Transforming a financial services company into a market leader in digital asset servicing
Customer Background and Context
Our longstanding financial services client launched an industry-first institutional asset servicing (Bitcoin) from their innovation lab into a standalone business group. Apex partnered to provide a scalable organizational and operational model in order to meet the expected exponential demand for digital asset servicing. This was one of many multimillion-dollar engagements we’ve had over the course of 20 years working with this client.
Solution/Tech Stack Overview
We partnered with our client's executive leadership to envision, design, and deliver a new business organizational and operational model in order to launch and support digital asset servicing (Bitcoin) for institutions. The model was designed to scale to meet massive future demand. Services and skillsets included: {{pull quote}}
- Jira
- Kanban Framework
- Enterprise Agile
- Design Thinking
- Lean
- Enterprise PI Planning
Business/Functional/Technical Requirements
The business requirements for this project included all organizational and operational modeling, enterprise planning, and training and coaching. Our team led the client in Epic workshops, Story Writing workshops, and Enterprise Agile training including extensive work with executive leadership. We delivered multiple Program Increment (PI) planning sessions, including the first-ever fully remote PI planning, and guided the implementation of a quarterly cadence for planning. Our team launched, trained, and coached eight (8) squads to implement working agreements and Agile best practices. Additionally, we established a Kanban framework for the infrastructure team to meet the expanding needs of the business and the increasing number of development squads.
Service Areas/Capabilities Deployed
- Digital Business Transformation
- Agile Transformation
- Cloud Native
- Digital First
- Scrum Master Training
- Quarterly PI Planning
- Executive Agile Planning
Partnering Model
We provided extremely light facilitation with expert management, strategy, and digital business transformation experts.
Commercial Construct and Performance Management
The majority of projects with this client are performed under statement of work.
Impact
As a result of the engagement, our client established a scalable organization equipped with planning, delivery, and support models. These models allowed our client to rapidly grow while maintaining high-quality scores and without sacrificing their innovative culture. The client's business group successfully scaled to meet the massive developing demand and growing business needs. Our client is now a market leader in digital asset servicing based on our pioneering partnership.
Lessons Learned
- The importance of vision – clarity, transparency, and inclusiveness creates the brightest vision.
- Design as a team – collective design involving all voices and emphasizing the voice of the customer.
- Planning is key – modern planning means the right people working in the right way on the right thing.
