Global insurance firm boosts developer productivity while maintaining security

Modus Create partnered with a global insurance firm to lead a high-stakes migration to GitHub Enterprise. With a focus on enhancing governance and mitigating risk, we facilitated GitHub EMU adoption and consolidated seven business segments into a secure, unified development environment for over 13,000 users. We also trained over 100 engineers in GitHub Copilot, integrating AI-driven automation into the firm’s development process.

Our work involved

• GHEC and GHES migration
• GitHub EMU adoption
• Licensing and cost management
• GitHub Copilot training

Impact

Amid rapid expansion through acquisitions, one of the world’s largest mortgage insurers and an S&P 500 company faced a critical challenge – how to realign and streamline its development environments across seven business segments.

With global operations at stake, the insurance firm needed a solution to enhance governance and security while ensuring business continuity. Additionally, It aimed to strengthen its SDLC by integrating the latest AI advancements into its development workflow.

Challenge

Decentralized development environments across seven business segments

The insurance firm followed a decentralized model for GitHub usage, with each of its seven distinct business segments independently managing and administering their repositories. This fragmented approach led to a lack of centralized control and access.

The firm approached Modus Create, an official GitHub partner, to explore the possibility of migrating to GitHub Enterprise and enabling GitHub Enterprise Managed Users (EMU) for centralized management of its GitHub environment.

EMU would allow the firm to integrate GitHub with an identity provider (such as Azure Active Directory or Okta) and manage its 7,000+ users, permissions, and access through a single source of truth.

Initial assessment & migrating to GitHub Enterprise

Modus Create’s GitHub specialists and the global insurance firm’s engineering team worked together as one integrated team.

We started with a deep dive into the firm’s organizational structure and different repositories to map out the size and scope of the migration. We knew we needed a flexible timeline that could accommodate the firm’s global operations while minimizing financial strain and disruption.

Following the assessment, the team provided three options:

• Single unit migration – Migrate one business segment at a time
• Partial migration – Migrate the two largest and most complex business segments
• Full-scale migration – Migrate all seven business segments (recommended)

After evaluating the trade-offs between scope, complexity, and timing, the insurance firm ultimately chose the full-scale migration option and started working on the GitHub Enterprise migration.

This project involved five major phases:

With GitHub’s support, the team secured a flexible licensing arrangement for the client, enabling it to migrate without the burden of paying for both its existing setup and the new environment during the migration. This grace period ensured the insurance firm could proceed at its own pace without unnecessary financial strain.

Our team also consulted the insurance firm on decommissioning their legacy systems and providing backup archives that could be restored in case of any emergency.

Training teams in GitHub Copilot best practices

Parallel to the migration, the team provided a custom GitHub Copilot training to over 100 engineers, empowering them to boost productivity and automate repetitive tasks. Recognizing the insurance firm’s global team, the training was tailored to fit schedules across the Americas and Europe.

The program was split into two tiers: a 101-level introduction to Copilot’s AI-driven features and a 201-level advanced session in streamlining workflows and automating coding tasks. This approach helped developers quickly integrate Copilot into their daily routines, enhancing efficiency across the board.

To ensure long-term success, Modus Create also provided ongoing support with dedicated office hours, allowing the insurance firm’s developers to address specific use cases and challenges.

The success of this initial rollout, sponsored by GitHub, sparked even more interest. The insurance firm is now exploring a broader adoption of Copilot training, proving its commitment to innovation and continuous improvement, and reinforcing its position as a leader in transforming development operations.

Impact

A secure, unified development environment

The insurance firm’s collaboration with Modus Create delivered a seamless transformation across its global operations. By migrating 13,000 users and thousands of repositories across seven distinct segments, the firm gained a unified and efficient development environment.

The carefully planned, extended timeline minimized risk and ensured smooth transitions, allowing business continuity throughout the migration.

With the adoption of EMU, the insurance firm achieved enhanced governance and security. This migration granted them greater visibility and control over their repositories, ensuring compliance and strengthening operational oversight.

Additionally, by consolidating workflows under one platform, our client is now better equipped to manage its growing development needs.

GitHub Copilot training proved to be a game-changer for the firm’s developers. Armed with AI-powered tools, the teams have significantly increased productivity by automating repetitive tasks and optimizing coding workflows.

This investment in training has not only improved day-to-day efficiency but has also set the foundation for future growth, enabling the insurance firm to stay ahead of the curve in an ever-evolving digital landscape.