Challenge

Our client was confronted with a pressing issue regarding the management of their website. Originally developed by an external company, their website struggled to accommodate essential updates and technical improvements in a timely manner. This situation presented a significant impediment to meeting evolving business and member needs swiftly and efficiently.
The primary challenges faced by the institution included the need for more regular, timely updates and feature enhancements, as well as a technical debt within their development team as they migrated to newer platforms.

Solution

The focus of development for the Financial Institution was across three key areas: Its website portal, member app, and legacy system integration. All three areas were to be developed concurrently due to the project timelines and to ensure that member needs were met regardless of channel. Requirements were determined based on employee and customer feedback, and the new features were broken down into stories to be developed by one of three development teams. 9X5 Consulting assembled the two development teams in consultation with the client, with internal staff comprising the integration team.

Both streams were scoped by our Solution Architect and then broken into tasks by our Business Analyst/Scrum Master. Both project streams were run utilising SAFe Agile, which suited the project due to the flexibility required. Development was broken into fortnightly sprints, with 9X5’s Business Analyst also acting as the scrum master/ sprint planner.
The Member Portal Team is comprised of .NET developers, along with an Analyst and Functional Tester. The mobile team comprised a Xamerin developer, an analyst, and quality assurance professionals. Over the course of 12 months, enhancements were made to both streams which included: Monthly Investment Snapshot and Portfolio Metrics, Investor Statements and Income Taxation Statements.

Impact

The enhancements made to both the member portal and the member app have led to a greatly reduced customer churn rate, and a much improved customer experience. Prior to this development, many new member tasks still required PDF forms to complete (signing up to the portal for example) where now these tasks are handled within the app or website itself, reducing wait times.
Customer and member feedback scores are greatly improved and these feed-back mechanisms will continue to drive feature enhancements moving forward with the new digital platforms.

Challenge

The pearling company faced significant challenges in managing its technology infrastructure. Their existing manual approach to hardware procurement and management led to inefficiencies, longer lead times for IT hardware, and the risk of hardware obsolescence.

Solution

To address these challenges, they turned to 9X5, a trusted Technology Partner, for a comprehensive solution. 9X5 provided the client with a customised MyBuy ordering portal, an experienced client manager and offered multiple warehousing options in Melbourne, Sydney, and Darwin, significantly reducing lead times for IT hardware procurement.

By prepositioning hardware in key locations and reducing the supported SKUs to standardised environments, 9X5 reduced lead times and dramatically improved SLAs between IT and the business.
9X5 also leveraged its strong relationships with key vendors like Lenovo, Microsoft, and Apple to gain favourable pricing and availability for essential hardware.

A crucial part of the solution was hardware forecasting. The client and 9X5 closely collaborated to forecast their hardware requirements, reducing delays in procurement.

Impact

Automating hardware procurement and management resulted in increased efficiency and significantly reduced errors, saving time and enhancing the reliability of the client’s technology infrastructure.

The MyBuy portal’s reporting and visualisation capabilities empowered the company to deliver insights more effectively to their team and stakeholders, improving decision-making. By adopting this comprehensive technology management solution, they gained a competitive advantage over competitors still relying on manual processes.

Completing the initial 7-day Proof of Value project demonstrated the value of the partnership with 9X5 Consulting. This success quickly transitioned into a full-scale project, making them a long- term client. In a short period, the pearling company experienced a positive impact on its technology infrastructure, resilience, and operational efficiency, paving the way for continued success across its diverse business operations.