for a leading insurance company
SITUATION
A leading insurance company with over 12,000 external clients was looking for a CRM solution. They had two previous failed implementations; one with a popular commercial product and one with a lightweight homegrown solution.
SOLUTION - EXTREME PROGRAMMING (XP)
XP was chosen because it:
- Stresses customer satisfaction
- Allows for constant communication between the business and IT
- Gives the customer the flexibility to change their requirements
The company's sales force was very vocal about the features/functionality that they wanted to see in the new CRM solution. XP allowed their voice to be heard through constant aggregation and prioritization of key features. With frequent releases the sales team could see progress being made. Rather than a big bang approach the application grew organically to meet the specific needs of the sales team.
RESULTS
Through actively seeking feedback and delivering high value features first, IT became more focused on customer satisfaction. The project team was able to work at a sustainable pace and end user adoption of the new solution was high. Extreme Programming allowed the IT team to demonstrate their competency and therefore gain the trust and support of the sales team. Ultimately, the project was highlighted as a success story throughout the enterprise.
Financial services software solution
SITUATION
A product company within the financial services industry had a development process that was out of control. They had rapidly changing priorities, frequent changes to requirements, and missed deadlines had become the norm. Their results oriented business model pushed IT constantly and there was too much work for a small staff to accomplish. The executive team demanded high visibility and frequent communications in order to put out client fires.
SOLUTION - SCRUM
Scrum was chosen because it:
- Aggregates multiple customer requests through a single individual
- Focuses development on the highest business value features first
- Places a focus on product quality
Scrum allowed multiple internal and external customer voices to be filtered through a single point of contact; that process allowed priority to be assigned based on overall business value to the entire customer base. This priority focused the development team on a fixed set of deliverables that they were capable of producing in the time allotted. Implementation of a daily standup meeting provided real time access to project status updates. By involving the testing team from day one, more focus was placed on quality, preventing future defects and rework.
RESULTS
As a result of Scrum, product releases went from out of control to manageable. The project team morale improved, overall team productivity increased and overtime work decreased. Project managers were better able to control the projects and management was more informed of project status. Ultimately, software releases became more consistent in quality and timely delivery.
