ECMS cuts application release time in half for leading multinational insurer

The client

Our client is a Hong Kong-based multinational insurance and finance corporation, the largest publicly traded life insurance group in the Asia-Pacific region. Its products range from individual life, group life, accident, medical and health, and personal lines insurance to investment-linked products with numerous investment options which meet the needs of high-net-worth customers.

Diagnose

The client’s internal application team gets frequent requests from across the business to change UX and UI design. Working with contractors from their existing vendors, their application release time was considerably longer than they wanted it to be, so the client was looking to reduce the time for releasing applications and improve the entire software development lifecycle (SDLC), including technical debt, code quality and overall development standards.

Architect

“At ECMS, we firmly believe in the power of our network. The right software engineering consultants for this project didn’t just need in-depth technical expertise, but also a strong sense of ownership, accountability and an unwavering commitment to their work.” Wendy Li, Associate Director, ECMS

For over five years, Wendy Li, associate director for ECMS, had supported the client by deploying individual quality consultants onsite, becoming a trusted partner. When the client approached her asking for support deploying an entire team, Wendy partnered with Esther Zhang, senior consultant, to find suitably qualified contractors through referrals.

Deliver

“Building a team with great technical skillsets is difficult enough, identifying technical consultants who are a great fit to our culture and with 100% retention rate is something to be valued.” Associate Director, Technology Management

Thanks to the quality of Esther’s network, we were able to identify and bring in a team of ten expert contractors – five app developers, four engineers and one tech leader – to shorten the application release time. With cutting-edge tools and stronger cross-functional synergies, the average time for releasing applications has halved from eight weeks to four weeks. Flagship applications that have been transformed include claims application, where our team has helped to rationalise and automate claims processing, fix frontend issues and other technical bottlenecks from previous vendors, and increase the straight-through processing (STP) ratio.

Oversee

This was the first time ECMS had proposed and deployed a team of ten to a customer’s site, encompassing seven skillsets across the software development cycle, through a contractor hire model. With the team successfully handling large datasets, applying statistical techniques and refining machine learning models, we’ve been able to maintain a high retention rate.

One of the team’s greatest strengths has been its high level of synergy and tight collaboration. Providing expert guidance and communicating data insights clearly, the tech leader has made complex information accessible to the whole team, who have gained valuable hands-on experience in tackling business-driven forecasting challenges, and delivered 50% faster release of customer-facing applications.

Ready to elevate your business with tailored solutions? Contact Wendi Li at wendy.li@ecmanagedsolutions.com to explore how we can support your growth and transformation.