The principles and processes of IT Infrastructure Operations and Service Delivery of Tata AIA Life Insurance Co. Ltd. (Tata AIA Life) have been endorsed by global technology research firm Gartner as best practices on how companies can improve their IT service management and Infrastructure Operations (I&O) maturity.
The research firm observed, “In Tata AIA Life Insurance’s Infrastructure Operations organization, Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) skills and practices are leveraged to manage IT Service Management (ITSM) process integration initiatives.”
Commenting on the development, Samrat Das, Chief Information Officer (CIO), Tata AIA Life said, “Leveraging technology as a competitive advantage in doing business entails three interwoven drivers – Process, People and Technology. We are happy that our processes have been endorsed by an independent global technology research firm like Gartner. This proves that we are on the right path in delivering predictable outcomes from technology investments.”
To ensure consistent and predictable outcomes from major change and release cycles and also to manage costs and timelines in a more transparent manner, PPM must be fully integrated with IT change and release management processes. Citing the fact that all technology domain managers in Tata AIA Life are PPM certified, Gartner observed that, domain managers in Tata AIA Life train their immediate colleagues in the reporting line on active projects, using a ‘learn-by-doing approach’. Thus, while working on various projects, teams acquire basic PPM skills from their managers, attain higher maturity levels and thereby enhance I & O contribution to business value.
On Tata AIA’s enterprise Business Intelligence (BI) initiative, the global research firm noted that the BI program manager responsible for the program needed visibility across all configuration items and technology stacks, including storage, hardware, computing and network. The I&O domain leaders reported on the project’s progress, specifically related to BI release, to the project lead, who, in turn, supplied all collated inputs to the BI program manager.
Highlighting the key challenges for the industry, Gartner commented, “In 80% of organizations, project and portfolio management has been shown to be one of the least-mature attributes in the business management dimension. A lack of PPM skills prevents I&O teams from taking a comprehensive program management approach towards IT service management practice improvements.”
Gartner found that many I&O organizations do not leverage PPM to improve ITSM practices, thus failing to deliver timely and improved services to their customers.
About Tata AIA Life
Tata AIA Life Insurance Company Limited (Tata AIA Life) is a joint venture company, formed by Tata Sons Limited and AIA Group Limited (AIA). Tata AIA Life combines Tata’s pre-eminent leadership position in India and AIA’s presence as the largest, independent listed pan-Asia life insurance group in the world spanning 17 markets in Asia Pacific. Tata Sons holds a majority stake (74 per cent) in the company and AIA holds 26 per cent through an AIA Group company. Tata AIA Life Insurance Company Limited was licensed to operate in India on February 12, 2001 and started operations on April 1, 2001.
