Application modernization for Sabadell Zurich

Building a global platform to launch digital applications

In 2008, Banco Sabadell and Zurich Insurance Group created the Sabadell–Zurich joint venture to deliver bancassurance services. While the partnership initially relied on the existing technology platforms of each company to manage operations, this approach became increasingly costly and inflexible over time.

As part of its digital transformation, Sabadell–Zurich required a new business platform to free them from the constraints of their legacy systems. They identified the need to adopt a new web application architecture and IT platform built on the AWS public cloud to boost agility, reduce costs and speed up innovation.

NTT DATA’s first challenge was to design a cloud-based architecture that would enable Sabadell–Zurich to launch its new suite of digital applications swiftly. We had to:

• Set up a cloud infrastructure with a dedicated in-house data processing center
• Build an independent IT team to develop and deploy cloud-based applications
• Accelerate the time to market for digital applications
• Deliver complete cost transparency and pay-per-use pricing
• Provide exceptional scalability for digital applications

AWS technology for application modernization

The answer was to implement AWS technology to launch a global, scalable and agile platform.

NTT DATA proved the ideal partner for the Sabadell–Zurich project due to our deep expertise in the insurance sector, strong understanding of both organizations within the joint venture, and extensive AWS capabilities. The team built a cloud architecture from the ground up, launching it with all the underlying infrastructure in just 14 months.

The new platform — called Olimpo — was designed to maximize business value and accelerate the time to market for future projects. The key technologies powering Olimpo include AWS (with our managed Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service), Spring Boot, AngularJS and Jenkins.

Capabilities delivered through the solution included:

• Development tools to manage the application lifecycle and automate DevOps processes (build, test, deploy, monitor, operate) within the platform, using a GitOps approach
• A software architecture platform designed to offer shared runtime components and services (both front-end and back-end), along with the technical features essential for building planned business web applications

Transforming the application landscape

Following the implementation of the AWS platform:

• Up to 15 digital applications were rolled out and 50 supporting architectural services were launched within the first 2 years
• IT teams gained greater autonomy for application development and cloud evolution
• Cloud infrastructure deployment was streamlined with automation
• Increased visibility provided insights into platform and application usage
• Improved usability for internal and external users
• Accelerated time to market for applications thanks to agile development

The cloud has transformed how Sabadell–Zurich develops technology solutions and generates business value. By moving to a cloud-based platform, they now have the infrastructure needed to launch digital applications quickly and independently.