Legacy applications hinder organizational agility, posing significant security and operational risks. For a global business school like INSEAD, proactively addressing these challenges was crucial to prevent the exposure of sensitive information and ensure continuous improvement of student services, such as enrollment and virtual attendance.

INSEAD embarked on a modernization initiative with a clear objective: elevate the student and staff experience while enabling future growth. Achieving this required a partner capable of streamlining software delivery at scale and alleviating the day-to-day maintenance burden on internal teams. Stefanini Technology spearheaded the effort, delivering results that not only met the objectives but also prompted an expansion of their long-standing relationship.

The challenge

– Aging, on‑premise infrastructure was contributing to incidents and slowing release cycles.

– Internal teams were spending significant time on routine maintenance work rather than innovation.

– INSEAD needed reliable performance across more than 20 platforms that serve students, faculty, staff, and executive education participants worldwide.

The approach

– A cross‑functional global delivery team from Stefanini Technology led an application modernization program focused on reliability, release velocity, and user experience.

– The initiative emphasized DevOps practices measured by DORA (DevOps Research and Assessment) benchmarks to track improvement in deployment frequency, change failure rate, and stability.

– Stefanini took on routine maintenance to free INSEAD’s team for higher‑value initiatives, aligning technical work with business goals and growth plans.

The results

– Deployment frequency averaged 2.8 releases per month with a change failure rate below 15%.

– Release cycles accelerated by 35%, helping INSEAD deliver new features and fixes faster.

– Incidents tied to aging, on‑premise infrastructure dropped by 30%.

– Uptime rose to 99.7% across 20+ platforms, improving reliability for learners and staff.

Why it matters

For a global institution operating across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North America, modernization is a necessary precursor to better student experiences and scalable growth. By pairing application updates with disciplined DevOps practices, INSEAD now ships changes faster, with fewer failures and less unplanned downtime, while its internal teams focus on strategic projects.

Voices from the partnership

“These impressive results speak to our commitment to co‑creating world‑class tech solutions with our clients that align with their business objectives and enable strategic growth,” said Farlei Kothe, CEO for Stefanini’s North America, Europe and Asia Pacific region.

“We have continually been impressed by the innovative mindset of the Stefanini team across our seven years of partnership,” said Christophe Leviaux, Senior Director of Service Delivery and global IT support at INSEAD. “Stefanini’s practical applications for industry‑leading tools have been an integral part of our success and enabled future growth.”

Strategic collaboration offers continued optimization and innovation

INSEAD’s outcomes prove that modernization co-created with clients creates durable value. As Farlei Kothe noted, Stefanini’s strength is designing and implementing worldclass tech solutions that enable business objectives and strategic growth. This case study showcases that philosophy in action. With INSEAD now part of Stefanini’s flagship accounts, the partnership deepens, becoming a longterm, strategic collaboration focused on continued optimization and innovation.

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