Insurance group Scottish Provident Plc has backtracked on its computing strategy, halfway through converting its life pensions systems from Unisys Corp to IBM Corp machines. Three years ago, Scottish Provident started to convert its life and pensions business from Unisys systems to run on IBM kit using the CCA-1 software product from Austin, Texas developer Continuum Co Inc. It has converted some of the administration to IBM machines already, but has decided to fuel development of another system, ProInsure, which is being conducted by a subsidiary group, Prolific, which was acquired six months ago. Prolific will take two years to develop the system using the Pro-IV generator. When complete, ProInsure will be run by Scottish Provident’s computer department. This takes the conversion process from an initial three years to five. Norval Bryson, a director for Scottish Provident, denied allegations that the CCA system was over budget and said that the move was simply a better way to integrate Prolific and Scottish Provident products into one system. A source close to Scottish Provident said that the CCA implementation had cost more than initially expected, and alleged that Prolific was purchased almost soley to get at its computer operations. A dozen computing redundancies were made at Scottish Provident’s Edinburgh computing department at the start of October, and some were managerial. Bryson said that some positions could be switched to Prolific’s computing development, which would be expanded as development continues. Prolific’s 40-strong computing department will probably grow 25% by the end of the year. Roger Goshawk, business systems development manager for the larger insurance company Norwich Union, which also uses some components of the CCA product, sympathised with Scottish Provident. It is true to say that like many large proprietary solutions CCA has turned out to be a more expensive job than we imagined when we signed up to it in the mid-1980s, Goshawk said.
