Minimizing downtime by engaging IBM Services – Technology Support

Simplifying maintenance

Hana Financial Group had recently consolidated the infrastructure and resources of 11 of its affiliates at a local IBM data centre. However, the business was left with more than 100 service and maintenance contracts that needed to be reviewed and renewed periodically. These contracts also involved 100 separate bills that Hana Financial Group had to manage. Managing such a large volume of bills was cumbersome and sometimes resulted in late payments. The group wanted to improve efficiency and eliminate the overhead involved with managing these contracts by consolidating its heterogeneous IT systems and data storage systems under more consistent processes.

Hana Financial Group engaged IBM Services – Technology Support to provide Integrated Multivendor Support Services. The IBM Services group in Korea helped the business standardize and unify the IT maintenance systems of 11 of its affiliates, using proven project management processes for service delivery, vendor management and reporting. The IBM multivendor support team works directly at the Hana Financial Group office and can, therefore, take a proactive approach to maintenance, identifying potential issues before they cause downtime.

Under the contract, the IBM team provides a single point of contact for the group’s multivendor data centre. The IBM team also provides a single contract and consolidated invoices, which simplifies administration and equipment maintenance processes.

The IBM group also stocks frequently used parts at the group’s remote data centre to minimize repair times in the event that a replacement part is needed.

The IBM team provides a call management solution to help address system errors. The call management solution provides insight into the problem handling and vendor management processes from the time the issue is reported until it is resolved. The IBM group has also implemented a project management office, which provides immediate responses to the group’s questions, helps coach the group on IT issues and helps to redefine governance, rescue and recovery operations with the Hana Financial Group staff.

• Reduced maintenance costs by 3% due to process standardization

• 83% decrease in time spent waiting for replacement parts

• Consolidates over 100 bills into a single bill, reducing the overhead required for vendor management