Industry Medical assistance and healthcare Company International SOS is a leading provider of medical assistance, international healthcare, security services and outsourced customer care. With over 4,400 professionals operating in 65 countries, it helps organizations manage the health and safety risks facing their travelers, global workforce and customers. Employees 5,000 IT staff 110 Annual IT Budget Confidential

For the past seven years, the organization had been using three disparate systems which were only partially integrated. As a result, the sales and marketing team had problems getting timely customer information.

In 2004, systems integrator Avanade was engaged to help the company build a new system called NewCase. Based on a service-oriented architecture (SOA), it combines client records and medical service information from the company's alarm centers within a single integrated application. The system was rolled out in October 2005.

So far, NewCase has enabled employees to have quick access to detailed client history, allowing them to focus on providing better quality medical care and services.

In addition, employees also enjoy integrated e-mail, scanning and fax services. This has enhanced the company's ability to provide a single platform for doctors and customer service executives to work in real-time, anywhere in the world.

NewCase is one of two components of a project called Magellan undertaken by International SOS. The other component, BiGGeR (Billings and Accounting Journals Generation), supports claims and invoicing. Although it was developed in-house, BiGGer is closely tied to NewCase to take advantage of an SOA infrastructure.

The NewCase project has taught the company valuable lessons, which it can apply in future technology projects. For one, it appreciated the importance of timely and consistent communication to all employees across different locations.

"A consistent message ensures that every stakeholder is fully aware of the situation and timely communication ensures no surprises and early buy-in from the users," the company noted.

User training, another key success factor, was emphasized and provided early in the project. This ensured International SOS employees were comfortable with the new IT system, and minimized any negative impact on daily operations.