Situation

Our client, a financial services company with 350 employees, invested heavily to provide a CRM solution for 1,000 financial advisors. Rapid development led to three independent solutions, creating significant technical debt and halting new feature development.

Task

We were brought in to integrate the three solutions into a cohesive product and establish a sustainable development process to deliver new features.

Action

• Built a software organization and defined roles for business analysts, project management, quality assurance, and developers.
• Developed an incremental roadmap for integration with input from technical leads.
• Established a portfolio management process, assigned work into projects, and created a master schedule for one year.
• Mentored team members in requirement writing and formal processes.
• With the owner's approval, hired additional team members to support the new development process.

Result

The client achieved a two-month release cycle, delivering high-quality, tested software. Customers immediately noticed improved quality, and the owner gained confidence in the team's progress and planning.

All projects were delivered as planned, resulting in an integrated solution with many new features. The owner subsequently put us in charge of the IT department to drive further transformation.