Case Study Type: Consulting

Providing Unlimited Scalability with Optimized Data Entry Processes

Read in 1 minute, 53 seconds

The Client Doozer Software, A 3Ci Company, has a client who is a leading healthcare provider with facilities across the United States that specializes in rehabilitation and serves patients through its network of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, outpatient rehabilitation satellite clinics, and home health agencies. The Challenge The client needed a custom mobile application that would […]

The Client

Doozer Software, A 3Ci Company, has a client who is a leading healthcare provider with facilities across the United States that specializes in rehabilitation and serves patients through its network of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, outpatient rehabilitation satellite clinics, and home health agencies.

The Challenge

The client needed a custom mobile application that would allow their employees to be more precise, productive, and efficient in collecting and entering patient data. Their existing manual process limited the amount of data that could be collected and stored.

While they wanted a mobile app solution, they knew they would need a solution that could contend with limited internet connections at certain facilities.

Further complicating matters, there wasn’t a central repository where all the data was stored.

To solve their issues, they desired to have a software partner who would work on-site with their existing IT team to help develop the app and provide training and knowledge transfer so the client could support the new application after the development was completed.

The Solution

Doozer Software conducted a requirements gathering and business analysis phase to completely understand the current problem.

At its completion, Doozer recommended moving forward with the development of an iPad application and a centralized global repository for all patient data. The iPad app would allow staff to store collected data securely on the iPad and synchronize with the repository on demand. Security was paramount, as the data is sensitive and the processes needed to comply with HIPAA regulations. This required local data encryption, coupled with secured iPads monitored with Airwatch MDM Server. Data can be totally wiped from the device remotely in case of theft or the release of an employee.

Additional security layers were placed at the entry points in the application to prevent unauthorized access, allow the administrator to “lockout” users, mark a device to be wiped, and lock users down to particular devices by the hardware id of the device. The backend application integrates with their CRM, patient billing, data warehouse, clinical system, intranet, and Sharepoint.

The end result of this project produced a successful enterprise-class mobile application and data exchange that provides unlimited scalability with other systems. The speed of data entry and volume has increased, and users and stakeholders are more satisfied with the system.

Standing Apart: Finding Solutions Without Sacrificing Service

Read in 3 minutes, 29 seconds

For many business leaders, outsourcing an aspect of your business is a nerve-wracking experience, especially when it’s something as impactful as software development and project management. Finding a partner with the right skill set that’s also trustworthy and affordable is a daunting task, so how do you ensure that you’ve found the right partner? For […]

For many business leaders, outsourcing an aspect of your business is a nerve-wracking experience, especially when it’s something as impactful as software development and project management. Finding a partner with the right skill set that’s also trustworthy and affordable is a daunting task, so how do you ensure that you’ve found the right partner?

For one of 3Ci’s more recent clients, it took years of trial and error before finally connecting with us through a professional network. As their 4th software engineering firm to work on this product, the stakes to get it right were high. The client’s trust was damaged, not only in outside vendors but in the product itself. It was up to 3Ci to help the client rebuild that trust in the process.

The journey thus far has been incredibly successful, but towards the beginning, we couldn’t help but wonder…

What Did We Get Ourselves Into?

Our first challenge was understanding the current condition of the product. It had passed through so many vendors that the program was convoluted, and poor communication resulted in the product owner knowing next to nothing about how it was developed or worked. The client had a very difficult relationship with the provider before 3Ci, which made the knowledge transfer challenging and tense. Still, the 3Ci team handled it gracefully and completed the transfer in about two months.

The product was a bit dated and inflexible, making it difficult to use both internally and externally. It was slowing down business and hindering the growth of the company. The ability to respond to market needs quickly is essential in today’s economic climate. If legacy code, outdated frameworks, and insecure libraries hinder software platforms that enable a business, it’s impossible to become a truly agile-driven enterprise.

To give you a better idea of what exactly this client was looking for, here are a few of their non-negotiables:

  1. PCI compliant
  2. Enhanced privacy and security
  3. Configuration solutions
  4. Front-end synchronization
  5. Clean architecture
  6. Improved agility

Where others saw obstacles, 3Ci saw an opportunity to level up, so our experts dove right in, eager to find a solution.

Find and Implementing a Solution

After brokering an all-inclusive model, our experts took over the product in January 2022 and built a strong software development team to manage the knowledge transfer and start rebuilding.

Because agility and flexibility were top priorities for the client, we set an agile production delivery schedule with Scrum ceremonies. These Agile practices foster close collaboration between all parties, motivating the Scrum Team to deliver quality and valuable software within much shorter timeframes.

We also took additional steps, like bringing a Quality Assurance tech to diagnose bugs and implement best practices. Our QA reduced bugs to a minimum and kept product development running smoothly.

3Ci has successfully rebuilt the client’s trust in technology outsourcing and is poised to continue growing and supporting the client and their product.

Where We’re Headed

The project’s scope continues to grow/expand, and additional resources are being added to the team. The team is actively streamlining the tech stack to make room for growth and supporting the
product owner in advocating for additional resources to get the program to a scalable state.

Our developers keep the company informed and engaged with regular, weekly communication, allowing our relationship to evolve continuously. 3Ci’s customer service-driven approach is proving to be extraordinarily successful and sets us apart from other vendors in the field.

Outsourcing tech talent is becoming an essential ingredient for success. Cost savings are a key motivator; nearly half of HR execs surveyed agree that reducing expenses is the most significant benefit. Flexibility and scalability are also key benefits, with 42% of CTOs reporting a heightened ability to quickly resize teams and ramp up operations as the most significant benefit. These benefits were followed closely by time savings and increased productivity.

As demonstrated in this client’s journey and our partnership thus far, it’s essential for companies to begin shifting away from inflexible, legacy systems and towards an Agile, streamlined, and scalable product. The switch isn’t easy, but with an experienced, adaptable, and personable partner like 3Ci, you can build a team of qualified experts to get the job done right the first time.

Fortune 100 Bank Successfully Executes Design Operations with the Help of 3Ci Consultants

Read in 3 minutes, 16 seconds

3Ci delivers qualified talent to prominent banking client.

Deciding to make some changes within your business can be daunting, particularly when the change falls into unfamiliar territory. For many businesses, the pressure of digitization has been looming, but without a starting point it can feel impossible to take that first step. A well-thought out User Experience journey has become an absolutely essential piece of the digitization journey, however many businesses lack the personnel power and expertise to create an iron-clad User Experience for their users. The first step of a business’s UX revamp is finding the right team of experts to usher in positive change.

The Case of 3Ci’s Prominent Banking Client

In early 2019, the world woke to the news of a major merger in the banking industry, changing the landscape dramatically. The Director of User Experience at the merging company was stuck, with no roadmap for where the new bank would be headed and how to get there. With a design team of only 35 people, how could they possibly manage to create a dynamic, engaging user experience that not only attracted new customers, but continued to meet the needs of existing ones? The Director knew that in order to move forward, they needed to add a new focus area that would help meld two design teams into one team and manage how it will operate: Design Operations. He transitioned into an operational management role, and knew the most critical thing would be to build a solid, experienced team around him that could meet the growing demands of both consumer and company.

Overcoming the Obstacles

Quickly, the Director ran into issues, chiefly, that there were no systems in place to start piecing together a great team. The company was lacking effective strategies for attracting top design talent, and they had dysfunctional relationships with suppliers for contracted workers. The hunt for the right partner began. Through his professional network, the Director was introduced to 3Ci. From the first meeting, 3Ci was the clear leader of the potential-supplier pack. 3Ci’s expertise and proven track record scaling enterprise design teams was a perfect match for the new bank, and the Director’s particular goals. Once the partnership was in motion, 3Ci immediately filled the pipeline with design talent across multiple geographies within the client’s first three months. As if attracting a huge volume of qualified candidates wasn’t difficult enough, by this time the COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing. Their first 3Ci hire was on-boarded in March 2020, and every single hire since then has been virtual. Together, 3Ci and this prominent bank navigated the pandemic to ensure morale stayed high, onboarding went smoothly, and both parties remained successful.

Savoring the Victories

All in all, the bank hired 36 top designers and researchers from 3Ci in 15 months. The ground-work for an effective experience design team had been laid, and the Director has been able to guide the team into the next phase of their UX journey with confidence. The relationship between 3Ci and the client is on going, and 3Ci continues to deliver top talent to the bank’s Design Operations team. 3Ci is a trusted partner in their talent operation program and has played an essential role in helping them grow.

Is 3Ci the Right Partner For Your Business?

Regardless of whether your business is at the beginning, middle, or final stretch of it’s UX journey, 3Ci is the right partner to help you achieve your goals and outpace competitors. Staffing is only some of what we do here; our expertise extends to UX optimization, software design, and more. 3Ci’s expertise can help create complete experiences that drive the success of your business. We keep our finger on the pulse of market trends and practice design thinking so we can create a cutting-edge customized UX plan for your business.

How 3Ci Helped First Advantage Win Big in UX Design

Read in 2 minutes, 27 seconds

We used our proven process (video interviews, technical evaluations, and behavioral assessments) to help First Advantage place the best UX design talent.

If you haven’t heard of First Advantage, they’re a leading global background check company headquartered in Atlanta, GA. They work with over 35,000 organizations worldwide, helping employers and housing providers reduce risk and stay compliant while dramatically improving the quality of talent and reliability of renters. Yep—they’re kind of a big deal.

We had the pleasure of meeting Kristopher Kinlen a few years back when he engaged 3Ci as a candidate when he was looking to make a career change. Today, he serves as the Director of User Experience for First
Advantage. We were thrilled to have the opportunity to help Kristopher when he recently approached us with a problem.

While Kristopher recognized the power of designing and developing products with users’ best interest at the foundation, his executive team was understandably unsure. As a result, Kristopher and his team were not receiving
the budget they needed to make a real impact through UX.

To reach their goals, Kristopher and his team would need to gain buy-in from the rest of the organization by proving the value of user-centered design. They needed an expert, an advocate, and a partner that could take their UX design program to the next level.

Lucky for us, Kristopher remembered the great experience he had with 3Ci as a candidate and reached out to our team for help—this time as a client.

Because 3Ci follows design thinking in every project we take on, our team first turned to research to develop empathy and identify the root of the problem. After sitting down with Kristopher and his team, we were able to gather valuable insights about their UX goals and First Advantage’s broader business goals. Based on these conversations, we developed a roadmap to balance the two and got to work.

Though it was clear that First Advantage needed to hire the right UX Design talent to execute their UX Design strategy, we also helped Kristopher identify the importance of evangelizing the ROI of his program. To reach his ultimate goals, Kristopher would need buy-in from the executive team. By generating success through small wins upfront (and communicating the value of those wins), Kristopher and his team would be able to make the biggest impact within their organization.

We used our proven process (video interviews, technical evaluations, and behavioral assessments) to help First Advantage place the best UX design talent. We still work closely with the First Advantage UX design team.

Here’s what Kristopher had to say about what it was like working with 3Ci compared to other firms.

“What I think is different is their approach and their value system. It’s not the big, faceless firm. It’s very high-touch, almost boutique, in nature. They’re members of the community, not just an organization that serves the community. The approach was very much a partnership rather than just a transaction.” – Kristopher Kinlen, Director of User Experience at First Advantage

3Ci Redesigns, Develops, and Deploys Outdated Operations Systems.

Read in 2 minutes, 50 seconds

3Ci deploys team of 46 consultants to revamp and redesign our client’s old legacy operation system.

Our client is known for fueling the endless possibilities needed for building the future of energy and delivering their customers clean and affordable energy for their communities to prosper. Having over 4 million customers and four states relying on their distribution, our client realizes the importance of continuous improvement and innovation. While being in the largest gas producing region of the country, they have made large pipeline investments to transport natural gas to the East Coast.

With rapid growth and expansion, a new state-of-the-art enterprise management system will be a major game changer.

This particular client maintains a diverse portfolio of companies relying on them to provide consistent value and transportation of natural gas to their distinct location.

There’s no doubt that an expanding customer base is good for business, but with so much on the line and limited bandwidth within the current company org, an outside consulting company was the exact plan of action our client needed to pursue. 3Ci was chosen as that partner, not only to deploy a team of consultants to architect, design, and develop a new enterprise management system, but to act as a de facto extension of their staff for the duration of the project.

Purpose

The main goal of the partnership was to architect, design, and develop a new enterprise management system, replacing their 20+ year old current systems, to track the pipeline of gas and provide their stakeholders with an innovative way of doing business. All of these factors meant an all hands-on-deck mentality was needed to successfully launch this program. 3Ci deployed a sizable team of 30 experienced members, including but not limited to: enterprise architects, business system analysts, database admins, project managers, and software developers. Each team member was successfully deployed to the project virtually amid the pandemic, and have continued to efficiently work from home throughout the project.

These consultants have followed the Agile methodology of completing two-week sprints and daily progress discussions, which allowed them to plan for any adjustments requested by our client’s SMEs. They started prototyping deliverables and developing technical design documents, with the end goal of retiring the existing systems and building an entirely new system with improved processes, efficiencies, and user experience to enable the client to scale its business.

Onshore approach saves our client time and cuts out any room for misunderstanding.

3Ci established a strong a relationship with the client – understanding their business and culture, and knew being selective with team members was quintessential to seeing the project through, while also truly caring for our client’s needs. Therefore, from the beginning of the project, the team was prepared to learn the full scope and be completely transparent.

In a project of this size, it is common for there to be changes in scope, architecture, and design. The ability to adjust to scope change and adjust the overall project timeline is necessary to deliver the project on time within budget. If our client decided to work with a consulting company offshore, the project could have easily been derailed with an unclear understanding of what they actually needed or requested.

By having this close, trusted, and onshore relationship, our client had more resources readily available and knew the status of the project every step of the way.

Whether your company is revamping internal software, client-facing systems, or modernizing and integrating legacy
applications or websites — we develop solutions designed specifically for your business.