"Social data in the cloud – that's impossible." AOK Niedersachsen proves it can be done and implements an output management system based on Binect software and T Cloud Public.
More than three million insured individuals, 195,000 corporate customers, and over 30,000 contractual partners rely on AOK Niedersachsen (AOKN). This makes it the seventh-largest statutory health insurance provider in Germany. The scale of the organization is also reflected in its key financial figures: in 2025, AOK Niedersachsen managed a budget of more than €17.3 billion for health and long-term care insurance.
Customer service and regular contact are high priorities for AOKN. The organization continues to emphasize a strong local presence, with 7,200 employees supporting customers in person at more than 100 locations. At the same time, non-personal channels such as email and printed communications remain important. Many of the documents sent by the health insurance provider contain personal, health, or social data—for example, benefit notices, service statements, or even the issuance of new health insurance cards.
Each year, AOKN processes more than 20 million documents across over 16 million shipments through its output management operations. This makes the organization a major player in the digitally supported handling of social data. It is evident that such volumes cannot be managed manually. Professional output management requires robust tools and well-defined processes. For more than ten years, AOKN has relied on Binect GmbH, based in Darmstadt, to meet these requirements.
“We have been creating, processing, and sending our written communication via the Binect solutions for several years. The decisive factors for us were, above all, the electronic processing processes, the flexibility in the selection of the shipping channel, and the speed of shipping. Due to the high level of protection of the data, there is also a special focus on the security standards of the solution. Above all, it must also pay off from a business point of view,” explain Sebastian Angerstein, Head of IT Project and Solution Management, and Christoph Meyer, responsible for Product and Solution Management at AOK Niedersachsen.
Binect is one of Germany’s leading business process outsourcers for output management. The company serves more than 20,000 users who collectively send over 100 billion shipments each year. Binect’s origins date back to 2001, when the company, then operating under the name pawisda systems GmbH, began as a provider of support and administration services for print centers. “We quickly realized that there was a great potential for rationalization in outgoing mail. To this end, we developed output management software and the corresponding interfaces that brought together all letters from the branches on a central computer and released them for printing. Postal delivery included,” recalls Dr. Frank Wermeyer, Binect Managing Director.
The substantial cost savings generated by this approach were well received—not only by the initial customer, a Bavarian health insurance company, but also by Binect itself, which was surprised by the solution’s effectiveness. “We have continuously pursued and optimized this software approach.” Over time, Binect pursued its own cloud transformation, evolving from an independent software vendor (ISV) toward a software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider. The various Binect suites were redesigned as microservices-based, cloud-native solutions, significantly simplifying deployment and ongoing maintenance.
“At AOK Niedersachsen, too, we initially started with an individual software solution. For many years, it was kept in the classic operating model,” explains Oliver Kohl, who is responsible for custom development for existing customers at Binect GmbH. Under this model, Binect supplied the software, while the designated in-house IT service provider operated it on its own servers.
“For us as a health insurance company, the reliable availability of output management is our top priority,” says Meyer. Many shipments are time-sensitive. AOK Niedersachsen, and its policyholders, expect documents to be delivered immediately or handed over to postal services without delay, depending on the selected channel. Binect’s performance is therefore measured directly against these business-critical indicators. In the past, the traditional on-premises solution occasionally resulted in service performance bottlenecks. These were caused by limited and inflexible infrastructure capacities, which, for example, were unable to accommodate peak loads during the generation of unscheduled campaigns.
A little over four years ago, the traditional operating model was reassessed. “The existing hardware ran out of support. We had to think about a new acquisition and the corresponding investments,” recalls Angerstein. “When Binect raised the possibility of providing the service from the cloud, we started thinking about the topic,” explains Angerstein. “It was clear that due to the high level of protection of the data, a German cloud was immediately in focus in order to be able to meet the legal regulations for the processing of personal data. What’s more, we also accumulate social and health data, which are strictly protected in Germany.”
“In our search for the right cloud for our cloud journey as an ISV, we came across the T Cloud Public,” reports Oliver Kohl. “It is a German product and already had a high degree of maturity at that time with an extensive service portfolio.” This included the Storage Disaster Recovery Service (SDRS), which ensures the high availability of the Binect cloud service.
Oliver Kohl, Individual Development of Existing Customers, Binect GmbH
T Cloud Public (formerly Open Telekom Cloud) meets the requirements for the secure processing of sensitive data in accordance with Section 80 of the German Social Security Code (SGB X). It provides certifications under ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, and BSI C5. In addition, GDPR compliance is ensured through exclusive hosting in German data centers, with auditable physical security controls.
The platform also fulfills obligations under Section 203 of the German Criminal Code, which governs professional confidentiality, and Section 35 of the German Social Security Code (SGB I), which regulates the handling of social data. Taken together, these measures ensure a legally compliant, secure, and trustworthy operating environment for the processing of sensitive social and health data.
Ultimately, the security and data protection officers also approved the new solution. The cloud-based setup has now been in productive operation at AOK Niedersachsen for more than three years.
The provision of the Binect suite became a lighthouse project for us to deploy cloud services. And we have not regretted this step during this time.
Christoph Meyer, Head of Product and Solution Management, AOK Niedersachsen
„The Binect solution running on the T Cloud Public operates reliably and delivers consistently high availability. In the event of service issues, the AOK Niedersachsen team works directly with their contact at Binect GmbH, who is able to resolve problems within a short time frame.
The solution times have been reduced from days to hours. The user experience has improved significantly. Overall, service availability, performance, and flexibility during peak loads have improved significantly.
Sebastian Angerstein, Head of IT Project and Solution Management, AOK Niedersachsen
“We at Binect also benefit from the cloud deployment model. If we want to roll out updates, this is child’s play. If we want to scale, we ‘resize’ at the push of a button,” says Kohl. In addition, the T Cloud Public is not an anonymous provider. “With Timo Adler, we have a dedicated contact person in case of an emergency. You can rely on him.”
Having a directly reachable contact ensures short communication paths and rapid feedback between T Cloud Public and Binect. This close collaboration enables the Binect team to receive competent, individualized support even when dealing with more complex requirements.
In addition to increased stability, Binect GmbH and AOK Niedersachsen achieve clear cost advantages through the pay-as-you-use model enabled by the T Cloud Public. The Enterprise Dashboard provides the software provider with continuous cost transparency and effective tools for monitoring and controlling cloud spending.
Today, Binect operates its services for more than 40 customers on the T Cloud Public. “With the Cloud Journey on the T Cloud Public, we made the right decision. We have positioned ourselves technically for the future and can also offer our services to highly regulated customers.”
