February 5, 2014 - Guardian General Insurance Limited, the largest indigenous property and casualty insurance company in the Caribbean, has been a devoted IBM i customer since the 1990s. But like many companies who run on the i, they started to feel the strain old-fashioned, green-screen applications were having on their business and end users.

In the new case study, Profound Logic Software describes how they worked alongside Guardian General's development team to bring their core administration system, known as WebSTAR, up to date with a modern interface, powerful new features, and a streamlined, centralized navigation system.

"Rewriting or replacing (the IBM i) with another system mistakenly viewed by some as 'more modern' would have been risky and very expensive," explained David Esdale, Application System Consultant at Guardian General.

Instead, Esdale's team began to evaluate modernization solutions that would transform their applications to fit their modern business. However, many of the tools they evaluated were either expensive and didn't offer an evaluation period, or lacked a robust designer which would require them to learn HTML.

When Guardian General tried out Profound Logic's tools, they knew they found the right fit. Esdale soon modernized their system with a mix of tightly-integrated solutions: Genie for on-the-fly modernization; Profound UI, which cuts the ties to 5250 and leverages RPG Open Access for true browser-based applications; and Atrium, which brings everything together with centralized, role-based navigation.

"Now that we're not restricted to 24x80, we have more space to be creative with how users interact with the application," stated Esdale. "Users can work with the WebSTAR system as they would any Windows-type application, and many of them have no idea that they're using an application that runs on the IBM i!"

Guardian General gives users an intuitive application interface with enhanced functionality, including a notes field, tabbed pages and the ability to suggest future improvements (Click for larger image)

By adding new capabilities to their applications that were impossible in green screen interfaces, Esdale uncovered additional benefits.

"Prior to modernizing, our developers and end users felt like they were working on an old platform," said Esdale. "Now recruiting technical staff is much easier, and the time it takes to train new employees on applications has been cut by at least 20%."

Read more about Guardian General's modernization success in the full case study: http://www.profoundlogic.com/casestudy.rpgsp?cskey=GUARDIAN.

Learn more about Guardian General Insurance Limited at: Learn more at http://trinidad.myguardiangroup.com/guardian-general-insurance.