Case Study: DWS Investments achieves seamless multi-channel mainframe integration and 1.5‑year faster time-to-market with Software AG (webMethods EntireX)

Efficient Mainframe Integration the Backbone for Multichanneling and New Distribution Concepts in the Fund Business

DWS Investments, Europe’s largest public-fund provider with more than €120 billion in assets and over four million customers, faced a legacy IT challenge: its core customer and account management ran on an Adabas/Natural mainframe developed in the 1980s, while a growing number of isolated front-end systems (call center, web, document management) had poor integration. This fragmentation created costly workaround interfaces, blocked consistent multi-channel distribution, and limited the ability to roll out new products and partner solutions.

DWS built Investment Account Manager 2000, a .NET-based multilayer architecture that integrates the Adabas/Natural mainframe via webMethods EntireX, enabling real‑time access for employees, customers and partners across channels. The solution supports reliable management of 4 million accounts, eliminates redundant internet data sets, reused roughly 70% of existing functionality, shortened time-to-market by about 1.5 years, and made new project implementations significantly faster and more cost‑efficient.

DWS Investments

Dietmar Dunkel

Vice President of Global Solutions, German Asset Management, European and Asia Pacific IT