TmaxSoft, a multinational technology innovator focused on infrastructure software, and CGI, one of Finland's largest independent providers of ICT services, have signed an agreement with Kela, the Finnish Government’s provider of social welfare including family, unemployment, pensions, housing, and sickness benefits. TmaxSoft and CGI are partnering to modernise Kela’s mainframes using OpenFrame, TmaxSoft’s modernisation and rehosting solution. The contract value is around ˆ10 million (approximately ?8.9 million), and ROI is expected in under two years.
Kela is responsible for managing benefits payments to millions of Finland’s citizens, totalling around ˆ13 billion annually. The IT system supporting the business therefore requires a high level of efficiency and reliability, while enabling the use of key services by members of the public.
Kela will start the project in early 2017, with the new core system being introduced in the spring of 2019.
Markku Suominen, ICT Director at Kela, commented on the criteria and objectives behind choosing TmaxSoft’s OpenFrame, along with CGI’s broad experience in mainframe modernisation: ”Kela’s mainframe system is one of the largest in the Nordic region and has been in use for decades. We are on a digital transformation journey, but the transition to more modern software has burdened the old mainframe. Ultimately, it has become an expensive piece of hardware to maintain, while seriously hampering the development of new services for our business. We realised we needed to reconsider how we manage our IT systems and hardware, in order to cut maintenance costs while still providing best-in-class service to the Finnish public.
"Rehosting our mainframe with OpenFrame is therefore a key step to ensuring the success of our digital transformation. Migrating to a UNIX-based environment will result in savings of approximately ˆ4 million per year. In addition, the new platform will enable the development of all systems and services quicker and cheaper than before. The benefits have extended far beyond pure costings. CGI and TmaxSoft were able to show us a competitive and practical alternative to our mainframe that delivers a high-quality, open platform at a compelling price, without the risk of having to spend years rewriting our business-critical applications," Suominen added.
OpenFrame is a proven and advanced modernisation and rehosting solution that enables mainframe assets, including applications, resources and data residing in a legacy system to be migrated to a more reliable and high-performance cloud platform without modifying original business logic and data.
Songmin Andy Kim, Head of TmaxSoft EMEA, commented: "As we continue to make our mark across Europe, we’re delighted to partner with CGI to revitalise Kela’s IT estate. Kela does incredibly important work for the Finnish people and needs the most nimble, available technology to sit at the heart of its activities. Modernising its mainframe solution with OpenFrame will result in lower costs with greater agility, with a fast deployment time due to an automated and integrated toolset. We look forward to working closely and being successful with both Kela and CGI on this project.”
