ALD Automotive opts for CGI’s Globalis application
and significantly increases its claims management capacity
“The CGI team demonstrated great teamwork and
responsiveness, which allowed us to implement a claims management tool
that is both easily adaptable and configurable.”
Bernard Vanneste, President and CEO, ALD Automotive
ALD Automotive (created from the merger of TEMsys/TEMpro and Interleasing)
specializes in the financing and management of automobile fleets. It offers
a variety of products, such as long-term leasing, financial leasing, leasing
with option to buy, and fleet management. Its products are offered to
companies, professionals (executives, tradespeople, artisans, etc.) and
individual customers. Wholly-owned by Société Générale,
which created the subsidiary in 1990, ALD Automotive manages a fleet of
107,000 vehicles in France, making it the third-largest in this market.
It also ranks among the top four European leasers, with a fleet of 330,000
vehicues. ALD Automotive France employs 460 people.
The Challenge
In order to respond to an internal request by the insurance department
to improve the automobile fleet’s claims management system, which
is managed by ALD Automotive, CGI France was awarded the contract to provide
a solution well-adapted to the client’s needs at a competitive price.
The application, which had to be developed quickly, also needed to be
customized to respond to ALD Automotive’s specific needs. This ability
to rapidly evolve according to needs demonstrates the long-term durability
of the system implemented.
The application had to be upgradeable, adapted to the existing environment
(AS400 with a DB2 database), and could not constitute a dramatic or expensive
change in the company’s IT system. It also needed to be more user-friendly
and configuarable than applications generally used under AS400.
“The insurance benefits sector is one that demands adjustable tools,”
stated Bernard Vanneste, ALD Automotive’s President and CEO. “We
therefore needed a flexible tool that would allow us to rapidly adapt
to our client’s profile. The solution proposed by CGI was the best
the market offered to meet our needs.”
The Strategy
ALD Automotive selected an application developed specifically by CGI and
based on the existing Globalis program to meet its requirements. This
solution was designed by CGI’s insurance industry experts and developed
using software components. It could be integrated to the existing business
management, offered a view of the client’s relational history, and
incorporated a workshop making it possible to study the launch of a new
product within a shorter timeframe.
CGI began by analyzing the needs of ALD Automotive, then used the EDIFICE
methodology to guide the project: identification of proposals for product
evolution, prototypes for each improvement, and client validation of the
prototypes prior to each deployment. This method, combined with the use
of the Globalis application, allowed the project team to save considerable
time. CGI developed and integrated the solution into its system in just
six months.
“The CGI team demonstrated great teamwork and responsiveness, which
allowed us to implement a claims management tool that is both easily adaptable
and configurable,” explained Bernard Vanneste.
The Technology
The Results
Four months after the solution was installed, ALD Automotive signed a
large fleet management contract, and CGI was able to successfully and
quickly implement the necessary improvements to the system. These improvements
allowed ALD Automotive to rapidly execute the new contract, which represented
a capacity that was double that supported by the old system. Complete
technical adaptations associated with the precise contractual requirements
were made. The claims management department grew from 4 to 12 employees,
all of whom received training adapted to the company’s needs. The
number of contracts handled has considerably increased, and the user-frienliness
of the new tool has meant that staff can be trained faster and more easily.
Among the new services it offers its customers, ALD Automotive can now
provide corrective and evolutionary maintenance thanks to CGI’s Globalis
application. This has allowed ALD Automotive to adapt the system of its
Italian subsidiary to the Italian commercial system and correct any irregularities
quickly. All in all, it’s a true success story for the CGI team.
“We now have an open tool that is efficient and allows us to significantly
increase our claims management activities,” concluded Bernard. “We
also plan to study the possibility of extending the use of this tool to
other subsidiaries of the ALD Group.”
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