Objectives
- Run a Diagnostic Health Check to review the existing system, architecture and technical skills
- Establish clear project objectives in collaboration with the client
- Craft a roadmap to modernise their ageing system
Benefits
- Interim value delivered through manual process optimisations
- Board alignment with project direction
- Established a trusted partnership
- Mindset and culture shift for staff towards Agile and digital ways of working
Overview of the solution
Owing to the nature of their business, this initial engagement consisted of a Diagnostic Health Check through which BBD could establish a deeper understanding of the client’s current environment by:
- Reviewing the existing system, architecture, and technical skills
- Establishing clear project objectives in collaboration with the client
- Creating a scope backlog to inform planning, prioritisation and estimations – from both a technical and business perspective
- Developing a roadmap of the proposed project, looking at team structure, costs and governance
Based on the outcomes of the Health Check, BBD made recommendations on the best way forward to replace their 20-year-old products system and address a key person risk in the environment. It was clear to the team that BBD would be able to achieve a 15% savings on the hours the client’s Members Services team currently worked through manual intervention to streamline and improve processes. This work would have some shorter-term business benefits to get them through their peak times, and eventually act as input to the workflow implementation. Through our intervention, BBD was able to achieve a 20% improvement on these processes – providing the client with near instant interim value.
Ultimately, the Health Check resulted in two main objectives: improve the current systems to support growth over the next 18 – 24 months and enhance the systems and processes to be able to withstand the projected growth rate. The client also wanted to be in a position to improve their customer experience – a foundational principle in their culture over the near 130 years they’ve been in business.
Proof of Concept
In order to move forward with the recommended roadmap, BBD undertook a PoC for two main reasons: to prove the potential efficacy of our suggested solution using BBD’s workflow accelerator; and to build on the trusted relationship that had formed during the engagement thus far – easing the client’s hesitancy around the scope of the overarching system overhaul.
It was clear that BBD’s unique and innovative business automation and orchestration accelerator, Vanguard, would be the most efficient and effective approach to meeting the needs of the client.
The plan was to take a thin slice of the current business process to prove the benefits of using Vanguard as an accelerator within their environment and using their existing data.
Within six weeks, BBD’s hybrid, distributed team built a fully functional PoC. The PoC used Vanguard’s core components (Workflow, Orchestration and Case Management) to allow a team member to create a case in an Angular front-end to calculate a valuation. BBD developed underlying Java Rest services integrated into their current database using jPortal which allowed the orchestration engine to retrieve client information and relevant investment products.
After running a speed comparison between the old and new system, the results were outstanding – 2 seconds for Vanguard compared to 17 seconds in the existing system. BBD also proposed and tested a fully automated mail integration system where a user requests a valuation by email and Vanguard creates the same bond valuation case. Using workflow and orchestration, the system identifies the customer, retrieves all relevant investment products, does the calculation, and sends an email back to the customer containing a password protected PDF of the valuation calculation – all without any human intervention. Through a best-in-class team, a thorough understanding of the client’s day-to-day operations and utilising Vanguard’s relevant components, BBD was able to instil trust, enabling the client to accomplish tasks quicker and more efficiently.
Trust in their partners has always been critical to this client due to the nature of their business, their structure and the customers they serve. During the course of this engagement, BBD has become a trusted advisor by demonstrating the depth and
Impact of BBD’s partnership
BBD’s partnership with this client has led not only to an established trusted relationship, but one that will flourish as the partnership grows. The Diagnostic Health Check and subsequent PoC enabled the client to move forward on this project with confidence in the efficacy and value the solution will provide upon completion, while ensuring no technical debt nor spend wastage.
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