Change is required for successful modernization

• Application modernization project at a large financial services provider

• Prioritisation and correction of technical faults

• From a responsible mindset to an automated deployment pipeline

A large Swiss financial services provider needs to modernize a core application. The Zühlke team helps the client carry out the project. The right mindset is paramount.

One of Switzerland’s largest financial services providers needs to modernize its critical internal enterprise software. This would allow them to aggregate and manage data to create financial products and then make that data available to the client. The application has already been in operation for a number of years and has evolved to become an important pillar of the company’s core business. However, over the years, the technological and regulatory requirements have changed drastically. The application is closely linked to internal and external applications via a wide variety of interfaces. Technical faults have accumulated and are hindering and slowing down ongoing developments and modifications. Due to time constraints, new requirements were often implemented without a conceptual design or refactoring. This, in turn, resulted in even more technical faults. The automated tests in place did not provide sufficient testing coverage, which resulted in more time being spent on manual testing. The majority of deployments were carried out by hand and were not automated.

Events are now introduced via scrum: these new structures make it possible for the company to act in a more structured, goal-oriented, and therefore more efficient manner. The Zühlke team helps the customer’s in-house IT team to develop new features and comply with regulations. In order to meet all targets over the medium and long term, the management of technical faults is also addressed. These faults are analysed and prioritised based on risk and expenditure. This analysis is regularly and transparently discussed with the management. The technical faults are then regularly addressed and corrected based on their priority. Furthermore, we are able to establish a responsible mindset in the team. As a result, the developers now take a holistic approach to all changes and include automated tests in all updates. In this way, the Zühlke team is able to proactively help our customers implement a completely automated deployment pipeline. This example demonstrates how important the cultural change aspect is for larger application modernization projects. Behind every application are the people who work with these applications, and they need to be considered and included every step of the way during the transformation process.