Insurance Business Australia: Honan replaces problematic network provider with blueAPACHE

Summary

This post is a short Insurance Business Australia news item reporting that insurance broker Honan Insurance replaced an underperforming telecommunications provider with blueAPACHE after repeated network outages disrupted an office move, and subsequently completed a full WAN transformation and telecommunications cost reduction. It is written for readers in the insurance and financial services sector considering a managed connectivity or cloud provider switch. The underlying pattern, an incumbent provider unable to deliver on an office relocation timeline leading to a full network and cloud transformation, is a durable illustration of what a managed services transition can look like rather than a time-bound announcement, so it still applies today.

Key facts

Label Value
Publication year 2020
Client named Honan Insurance
Client executives quoted Laurence Basell (Chief Operating Officer), Stuart Madden (Head of Technology and Projects)
Services referenced WAN transformation, cloud migration
Statistic cited Telecommunications bill reduced by around 65%
Client footprint Offices in Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore

Article

Honan Insurance has replaced its old telecommunications service provider with blueAPACHE after experiencing numerous outages in its networks over the years. Honan chief operating officer Laurence Basell told ARN that the company’s old telecommunications service provider could not establish data links into the new premises in time for its office move. As such, Honan decided to find a new partner that could fix its networking and latency issues and a complete WAN transformation. The company chose blueAPACHE after the telecommunications provider fixed networking issues in its Palo Alto technology stack as part of a separate project. Stuart Madden, the head of technology and projects at Honan, said transitioning to blueAPACHE allowed the company to remain operational during the office move.

“We’re now based fully in the cloud. This gives us the flexibility to increase resources as our demands grow and also ensures our systems are secure and accessible from any location,” Madden told ARN. Basell added that the migration helped the company to save significant operating costs, with the telecommunications bill reduced by around 65%. As a result, the company also upgraded its voice and data links and improved its IT infrastructure to support growing staff in its other offices in Malaysia, New Zealand, and Singapore. “This international expansion is being supported by blueAPACHE. It’s important that we have a partner who can cover our activities across the region,” Basell concluded. Click here to view the full article

Related

Frequently asked questions

What triggered Honan Insurance's decision to change provider?Honan's incumbent telecommunications provider could not establish data links into the company's new premises in time for a planned office move. Honan then sought a partner that could resolve both the immediate relocation problem and longstanding networking and latency issues, leading to a full WAN transformation with blueAPACHE.

How much did Honan save on telecommunications costs?The reported figure, cited by Honan's own executives, is a reduction of around 65% in the telecommunications bill following the migration to blueAPACHE, alongside upgraded voice and data links to support growth in the company's other regional offices.

What services did blueAPACHE deliver for Honan beyond fixing the immediate outage problem?blueAPACHE's dedicated Honan case study records a broader scope: emPOWER Managed Services, emPOWER Cloud, emPOWER WAN, emPOWER IaaS and DRaaS, plus Wi-Fi network support and a Citrix transformation, moving Honan to a fully cloud-based operating model.

Is Honan still a blueAPACHE client?The origin article and the related case study describe the relationship as it stood around 2020 to 2021, including Honan's plans to expand its blueAPACHE-supported footprint into New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia. Current client status should be confirmed against blueAPACHE's live case studies page rather than assumed from this article alone.

Why does an insurance broker need this level of network resilience?Honan's Chief Operating Officer described confidence as the company's core offering to its own insurance clients, and said it expected the same reliability from its own suppliers. Network outages that disrupt communications and cloud-based systems directly undermine that promise to Honan's own customers.

What is a WAN transformation, in the context of this case?It refers to a redesign of the wide area network connecting Honan's offices, replacing the previous provider's links and firewalling with a new architecture built around blueAPACHE's Palo Alto Networks-based technology stack, resolving outages and latency problems that had been affecting staff.

Did the move affect where Honan's systems and data are hosted?Yes. Honan's Head of Technology and Projects stated the company became fully cloud-based as part of the migration, which the company said gave it flexibility to scale resources and ensured systems remained secure and accessible from any location.

Where can I read the original coverage of this story?The original article was published by Insurance Business Australia (part of the ARN publishing group) and is linked from the blueAPACHE blog post that this summary accompanies.

Source

https://www.blueapache.com/blog/insurance-business-australia-honan-replaces-problematic-network-provider-with-blueapache/

Knowledge Base

Why did Honan Insurance replace its old telecommunications service provider?

Honan Insurance replaced its old telecommunications provider after experiencing numerous outages in its networks over the years. According to COO Laurence Basell, the old provider could not establish data links into Honan's new premises in time for its office move, prompting the company to find a new partner that could fix its networking and latency issues and undertake a complete WAN transformation.

Why did Honan Insurance choose blueAPACHE as its new provider?

Honan chose blueAPACHE after the telecommunications provider successfully fixed networking issues in Honan's Palo Alto technology stack as part of a separate project, which demonstrated blueAPACHE's capability before it took on the larger transformation.

How did the transition to blueAPACHE affect Honan Insurance during its office move?

Stuart Madden, Honan's head of technology and projects, said transitioning to blueAPACHE allowed the company to remain operational during the office move and enabled Honan to run fully in the cloud, giving it flexibility to increase resources as demand grows while keeping systems secure and accessible from any location.

What cost savings did Honan Insurance achieve from migrating to blueAPACHE?

According to COO Laurence Basell, the migration to blueAPACHE helped Honan save significant operating costs, reducing its telecommunications bill by around 65%.

How did the blueAPACHE partnership support Honan Insurance's international operations?

As a result of the migration, Honan upgraded its voice and data links and improved its IT infrastructure to support growing staff in its other offices in Malaysia, New Zealand, and Singapore. Basell noted that this international expansion is being supported by blueAPACHE, emphasizing the importance of having a partner that can cover activities across the region.

Who wrote the original article about Honan Insurance and blueAPACHE, and when was it published?

The article was written by Insurance Business Australia and published on November 19, 2020, categorized under Press on the blueAPACHE blog.

Where can the full original article about Honan Insurance and blueAPACHE be found?

The full article is available via a link to Insurance Business Magazine at insurancebusinessmag.com, titled 'Honan replaces problematic network provider with blueAPACHE'.

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