Case Study

Citrix MetaFrame XPe Provides the Right Cure for BUPA

Covers Citrix MetaFrame implementation at BUPA, the UK's leading medical insurance company.

BUPA is a leading British provider of healthcare, with 36 hospitals and over 250 care homes in the UK, as well as child nurseries and Wellness, the company's preventative care division. The company's international division provides health cover and care for members in nearly 190 countries worldwide.

	We've been told by our partners in India that they feel like the CFS application is running locally, despite the fact that it is actually situated on a server farm in the UK
	Ian Shaw, Head of IT Services, BUPA

The Challenge: Finding a Prescription for Remote Access

As the UK's leading medical insurance company, BUPA needs effective customer service to field treatment claims from members and to deal with customer enquiries. However, following the decision to pilot the processing of some claims and administration tasks to India, BUPA faced the challenge of delivering its CFS (Customer Facing System) application to the new centre whilst keeping customer records centrally stored and up-to-date in the UK. In turn, the company wanted to equip its travelling executives with the tools to work effectively whilst visiting remote locations. BUPA also wanted to ensure all contact with insured customers was handled by BUPA staff in the UK. Finally, BUPA wanted to standardise the infrastructure of the entire company to create a centralised system that was easy to manage and support.

Implementing Citrix MetaFrame XP™e Application Server Software

Having implemented Citrix® MetaFrame® on a departmental level and experienced its benefits, BUPA worked with Centralis, a Gold-level member of the Citrix Solutions Network™, to create a virtual workplace for the entire organisation based on Citrix MetaFrame™e and Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Servers. Most of the 8,000 employees will be able to access line-of-business applications from anywhere, including in the hospitals, care homes, nurseries, UK call centres and on the road. With Citrix MetaFrame XPe, BUPA has a standardised, centrally managed infrastructure on which to build its global expansion.

A Clean Bill of Health for the Organisation

"We've been told by our partners in India that they feel like the CFS application is running locally, despite the fact that it is actually situated on a server farm in the UK," said Ian Shaw, Head of IT Services, BUPA. "We have managed to move an entire part of our claims processing department and some administration tasks overseas. The administration has not been slowed down - our employees in the UK can still access that information in real-time. All contact with customers will continue to be handled by BUPA staff in the UK. The processes which have been selected to move overseas are 'invisible' to our customers."

	We can now solve 75 percent of our users' IT queries without ever visiting their desktop
	Ian Shaw, Head of IT Services, BUPA

This capability will also help BUPA International, the company's overseas health division, which will shortly be able to deliver SWAN, another customer service and claims processing application, to employees in other countries such as Malta or Egypt. "There is now consistency of administration across the company," commented Shaw. "What's more, senior BUPA executives can expect to access their applications even when making business trips abroad. We want to make it possible for them to get out their laptops in a hotel room and access any legacy application without any hassle - and that is exactly what Citrix MetaFrame XP will enable."

By centralising IT support, BUPA expects to recognise considerable cost savings. "We can now solve 75 percent of our users' IT queries without ever visiting their desktop," explained Shaw. "With so many locations across the country, this obviously saves man-hours in terms of travelling. It is also going to be easier to grow internationally, since there is no need for local support."

Future Plans

"The healthcare industry is highly acquisitive, with new care homes and international sites being brought into the group on a regular basis," concluded Shaw. "With Citrix MetaFrame XPe, we can deliver applications to new users by merely giving them a device and a connection to the network. We are now able to expand more quickly, without increasing the cost of our infrastructure."

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