BALTIMORE, MD — Mar 21, 2005 — Monumental Life, one of the nation’s largest life and supplemental health insurance providers, has significantly reduced its total cost of ownership and frequent need for PC-related services and support by switching to IBM ThinkPad notebooks for its mobile sales force, IBM and Future Tech Enterprise, Inc., an IBM Premier Business Partner, announced today.
Before becoming an IBM ThinkPad R series notebook customer in 2004, Monumental Life’s Information Technology provider, Future Tech, discovered the company was repairing more than 35 competitor systems a day. Based on Future Tech’s advice, Monumental Life switched to IBM ThinkPad notebooks to increase reliability and reduce the company’s total cost of ownership. Immediately after switching to IBM, repairs dropped to three per day and help desk calls dropped by 1,000 per month.
“With nearly 3,000 mobile insurance agents, the biggest challenge we face is hardware reliability,” said Sandy Campbell, Assistant Vice President, Technology & Training Support, Monumental Life. “Using IBM ThinkPad notebooks, we have been able to cut failure rates by more than half and greatly reduce our total cost of ownership. For us, hardware reliability means greater productivity, greater success for our agents in the field and more satisfied customers. Plus, with IBM ThinkPad notebooks we can feel confident that our customers’ data is secure.”
Headquartered in Baltimore, Md., Monumental Life is one of few life and supplemental health insurance providers today with agents who service policyholders and prospects in their homes, neighborhoods and places of business. Due to extensive mobility requirements, the company’s agents demand reliable notebooks to help stay productive with flexible, high-quality technology for customer insurance and financial security needs. “Because our agents work on commission, it is very important that they have reliable IT tools that allow them to do their jobs in the field,” said Campbell. “FutureTech promised to reduce our total cost of ownership with the IBM product over our previous vendor. So far, we are realizing the promised savings. And, with features like IBM’s Active Protection System for hard drive protection, our agents can even accidentally drop their notebooks without encountering a problem.”
“It’s precisely this kind of performance that makes me eager to continue a thriving partnership with IBM and the new Lenovo,” said Bob Venero, Chief Executive Officer, Future Tech Enterprise, Inc. “I have met with executives of the new Lenovo and feel confident in the company’s ability not only to deliver the same superior products and services, but to leverage the chemistry of the IBM and Lenovo brands to push the envelope of innovation for our customers.”
IBM ThinkPad R series notebooks offer a blend of portability and essential features for frequently mobile users who want easy, ready-to-run computing. Using IBM ThinkVantage Technologies, tools that help customers deploy, connect, protect and support PCs, ThinkPad notebooks and ThinkCentre desktops are less dependent on IT staff or user intervention for basic tasks such as deployment, backup, maintenance and security, freeing up users and IT staff to focus on competitive advantages in their business.
About Monumental Life Founded in Baltimore, Maryland in 1858, Monumental Life Insurance Company is one of the oldest and largest life insurance companies in the United States, providing life and supplemental health insurance products and services to meet the basic insurance, protection and financial security needs of America’s middle income consumers. Monumental Life is a member of the worldwide AEGON Group, one of the world’s largest and most respected insurance organizations and employs more than 3,000 career agents and managers who serve policyholders from field office locations. For more information, please visit www.monlife.com/ml .
About Future Tech Enterprise, Inc. Future Tech Enterprise, Inc. is a full service IT solution provider, representing over 700 different manufacturer product lines including IBM, Cisco, HP, Toshiba and Fujitsu. Future Tech offers the resources corporations need to gain control of their technology acquisition cycle and skillfully combines the people, processes and technologies it takes to streamline information flow, reduce delays and costs, shorten order-cycle time, and maximize customer satisfaction. For more information, please visit www.ftei.com .
About IBM ThinkPad IBM ThinkPad notebook PCs have won more than 1,000 industry awards. Soon to join the Lenovo Group, IBM ThinkPad notebook and ThinkCentre desktop personal computers utilizing IBM ThinkVantage Technologies are available through a combined worldwide distribution and sales network spanning 160 countries. For more information, see www.ibm.com/thinkpad .
