Financial services company: building a platform for growth

Business Situation: Building a platform for growth

One of the leading investment platforms for financial advisers and institutions in the UK built a simple-to-use, compliance-friendly online tool for independent financial advisers to manage their portfolios in a single location. After several years, they worried that the existing platform might not be suited for modern needs and continued growth. They asked Avanade to assess the situation, and we confirmed those assumptions, finding there was an opportunity to fundamentally improve the company’s platform, as well as completely overhaul internal development processes.

Solution: Taking two distinct approaches to IT

The company had two key objectives: 1. optimize its current platform to be more efficient and compliant with regulatory changes, and 2. ensure it had the freedom to innovate with technologies that could help them become number one in the market. Avanade’s managed services team made that happen through process automation. This was done using robotic process automation as the key to making IT more predicable; modern software engineering techniques – using Avanade’s proven agile approaches and DevOps tools; and Avanade’s flexible and scalable delivery team, working alongside the client’s IT staff, giving them the freedom to innovate the platform for the digital world.

Results: Setting the stage for the future

Enabled by a change program involving both business and IT, the company has continued its rapid growth. The results of the work accomplished with Avanade go far deeper, and set the stage for a rich future. With their flexible workforce, they have the freedom to innovate, and their IT team has built a new reputation for being cutting edge. A contributor to the success is the adoption of a modern software engineering approach, which has allowed the client to transform their Application Lifecycle Management and related functions to realize considerable efficiencies. With a more robust platform and help from Avanade’s business analysts, the client has also ensured regulatory compliance. Furthering their innovation focus, the company also plans to build a radical new user experience for their clients.