Mainline Makes the Difference for Oregon Mutual Insurance, Turning Potential Disaster Into Complete Success

Oregon Mutual Insurance Company set out to implement a new mainframe solution to support daily operations, and, ultimately, the customer support services that have become the hallmark of their company.

When software versioning threatened to stop the upgrade, they discovered that Mainline had the resources and relationships to turn potential disaster into complete success. Through teamwork - including drawing on another customer for assistance - Mainline got things up and running.

The Challenge
Since 1894, Oregon Mutual has served the insurance needs of individuals and businesses in Oregon, Washington, California and Idaho. As one of the oldest independent mutual insurance companies west of the Mississippi, Oregon Mutual is owned by the policyholders and is responsible for properly managing the policyholders' financial interest in the company, as well as providing the insurance services they need. This is a duty Oregon Mutual takes seriously, and it is evident throughout the entire company. From customer service to computer operations, the policyholder's needs are first priority.

Over the years, Oregon Mutual has grown to serve and protect more than 115,000 policyholders. As the company has grown, so too have the business processes and technology requirements. By 2004, they had outgrown their older-model IBM Mainframe - which housed core business applications - and were experiencing "100%-capacity" moments on a daily basis.

Oregon Mutual was not about to let technology issues stand in the way of daily operations and customer service. Working with Mainline Information Systems, Eric Watt, Computer Operations Manager with Oregon Mutual, sought a more cost-effective solution with improved performance. "This was a MIPS demand," said Watt. "We simply needed a solution that could handle the workload. Mainline briefed us on the solution alternatives available to us and gave us helpful guidance in selecting the right sized server for our needs."

The Solution Strategy
Watt and his team chose a new IBM System z Server, and also decided to migrate to FICON for their Shark storage solution. In addition, there was some heavy lifting regarding software changes when migrating from the previous server to the new one. "Mainline was instrumental in making the necessary software changes," Watt said and jokingly adds, "If we were left on our own, we would still be working on it."

The solution would have to be implemented over the weekend, in order to provide uninterrupted service to policyholders. To compound matters, the datacenter floor was quite crowded. This meant the old mainframe would have to be removed in order to bring in the new server. With the old server gone, there would be no fallback. There was no room for error, or come Monday morning, they would be completely down.
The Solution Implementation

"The real success and value of Mainline showed in the implementation process," explained Watt. "Mainline's Systems Consultant, Frank Connery, provided the implementation services. He worked on the new system configuration, resolving the differences between the previous machine and the new one."

In this process, however, a software versioning issue arose that threatened to bring everything to a screeching halt. It was discovered that the older version of the VSE software had, at the time, compatibility problems with the new server. "I think, in a moment like that, you would expect everyone to enter into panic-mode. Not the Mainline people," clarified Watt. "They remained calm and were determined to find a way to win."

"On Saturday night, the Mainline team got on the phone with IBM system engineers in Germany to resolve the issue. Our account representative, Karrie Hungerford, moved mountains to make that happen." According to Watt, it was Mainline's detailed solution knowledge, and ability to communicate that knowledge, that helped IBM understand the seriousness of the situation. "Connery understood the solution inside and out and was able to communicate specific, detailed information in a clear manner."

It was determined that the newest release of the software was needed. Well, who had that at 11:00 p.m. on a Saturday night? Another Mainline customer, that's who. "So, Mainline calls their customer and asks for assistance - for a copy of the software until ours could arrive. The customer immediately agreed to help, and met us at 11:00 p.m. with a copy of the newest release. I was so impressed with Mainline's relationship with this customer. The fact that they were willing to go out of their way for Mainline says a lot about Mainline's commitment to their customers, and their attitude about how they do business."

Frank and the team set to work, loading the software, performing manual programming and applying patches, and got the solution up and running perfectly. "With any solution implementation, you expect some problems to arise. The issues we faced could have been disastrous. Instead, they were resolved because Mainline has the ability and experience that enabled them to pull in the correct resources."

Business Benefits and Solution Results
The solution was a non-event for Oregon Mutual's customers. By Sunday, everything was running smoothly and ready to handle the workload of Monday morning, as well as the long-term needs for corporate and IT efficiency.

"Our new System z solution processes more transactions at a faster rate than the previous solution," added Watt. "In the time it used to take to process one transaction, several transactions can now be processed."

Oregon Mutual has found the Mainline team to be an asset to their business and technology strategy. "There is great value in the Mainline team. They are creative and will find solutions to problems. It was well worth the money to have the team on-site. Mainline made the difference in our solution's success."


For more information about this solution, contact your Mainline account representative or call Mainline directly at 866.490.MAIN (6246).