A dynamic multi-national healthcare scale-up, with a strong presence in Spain, the UK and the USA, has discovered an invaluable long-term software development partner in BBD. By seamlessly bridging time zone differences and delivering top-tier technical expertise, BBD empowered the client to scale swiftly and efficiently.
Background
A warm introduction from a Venture Capitalist partner allowed an initial conversation around how the team could rewrite one of their innovative products. However, after the initial meetings, the Portugal-based BBD principal solutions architect proposed a different approach. Sensing that a rewrite might not be the true solution, he offered to spend two days on-site with the client to gain a deeper understanding of their operations, workflows and architecture.
After two productive days in Spain, three requirements emerged. The client needed:
- A long-term partnership with a trusted software development company
- Access to expert technical knowledge
- Scalability
Ultimately the client chose BBD as their software solutions partner. They were impressed by the synergy between the companies’ operations, the extensive experience that BBD brought from over 40 years in business, and the remarkable tenure of BBD staff. In Barcelona staff rarely stay with a company for more than three years, yet, BBDers had been with the company for anywhere from 7 to 27 years. This stability and commitment were exactly what the client was looking for.
Access to the expert technical knowledge
The initial team included members based in Portugal and South Africa, augmenting the client development teams with software professionals who brought:
- Varied experience across other industries and projects
- Large-scale corporate software experience
- Broader domain knowledge
- Deep cloud expertise
- Mobile application and integration expertise
The global team played a technical advisory role, consulting on best practices for rapid scaling.
The project
The client specialises in digital mental health, offering a unified platform for evidence-based self-care, prevention, clinical treatment, and therapy. This platform, backed by extensive research from clinicians in the UK and the USA, serves both large corporations and private insurers.
Key features include triage, scheduled appointments, care mapping, personalised approaches, rewards programmes, and comprehensive data and analytics.
The BBD team has played a crucial role in rearchitecting the AWS cloud-based application. They have adapted core components to support a more robust technical roadmap, enabling rapid scalability and extended capabilities.
Despite the complexity of numerous integration initiatives, the combined team is delivering effectively and on schedule. The application utilises Infrastructure as Code (IaC), DevOps, Flutter and NestJS.
Nearshore for flexibility
The client is currently expanding into the Australian and USA markets, requiring software engineers who can work within those time zones. This presents a challenge, as it would mean no overlapping work hours with their core teams in the UK and Spain.
This is where BBD’s extensive global footprint becomes invaluable. With development teams in India and access to skilled professionals in Brazil, BBD plans to leverage these locations to create overlapping time zones across the relevant regions. This approach will significantly reduce the risk of having completely disparate teams working asynchronously.
BBD’s teams are experienced in collaborating on projects from distributed regions, providing reassurance during this period of significant expansion.
Corporate thinking in scale-ups
One of the key benefits BBD has brought to the client is the introduction of large-scale corporate thinking and methodologies into the development cycle. Previously, the client’s development teams followed an ad hoc release schedule for new features and capabilities. With BBD’s guidance, they have now implemented Agile governance, resulting in consistent and predictable release cycles. This change has provided the sales teams with a clearer understanding of release dates for new features and a more structured onboarding process.
Other benefits of this partnership include:
- Extensive integration experience
- Access to a pool of 1200-strong SMEs and technical experts
- Nearshore teams based in Portugal and South Africa, offering quick access to project leads, in-person contact where necessary, cultural alignment, time zone compatibility and cost effectiveness
- Strong technical skills
- A collaborative approach
Impact of BBD’s partnership
Scaling can be unpredictable, with businesses needing to adjust rapidly in response to changing demands. Hiring additional team members during these times can be risky. Partnership with BBD mitigates that risk, enabling our clients to scale teams as needed, in regions that align with their growth opportunities. A collaborative relationship has empowered the digital healthcare scale-up to better serve their customers and expand into new markets.
