Insurance is big business. In 2023, the insurance industry was worth over $77 billion in Canada alone. Ensuring consumers and agents can access the information they need is crucial to not just providing value but also helping people when they need it most.
One of our clients, a major insurance company, faced a significant challenge in delivering a new web application on a tight deadline. Lacking the internal bandwidth to handle the front-end development and design, they turned to us for assistance. We used an embedded team approach to provide the expertise and resources needed to help them deliver a solution that exceeded their expectations and met their timelines.
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What Is An Embedded Team?
Before we get into the case study, let’s take a step back to explain when an embedded team is. An embedded team is a type of engagement where we provide a specialized group of professionals integrated directly into a client's operations, virtually or physically.
They’re BitBakers who work alongside the client's internal team almost without anyone knowing the difference. We leverage our extensive experience to provide global enterprise customers with seamless integration built on security and privacy.
“An embedded team means BitBaker’s work side-by-side with your team members. It is a closer and more tightly integrated relationship than traditional team augmentation” - Wes Worsfold
By embedding a team, we can collaborate more closely with clients, understand their unique challenges, and deliver tailored solutions efficiently. This approach fosters strong partnerships, enabling us to contribute our expertise directly to the client's projects and achieve their objectives effectively.
The Challenge
The insurance company’s internal team was overwhelmed with existing projects and faced a tight deadline for launching a new web application by the end of the year. The complexity of their backend systems, coupled with the proprietary nature of their technology, made it impractical for our team to get up to speed quickly on the backend.
They needed a solution that would allow them to focus on their core competencies (the backend) while ensuring the front-end development was designed and implemented to meet their standards.
The Solution
To meet their needs, we embedded a specialized team within their operation. This team of developers and designers worked closely with the client’s backend team, allowing for a seamless integration of the back-end and front-end components.
This solution included:
- Backend collaboration: We recognized the client’s expertise in their backend systems and did not attempt to duplicate their efforts. Instead, we focused on seamlessly integrating our frontend work with their backend. Our team was granted full access to their tools, including JIRA, Teams, and proprietary systems. We used laptops provided by the company along with security access tokens to ensure that company and customer data was protected.
- Frontend development: Our developers, led by Ryan and Joe, concentrated on building the web application's front end. This included developing the user interface using ASP.NET Razor Pages, the client's preferred choice.
- Design expertise: Attila, our head of design, led the UX/UI design process. We started with a thorough discovery phase, where we worked to understand the user problems and business constraints. We followed that up by creating Balsamiq mockups and clickable prototypes. These are great because they allow us to refine the interface based on client feedback. The final designs were translated into Bootstrap templates for the development team to implement.
The Result
Despite the tight deadline, we were able to help deliver the front-end part of the project to meet their timeline.
Focusing on the front-end development and design gave the client’s internal team the time and space they needed to work on the backend portion of the project. This ensured the project’s success and improved the overall workflow within their organization.
The project’s success helped build a robust and ongoing relationship with the client. Our ability to deliver quality work on time established trust, resulting in more projects and deeper collaboration across different divisions of the company. Our reputation for excellence within the organization was solidified, leading to internal referrals and more opportunities to assist with their digital initiatives.
Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash
