Customer Story
Leading Swiss insurance group CSS brings increased operationality, automation, and user experience to over 3,200 HCL Notes clients. All thanks to panagenda’s MarvelClient.
CSS Kranken-Versicherung AG
Insurance
2700
Europe, Switzerland
Since 1999
Challenges
CSS Kranken-Versicherung AG
Insurance
2700
Europe, Switzerland
Since 1999
Results
Standardized Notes clients via Citrix VDI and Citrix
Automated Notes Single Sign-on (SSO) in Citrix
Simplified cross-departmental processes and automated installations
Improved Citrix performance for all users
Reduced administration efforts and increased operational efficiency
Successfully transitioned to an almost completely remote workforce
Mastering the Challenges of Remote Work
CSS Kranken-Versicherung AG, a market leader in the field of basic insurance in Switzerland, has been using HCL Notes/Domino as a company-wide communication and collaboration solution since 1999. The enterprise platform has enabled their employees to work from different offices spread across Switzerland, as well as on the road, and remain highly productive.
Maintaining productivity has become a growing challenge during the pandemic, especially for insurance companies. Whole offices emptied and switched to remote working practices, business and customer meetings were moved into virtual space, transforming the way of working and interacting with each other.
Viewpoint
Communication Software Reliability Issues
You work for an insurance company. Whether traveling to meet with customers or working from home due to the onset of the pandemic, you depend on your HCL Notes client software for your business and customer communications. If that software is unreliable, crashing regularly, then it has a direct impact on your productivity and the ability to perform your job.
Supporting a Dual Client Landscape
CSS Kranken-Versicherung AG has standardized on Citrix to run their endpoint system software for all employee computers. There are two distinct client configurations for HCL Notes running on Citrix, one for regular end-users and a second setup for 250 IT admins and developers. As it turned out, this second image running a virtualized desktop (Xen Desktop) was causing most of the stability problems for the Notes client.
Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, CSS was already struggling with these performance and stability issues of the Notes client running in their Citrix environment. When employees were mandated to work from home, things got even worse and support requests escalated. A solution was sorely needed. After consultations with panagenda, a project team was put in place to perform an in-depth assessment using the MarvelClient solution and implement a fix that could be deployed quickly.
Solution Validation Testing
Step one would be finding the best and most stable Citrix configuration to support the Notes client, first on a test farm and then with pilot users. The following four points were addressed:
- A new Notes client installation based on panagenda’s specifications
- Performance optimization tuning for computers
- Implementation of MarvelClient Roaming to improve Notes client startup times
- Transitioning the data directory to the test farm
Standardized Configuration Proves Successful
During the evaluation testing of multiple configurations, the project team identified a standard setup including dedicated HCL software patches that was completely reliable. The following steps were included as part of the final deployment:
- The MarvelClient Roaming master image for the Citrix farm of regular users was adjusted and updated.
- A new MarvelClient Roaming master image for the developers was created and set up.
- MarvelClient Roaming was set up for all users so that both developers and regular users could roam in both directions.
- Another solution from panagenda, SecurityInsider Light, was additionally installed to support the MarvelClient system.
Viewpoint
Communications Software Stability
You still work for the same insurance company; however, everything has changed. You can now depend on your communication software to work reliably. You can manage your customers efficiently, whether you work from home, on the road, or at a company office location. As a result, personal productivity, and employee morale soars.
The Future Looks Bright
In the future, CSS plans to engage panagenda’s technical experts to further optimize their HCL Domino server infrastructure. Their aim is to keep capital expenses low, efficiency up, and reap the benefits of innovations and automation trends. Optimizing their employees digital experience is their key focus.
The CSS Group, headquartered in Lucerne, is a Swiss insurance group specializing in health insurance.
With over 1.4 million insured persons in the compulsory health insurance, CSS is the largest basic insurer in Switzerland.
The company has over 1.6 million customers, a total annual premium volume of 6.5 billion Swiss francs, employs around 2700 people and operates over 100 agencies nationwide.
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