The team also created a technology standards document that it updatesfrequently via the corporate intranet. It also published a road mapfor technology projects, detailing how MetLife would integrate acrossthe five CIOs, the application development groups, the CTO and hisinfrastructure group, and ensure that necessary checkpoints andcontrols are established. "My sense is that not too many companieshave been that successful in getting to the point that we're at withthis," says Sheinheit. "In companies where technology is moredecentralized, you'll find even less of this kind of discipline, withdifferent ways of doing things going on in different parts of thebusiness." At MetLife just a few years ago, you would have found justthat.

Sheinheit's team further reduced costs and improved efficiencies byintegrating the data centers for acquisitions New England Financialand General American Financial into MetLife's common data center onMemorial Day weekend of 2001. "It was a major effort and a milestoneof our integration efforts," says Sheinheit. "It's resulted in a 40percent reduction in costs and an increase in service for the businessbecause they're now working in a more mature, scalableenvironment."

Sheinheit will continue to oversee most of these integrationinitiatives indefinitely. "When I look at our infrastructure today,I'd say we're probably 80 percent integrated, but that's a movingtarget. If I look at it next week, I don't know if I'll be at 70percent or 90 percent," he says. "Maybe the answer is that we'llalways be around 80 percent integrated. There will always be thingswe'll continue to look at."

Work in Progress

Like the Metropolitan Life Tower, under renovation and enshrouded inscaffolding, the company will continue its integration efforts as partof the business reorganization. Business unit CIOs are consolidatingand retiring legacy systems as part of Project LESS, a three-yearlegacy system simplification project with a two-year payback. The goalis to consolidate like systems onto common platforms to eliminateredundant business processes and reduce ongoing maintenance costs. AnInternet self-service initiative, fueled by a $200 million investment,is also under way.