Case Study

NJM’s DevOps Odyssey:
Staying Competitive andMaintaining Compliance
Through Release Automation
HIGHLIGHTS
Reduced deployment times dramatically
1,000 to 1,500+ deployments per month throughautomation
Continuous, scheduled, and self-service deployments
Zero-touch process that is fully traceable and auditable

Industry: Industry
Size: 2,500 Employees

Challenge
NJM is a leading provider of affordable auto, homeowners,
renters, commercial auto, umbrella, and workers’
compensation insurance in New Jersey. NJM was founded
in 1913 and currently operates out of three locations withroughly 2,500 employees. NJM has been on a technology
transformation journey focused on replacing core businesssolutions and modernizing its infrastructure. With this shift,
the pace of work has dramatically accelerated, which has
increased complexities: greater number of deployments,
geographically distributed teams, agile development
practices, competing priorities, and more.
Solution complexity has risen as well, driven by composite
applications and a growing number of interdependencies.
The team wanted to look at how they could move code
more efficiently and address audit requirements. The
number of environments had increased to more than 100.
At the same time, NJM experienced considerable growthin the number of deployments necessary (1,000+ per month,
all handled manually). To handle this rising complexity, NJM
turned to DevOps. One of their first efforts was deployment
automation. “There is a lot more going on in the new world
than the old world. We didn’t need another problem. We
needed a solution, and that was the [Digital.ai],” stated Vito
Iannuzzelli, the Assistant VP of IT who was leading theDevOps charge.

Location: West Trenton, NJ

ChallengeNJM needed to address audit
requirements move code more
efficiently to 100+
environments.​They had tohandle 1,000 per month
manually and demonstratecompliance without
introducing manual processes.​

Solution

NJM implemented
deployment automation
with Digital.ai which helped
them accelerate softwaredelivery while
demonstrating compliance.
This initiative also helped
reduce operational
overhead, streamline andscale deployment.

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“There is a lot
more going onin the newworld than theold world. We
didn’t need
anotherproblem. We
needed asolution, andthat was the[Digital.ai]DevOpsPlatform.
Vito Iannuzzelli, Assistant
VP of IT, NJM

As NJM focused on deployment automation as one of theirfirst DevOps initiatives, they found it would address manyof the challenges they were facing. They looked for atool with very specific criteria: Ability to build and deploy
environmentally agnostic solutions Single framework for
all technology deployments Simple and intuitive Extensible
Deployment flexibility (continuous, scheduled, self-service)
Integration support (Web Service, REST, Batch) Featurerich “Out of the Box” technology support Auditable

Solution“We looked at several products, vetted them, got
agreement and support, and ultimately chose Digital.ai,”
said Vito. NJM began implementing the Digital.ai Deploy
product to automate deployments to their variousenvironments. With Digital.ai Deploy, they are able tobuild highly scalable, model-based processes, making iteasier to add new platforms and replicate deployments.
Deployment processes are also now standardized,
required steps are enforced, and logs are automatically
captured so that compliance and audit requirements areeasy to meet.
Digital.ai filled a significant gap and not only enabled but
enforced the need for consistent, reliable, repeatable, andtraceable processes. The entire deployment process has
become streamlined while eliminating the impact onresources. Digital.ai provides easy access to the evidence
required to satisfy audit controls as applications movefrom development through production. It ensures all steps
are executed in the right order and tracked consistently.
“We started using Digital.ai almost three years ago
and haven’t looked back. Its ease of use has opened up
deployments to many more people in the organization,
which gives teams the option for self-service
deployments. And it increases everyone’s visibility into
the overall process, from Dev to Ops to product owners
to management. “We can now do more with the same
number of resources, and those resources do not requirein-depth knowledge of the solution or the same level ofexpertise required in the past. People who have neverdone a deployment are doing them now – including our
QA team,” Vito continued.

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Production deployments– 30%-50% faster

Eliminated reliance on
specially-skilled
technicians to deploy
softwareHighly visible, zerotouch process that isfully traceable andauditable

Benefits
NJM reached a very mature level of deployment just 6
months later and is expanding the use of Digital.ai Deploy
beyond traditional use cases to scale processes across theboard. “[Digital.ai] is a well-integrated platform with no frills.
It is the Swiss army knife of DevOps – everything you needwithout any of the unnecessary and confusing bells andwhistles. It is a streamlined product that does what you needit to, every time. Since implementing Digital.ai, we haverealized a very low total cost of ownership with a high ROI.
It really delivers the value.”
NJM is now doing anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500+
automated deployments per month with Digital.ai Deploy.
They have reduced deployment times dramatically: nonproduction deployments have dropped from days to minutes,
while production deployments happen 30-50% faster. “I
wanted to provide a single system of record of what happens
from the minute we request a deployment until the minute it
is completed – all in a repeatable way with visibility, control,
and proper record keeping. With Digital.ai, we haveintroduced a highly visible, zero-touch process that is fully
traceable and auditable.” “Hundreds of people depend on
the functionality that [Digital.ai] provides, and several new
areas are interested in getting access to Deploy,” said Vito.
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“We have also reached a stage of enabling self-service within the organization.
We’re moving beyond Digital.ai Deploy and into release orchestration,
expanding further into the Digital.ai DevOps Platform with Digital.ai Release,”
said Vito. “We need a tool that automates our entire pipeline, not justdeployments. Digital.ai Release provides end-to-end visibility, reporting, andcontrol across all our tools. We expect Digital.ai Release to deliver the same
benefits across the entire software release pipeline that we’ve seen fordeployments.” “As we continue to move applications to the Digital.ai DevOps
Platform, total cost of ownership continues to go down as productivity increases.
If you’re looking to improve, accelerate and streamline your end-toend softwaredelivery, and enforce compliance requirements in a repeatable, auditable process,you want Digital.ai.”“I wanted to provide a single system of record ofwhat happens from the minute we request adeployment until the minute it is completed – all in a
repeatable way with visibility, control, and proper
record keeping. With [Digital.ai], we haveintroduced a highly visible, zero-touch process thatis fully traceable and auditable.
Vito Iannuzzelli, Assistant VP of IT, NJM

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