Revolutionizing Insurance with Tech Innovation

A Century of Excellence in Insurance Solutions

Located in Columbus, Ohio, State Auto Insurance (now Liberty Mutual) is a leading provider of personal and business insurance solutions. As it nears its 100-year anniversary, State Auto operates across 33 states, managing $4.6 billion in assets and writing $2.0 billion in premiums every year.

Managing Complexity in Technology 

State Auto was facing a major challenge with its technology infrastructure. They had over 20 different environments that were manually created and updated, making it difficult to manage and keep track of changes. Engineers often created new environments without understanding why changes were made or who made them, leading to chaos in managing these systems and increasing costs significantly.

Streamlining Operations with RightBrain's Expertise

RightBrain Networks stepped in to help State Auto tackle these issues head-on with several innovative solutions:

1. CloudFormation Implementation: We introduced Amazon CloudFormation to automate the setup and management of these environments. This tool helped organize and control the various environments, reducing costs and simplifying management tasks.
2. CI/CD Pipeline Development: We developed a Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipeline using Jenkins. This allowed State Auto to move away from large, infrequent software releases, which often led to bugs that were slow to fix. With the new CI/CD pipeline, State Auto could now roll out more frequent updates and quick fixes, enhancing overall software management and deployment.
3. Ansible for Critical Software Management: A critical software application was another area of focus. We introduced Ansible, a powerful tool to manage the configuration of this application. With Ansible runbooks, we could automate the setup of new instances, installing and configuring the software within minutes without manual intervention.

Enhanced Agility and Technological Advancement 

The collaboration with RightBrain brought a transformative shift to State Auto. The introduction of CloudFormation and the new CI/CD pipeline fostered a more dynamic and responsive environment. Engineers could now focus on innovation rather than managing complexities. The use of Ansible streamlined critical software operations, further reducing the time and effort required for system setups.

The engagement with RightBrain Networks provided the State Auto team with substantial education on the DevOps process and the comprehensive automation of these systems. This training demonstrated the potential of full automation and familiarized their team members with the necessary tools, facilitating the construction of several practical use cases.

Through this strategic partnership, State Auto not only streamlined its technological processes but also set a new benchmark in the insurance industry for operational efficiency and responsiveness. The company continues to innovate, ensuring that it remains at the forefront of technological advancement in the insurance sector.