Project Portfolio

The Challenge

One of Denmarks’s leading insurance companies decided to utilize cloud technologies to replace their onpremises microservices platform and supplement their legacy systems. The platform was monolithic, with high operational costs, difficult to evolve, and dependent on outdated technology. Meanwhile the market was changing rapidly — new digital players and shifting customer expectations demanded faster delivery and innovative solutions.

The organization had never previously attempted such a transformation. The main concern was the complexity and risk of replacing systems critical to daily operations. Resistance to change was strong, both from the business side fearing downtime and from technical teams comfortable with the existing system.

Approach

Instead of a “big bang” strategy I developed a phased migration plan with clear architecture principles and a target architecture. The work began by mapping business capabilities and identifying which system parts could be decoupled and replaced independently.

Not only did the technological transformation require a new architecture, but it also required a cultural shift. The focus on automation and infrastructure as code were new concepts, I introduced them gradually, starting with non-critical components to build confidence.

I established an informal architecture forum that brought together key people from both business and IT, creating shared understanding of the goal and a sense of ownership. By demonstrating quick wins — such as migrating a low-risk component to the cloud in six weeks — I built trust and momentum.

A key success factor was that I not only designed the architecture but also worked hands-on with development teams to ensure principles were followed in practice. This significantly reduced the gap between architecture and implementation.

Outcome

The program delivered a fully functional cloud-based platform within 18 months, completely automated with markedly improved delivery speed. The most tangible result, however, was organizational capability — teams that had previously feared change became drivers of continued innovation. The platform laid the foundation for the company’s digital strategy for years to come.

The Challenge

After a strategic acquisition, it was clear that the technical integration would be the biggest challenge. The acquired company’s IT environment was - while similar on the surface - a IT strategy behind the environments was fundamentally different. The aqcuired had extensive agreements with system integrators to maintain their extensive legacy systems, while the aquiring company had a strong inhouse approach.

Thetwo organizations had completely different technical cultures, different views on governance, and staff on both sides were worried their ways of working would be overridden. Business-critical systems had to continue operating without disruption throughout the integration.

Approach

I conducted a thorough technical due diligence, mapping both organizations’ application landscapes, technical debt, and future ambitions. Based on this, I developed an integration strategy that did not force one side’s model onto the other, but instead chose “best of both worlds” — the best platform for each domain - but only one platform per domain.

The strategy identified quick synergy wins — systems that could be converged easily — while establishing a long-term target architecture for complex domains. I also led a cultural integration effort where shared architecture principles and development practices were defined together, creating ownership on both sides.

Outcome

The integration was completed within the planned timeline with minimal impact on daily operations. Expected cost synergies were realized within 12 months. Most importantly, the merged organization retained the best from both worlds — the modern development culture from the acquired company spread throughout the organization, while governance and stability from the acquiring company strengthened the shared platform.