The Challenge
Health Insurance Company (HIC) runs a relatively large Oracle Database, with the total Oracle environment (including Middleware, OBIEE, WebLogic, and more) representing half their storage, about 25 TB. This Oracle Technology is critical to HIC operations, because it handles the reporting and analytics for multiple business units. The Oracle ecosystem must be continuously available also because specific customers receive regular reports and data due to contractual obligations and requirements, including the Affordable Care Act and health exchanges.
HIC’s 2018 IT strategy had been to replace this Oracle environment with a single, proprietary healthcare industry-specific system with the same reporting functionality. With little in-house Oracle expertise, HIC had previously hired a local managed service firm to ensure the database remained online and accessible until the system conversion was able to be completed. By 2019, HIC had selected and begun to implement the new system, but delays and competing priorities had left the Oracle system in place. The Director of IT and the IT Team were resigned to this situation, knowing that the existing system performed as needed.
For me, Spinnaker Support has the experience to get it done. Our former managed services company couldn’t help us and lacked accountability. Spinnaker Support knew what was going on – they immediately identified the problems, fixed them, and helped us operate again. I can trust these guys.
– Director of IT Infrastructure
What HIC was not counting on was that the system was less stable and well maintained than they knew. In early 2019, the database suffered a major, week-long outage. The new director discovered that the managed services firm was not hired under a Master Service Agreement and was not regularly monitoring or backing up the database. Because the firm could not get the database restarted, HIC reached out for alternative assistance.
The Approach
HIC’s full-service business and technology consulting firm recommended that they contact Spinnaker Support for emergency Oracle services. The HIC director promptly initiated a conversation, describing the situation and their immediate need. That same day, Spinnaker Support’s consulting services team took the case and began to get the database back up and running smoothly.
“The Spinnaker Support consulting team knew exactly what to do to give us a permanent fix,” said HIC’s Director of IT Infrastructure. “They resolved the configuration problems (why we couldn’t turn it back on) and the problems of talking to storage. They fixed a full list of requirements, creating a stable environment. They also put in the monitoring and backups for us.”
Impressed with this experience, HIC engaged with Spinnaker Support in further conversations about their Oracle Database and Technology managed services. After the outage, HIC knew it required true 24/7 performance monitoring and ongoing DBA assistance from a responsive and accountable technology vendor. Within weeks, they gave notice to their former managed services firm, coordinated the transfer of knowledge, and transitioned to Spinnaker Support Oracle Managed Services.
The Solution
Spinnaker Support offers a unique, global blend of managed services, value-add consulting, and third-party support for Oracle products. Its managed services and consulting skillsets encompass virtually every Oracle enterprise application and the entire surrounding technology environment. These services help to augment your staff, fill capability gaps in your IT team, and improve your overall operability, often with less expense.
HIC became an Oracle managed services customer of Spinnaker Support in March of 2019. “We needed the environment to be stable and reliable and to have someone knowledgeable to maintain that environment,” said HIC’s Director of IT Infrastructure. Since that time, Spinnaker Support’s team has performed all types of services, including DBA work, operating system configuration, performance monitoring, database tuning, and query writing.
In July of 2019, HIC learned of Spinnaker Support’s third-party Oracle Database and Technology support, which replaces Oracle’s annual maintenance and support. The combination of managed services and third-party support was an ideal solution for HIC, because it had no interest in upgrades, planned to eventually decommission its Oracle database, and was pleased at the prospect of immediate budget savings. Best of all, HIC was already working closely and collaboratively with Spinnaker Support, so consolidating services under a single vendor gave them far better value for their spend.
The Results
Spinnaker Support is now fully accountable for HIC’s Oracle Database and Technology environment. In addition to managed services, HIC receives full, day-to-day software support, which consists of break/fix (including interoperability issues), general inquiry support, technology advisory services, security and vulnerability management, and proactive status reporting. “We got more than what we had before, with a higher quality of services and more reliable and experienced support than from Oracle,” said the Director of IT Infrastructure.
Third-party support is always at least half the cost of Oracle support and provides more services than traditional support through an expert global team. When switching to Spinnaker Support, HIC gains more comprehensive and responsive service, saves 59% on its support fees, and can remain on Oracle Technology until it moves the reporting function to its new SaaS claim system. The IT team intends to retain the historical information from their Oracle system in the cloud, where they can use it as a searchable source of data. HIC applied the savings to support several regulatory projects already in the pipeline.