How Your Migration to Open Source Software Becomes Properly Sustainable

• Client: Leading international reinsurer
• Sector: Finance

In accordance with regulatory requirements, reinsurers must always keep a close eye on the valuation of their own assets and the forecast of their performance - also and especially taking into account random events such as natural catastrophes or stock market crashes.

• The challenge:

  The client is using industry-specific software that no longer meets the latest technical requirements in several respects - the configuration of the systems is too complex and not very flexible. Instead, the client wants to be able to create its forecasts faster and more reliably, transparently and flexibly - with the ambition of being able to execute them in the cloud at any time.
  

  The heterogeneous team of domain experts and developers has been instructed to work together in an agile manner using a programming language, to break down knowledge silos, and to shorten handover times in the process. Meanwhile, management has already made the strategic decision to move to open source software and Python as a common programming language in the future.
  

  The company has set itself an ambitious goal: in the future, the gold standard of one million simulations for forecasting should be achieved within six hours - with the help of the cloud technology in use. That's why the company was looking for a partner who could, on the one hand, enable the team in open source software development - and, on the other hand, for open source experts who could support the implementation and optimization.
  

• Our solution:

  KÖNIGSWEG's team of consultants developed a plan to address the requirements at the various levels. The training of the users was the foundation: With the help of a training program, the individual team members were trained - tailored to their individual backgrounds and tasks. Analysts, mathematicians, statisticians and software developers were trained in the Python programming language and best practices in three groups to ensure sustainable operation.
  

  Meanwhile, experts from KÖNIGSWEG's extensive network supported the client in the technical evaluation of the software elements and libraries. This allowed the Azure Cloud prediction models to be optimized and scaled. Through intelligent caching of results and the use of the modern Zarr library, the simulations were not only significantly accelerated as intended - thanks to shorter runtimes in the cloud, they even create a significant cost optimization.
  

• Why this case could be relevant to you:

  The migration to a new open source software represents both a learning and a cultural challenge for companies. Technologically, it should be "state of the art", even if the skills and knowledge of the employees do not yet match this. Therefore, it is often not enough to learn a new programming language; good advice is also golden when it comes to selecting software and libraries from the wide range on offer.
  

  KÖNIGSWEG's expertise and strength lie not only in providing your employees with professional training. We also actively support you in the course of migration or the introduction of new tools and accompany you until your project stands on its own two feet.