The Challenge:
This case focused on a division within a major financial services firm that handles securities lending, execution, financing, reporting, clearing and custody for institutional investment managers, including hedge funds, buy-side institutions, retail, and advisor businesses. This division released a proprietary tool that provided their institutional clients with more transparency into global securities lending pricing. This tool compares and ranks securities lending rates and performance from prime brokers.
The technical challenge was to improve a proprietary price comparison application to remain competitive in a rapidly changing marketplace. Specifically, they needed to bring the tool to a cloud platform, enhance capabilities, and improve overall functionality, all with a major focus on user experience. As the tool pulls data from various external sources and from disparate internal legacy systems, we also had to ensure accuracy of data, and increase the speed at which it is consumed and displayed to end users.
The Solution:
Eliassen Group provided numerous technical resources with a focus on database development, user experience design, full stack engineering, and front-end development. We also provided Agile training and coaching to hundreds of internal employees, focusing on the technical and functional best practices of Agile frameworks (specifically Scrum).
The Result:
From an Agile perspective, the teams were trained and coached to deliver valuable improvements at greater speeds and at the demand of the marketplace. We were also able to identify skill set gaps and provide valuable resources to fill them. These improvements ultimately resulted in greater satisfaction among the institutional client base.
Highlighted Results
- Agile coaching immediately improved delivery speed to meet marketplace demand
- Agile coaching improved ability to shift focus quickly as customer needs changed with the market
- Skill set gaps were remedied by resources provided by Eliassen Group
Tools Used
- Oracle (PL/SQL)
- SQL
- BI Tools
- DataWarehousing
- Data Marts (Informatica/Vertica)
- AngularJS
- Angular 2+
- Backbone
- Java (APIs)
- Agile methodology (Scrum)