rational® Asset Analyzer
IBM Rational Developer for System z®
IBM Rational Development and Test Environment for System z
IBM Rational DOORS® Next Generation
IBM Rational Team Concert™
Services
IBM Software Services for Rational
Business challenge:
Nationwide needed to improve its market responsiveness. Ten years ago, the company had used primarily waterfall development methodologies to create the software products that its members, customers, and agents use online. However, the gap between software requirements and product delivery with the waterfall method had caused a rift between IT and the business. Recognizing the value it could achieve by embracing lean and agile practices at scale for its enterprise, Nationwide began shifting from waterfall to agile development.
The benefit:
Nationwide has operationalized agile practices across IT, lines of business and the entire delivery lifecycle, as well as across technology domains that include existing mainframe, distributed systems, and business intelligence data solutions. Using a DevOps approach, Nationwide can now perform continuous integration of its code and continuous deployment into its development environment several times per day. Teams can perform acceptance testing of customer requirements in the same iteration with development. And they’re able to show the customer, in near-real time, what developers are producing. This almost immediate feedback helps ensure that what’s being produced is going to meet the customer’s needs. To support collaboration, Nationwide organically forms cross-functional teams that sit together physically at pods, comprising members from the business and multiple IT disciplines, including development and infrastructure.
The DevOps approach has transformed software development at Nationwide. The company has achieved 90 percent on-time delivery with the DevOps approach, a 50 percent increase over the waterfall approach. Plus, it’s not uncommon to develop code that has zero defects when it is delivered to system test. Fifty-eight percent of the Nationwide teams are in the top quartile of the industry based on lines of code produced. The company has improved software quality by 50 percent over the last three years, and it has reduced user downtime by 70 percent.
“This [solution] has led to improved quality by 50 percent and reduced system downtime by 70 percent over the last
three years.”
—Steve Farley, vice president, application development center, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co.
Solution Components
IBM® Rational® Asset Analyzer
IBM Rational Developer for System z®
IBM Rational Development and Test Environment for System z
IBM Rational DOORS® Next Generation
IBM Rational Team Concert™
IBM Software Services for Rational
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