Rapid implementation of SAP Collections and Disbursements supports Barmenia to meet SEPA deadline
Virtusa Corporation (NASDAQ GS: VRTU), a global business consulting and IT outsourcing 
company that combines innovation, technology leadership and industry solutions to transform the customer experience, today announced that it has won a Bronze SAP Quality Award in the category of Business Transformation alongside its customer, independent insurance group Barmenia. The award was given for the successful design, migration and integration of SAP Collections and Disbursements with Barmenia’s existing system-landscape, which was completed in 21 months.
In 2012, Barmenia decided to implement a collection and disbursement system to manage incoming and outgoing payments for its 1.8 million insurance policies; in order to meet the February 1st 2014 deadline for the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) legislation. Barmenia’s previous collection and disbursement system was unable to support the single payment requirement, having been designed over 20 years ago before demand for such capability. Barmenia opted to work with Virtusa due to its strong heritage and expertise in SAP implementations and consulting.
In addition to the new functionality that SAP Collection and Disbursements delivers, it is fully integrated with SAP’s financial management platform (SAP FI), which Barmenia currently uses. This allows Barmenia to work in a single, integrated system via a shared interface, greatly simplifying previously time-consuming tasks such as year-closure reporting. In addition, as Barmenia now has a standard set of solutions, internal resources are freed from carrying out maintenance and support responsibilities, allowing them to spend more time supporting strategic business needs.
“It is fantastic to have won this award alongside Barmenia,” said Thomas Weber, Director and Head of DACH Revenue Organization at Virtusa. “The SAP Quality Awards underline Virtusa’s ability to deliver large scale business transformation projects at a high level of quality and speed. We employed an optimized project approach based on best practices and an agile methodology, which meant we could complete the project in a remarkably short time. We’re happy to have been able to support Barmenia to successfully implement a SEPA solution that enables them to continue to perform as a market-leading organisation.”
The SAP Quality Awards are presented to companies in five categories; Business Transformation, Rapid Delivery, Cloud, HANA and Mobility. Successful candidates must demonstrate the delivery of business value and recognise the demand for short implantation cycles. Virtusa’s team of onsite consultants acted as the project management team; working closely with Barmenia throughout the SAP implementation, which covered all lines of business, including life insurance, health insurance and private health insurance.
“Winning the SAP Quality Award 2014 has confirmed our chosen approach and the high quality of the program. By implementing the module close to the SAP standard, we were able to integrate the complex collections and disbursements processes of an insurance company, which offers both property and life insurance, efficiently and effectively into the business processes of the Barmenia enterprise”, said Martin Kleusberg, Project Manager in the division Project and Software Management at Barmenia Insurance. “The usual timeframe for such a project is between six to eight years – the fact that we needed much less time was also due to the support of our project partner, Virtusa Germany.”
In November 2014, Virtusa was named in the 2014 HfS Research Blueprint Report as a leading provider of global SAP Services in a variety of industries, including insurance. It was commended for its offering of innovative and specialised competencies, and its approach to implementation, maintenance and support capabilities. Virtusa is also a global SAP Systems Integration Partner in the SAP Ecosystem and an SAP Value Added Reseller in Germany, with over 10 years’ experience in delivering complex programs. Virtusa provides a host of SAP related services, ranging from implementations and global roll-outs to system upgrades and maintenance and support.
