Munich Re UK Life Branch builds intelligent business with enterprise search


~ IBM Cognos 8 Go! Search helps world’s largest re-insurer improve decision making through pervasive BI ~

LONDON, England, March 12, 2008 – Cognos, an IBM Company, has announced that Munich Re UK Life Branch has selected IBM Cognos 8 Go! Search to escalate the number of decision makers who access reports on business critical information.

Currently, 160 combinations of BI reports are used by Munich Re UK Life Branch and this number is growing. The 'Google-style' search interface will help executives to quickly isolate the key reports that allow them to compare the risk across different departments and areas, as well as spot key trends, by entering simple keywords. IBM Cognos 8 Go! Search will instantly bring up all related information and metrics using familiar search engine terms.

Previously, Munich Re used an in-house built tool for enterprise search, which was time consuming to manage and difficult to use.

“Risk is the focus of our business so it is critical we have full visibility of the spread of risk we are exposed to by area, by customer and geographically,” said Tony Dumycz, BI Manager of Munich Re UK Life Branch. “This means navigating an enormous volume of information, across different departments and different teams.”

“IBM Cognos 8 Go! Search’s easy-to-use interface will help us achieve this visibility by driving BI usage, both in terms of numbers and in the breadth of reports our current users’ access,” said Tony Dumycz, BI Manager of Munich Re UK Life Branch.

“Many decision makers who are familiar with BI reports relating to their own specific areas aren’t aware of the knowledge available in other reports, which could actually be relevant to their job. By using a simple keyword search, executives will find and benefit from reports that they didn’t even know existed.”

“We have been growing the number of frequent BI users every year, and we’re confident that IBM Cognos 8 Go! Search will continue this trend.”

Munich Re is also hoping to prevent duplication of effort by making existing reports easier to find.

“Business executives use consumer search tools many times a day, so it makes sense that enterprise search should be just as simple,” said Graham Walter, VP UK, Middle East and South Africa Cognos.

“IBM Cognos 8 Go! Search will drive the demand for BI reports, at all levels of Munich Re’s organisation. Increased access to business critical information and metrics leads to better informed decision and, ultimately, results in better performance management.”

IBM Cognos 8 Go! Search will go live at Munich Re later this month, as part of the larger migration to IBM Cognos 8 version 3.

About Cognos, an IBM Company
Cognos, an IBM company, is the world leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions.

It provides world-class enterprise planning and BI software and services to help companies plan, understand and manage financial and operational performance.
Cognos was acquired by IBM in January 2008.

For more information, visit http://www.ibm.com/software/data/ and http://www.cognos.com/uk/

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