BASELINE

In addition to traditional printing and e-mail, customers should also have the option of using other digital channels for document processing. For example, documents should be able to be sent as SMS or invoices should be delivered as e-bills to the e-banking system. This intelligent networking of channels enables individual customer interaction.

OUR CONTRIBUTION 

In consultation with the client, the project was divided into two phases.

Phase 1: Concretization of the digitalization strategy

In the first phase, the digitalization strategy was collectively concretized. Trendcommerce’s goal was to onboard a pilot customer with a minimal viable product (MVP).

In the first step, an analysis of the current situation was carried out. This included the professional requirements and technical framework conditions, at the levels of organization, skills and processes.

As a starting point, the existing solution, as well as the new, concrete customer requirements were analyzed. To ensure a clear prioritization with the best possible re-use of existing functions, the business target solution was defined as an MVP.

For further concretization, the software architecture with the required technology stack was then developed. For this purpose, several variants were formed and “build” vs. “buy” was weighed. The result was a concrete implementation plan with architecture, roadmap and cost overview.

Based on a skills assessment of the organization and processes, it was determined that new skills were needed to build and operate such a software service. The main focus in the organizational development was put on the areas of technical skills and agile processes in software development.

Phase 2: Implementing and building the solution within three months. 

After the approval of the proposed implementation plan, the project to implement the MVP was launched. The implementation in the mixed onsite and nearshore team was accompanied and driven forward in the following roles: Technical Architect, Lead Developer and Agile Coach.

As planned, the new, digital service was implemented as an MVP within three months and successfully tested with a first customer. Today, the solution presents itself as a highly scalable event-driven and cloud-ready microservice architecture, based on MS .NET Core Stack. The service is productive and will be further developed according to customer requirements.

VALUE ADDED 

In addition to the implementation of the actual service, coaches supported and accompanied the organizational development. As a result, the following new capabilities were built and established:

• Product Ownership
• Establishment of agile processes according to Scrum for software delivery
• Coaching of the development team in the methods of modern software development
• Domain drive design
• Test driven development
• Continuous integration and delivery
• Development of an agile mindset

The measures were accompanied by C-level workshops to drive the agilization of the entire organization. Thus, a fast development of the agile mindset was achieved and implemented with a lot of effort.