In a previous article, we introduced you to IT service centersour squads of experts mobilized at our customers’ sites to provide turnkey IT services. Today, to illustrate this mode of operation with concrete elements, we are showing you show you how we have implemented this model through a through a case study with one of our major partners: the Solidarity Fund QFL. Find out more a real-life example of how our agile teams can integrate into your company and help you to help you achieve your goals!
N.B.: In this article, we use the name “Audensiel (ex Maltem) Canada” to designate to designate recently changed its name, in September 2024. While we await our complete migration, you may read “audensiel canada” or “Audensiel Canada” in our various contents. Rest assured: it’s still the same consulting agency, ours. 🙂
I/ Our customer and its challenges: in search of rare expertise
The Solidarity Fund QFL (also referred to as “the Fund” in this article) is Québec’s largest development capital investment network, and was created at the initiative of the Fédération des Travailleurs du Québec, Quebec’s largest labour federation.
Its main mission is to contribute to Québec’s economic growth by creating, maintaining or safeguarding jobs through investments in companies in all sectors of the Québec economy. One of its key objectives is to encourage retirement savings and to provide its hundreds of thousands of shareholder-savers with a reasonable return and attractive tax benefits.
In our context, the Fund was looking for experts capable of supporting them in the evolution and maintenance of their digital products, by committing themselves and their teams to regular, high-quality deliveries. It was also a question of calling on the skills of individuals in the fields of specialized and rare expertise, technologies such as Sitecore or Tosca. Moreover, since the Fund’s teams had just set up a new agile operation within their organization, one of the prerequisites for working with them was the ability to fully integrate into it, working within their agile governance and processes. Let’s see how Audensiel (ex Maltem) Canada did it!
II/ Service centers Audensiel (ex Maltem) Canada: an agile solution integrated into the client company’s operations
1. For the past 3 years, our teams dedicated to the digital projects of the Fonds
History of collaboration Audensiel (ex Maltem) Canada x Solidarity Fund QFL
As illustrated in the diagram above, our collaboration with the Solidarity Fund QFL began in 2021 with the placement of expert development and UX design resources. Then, in June 2022, we set up a service center made up of several squads that are gradually gradually integrated into the IT teams (information technologies) of our customer. Our teams work on 3 projects:
- The transactional self-service platform of the Flexifonds savings productincluding automated testing;
- The corporate site corporate website ;
- The management portal for account.
2. Customized IT teams at our customer’s disposal
Integration of Audensiel (formerly Maltem) Canada service center teams at customer site
Our players arent local and international talent. They are formed to latest technologies and rare expertise. We accompany and coach the Product Owner, an internal employee of the Fund, on the expertise required to develop the product.
Here is an example of a stack of our technical teams, which brings together some of the technologies we use:
- Common technologies: .NET, SQL, html/CSS, Pact.io, Bootstrap, Postman, AzureDevOps, Selenium,
- Niche technologies: Sitecore, Tosca.
3. In practical terms, how does a service center work?
The set-up of our service center at the Fund took place in 3 phases:
- The scoping phase: Understanding the Fund’s needs, signing the contract, setting up the teams.
- The calibration phase: Start value delivery, measure indicators, make any necessary adjustments.
- The nominal phase: Regular operation of the service center with a commitment to results, continuous improvement of practices.
Agile operation of our service center
Our teams operate according to the scrum methodology and fit seamlessly into the agile context:
- A strategic planning is drawn up quarterly by the Fund to determine the roadmap and the next priorities.
- Our squads are committed to delivering by “sprints“every two months. The PO (customer side) decides whether to ask the Fund’s Ops team to release the increment.
- Every 2 weeks, the delivery manager (on the audit side) and the project manager (on the customer side) meet for a project project committee to monitor the progress of the sprintYou can share indicators and note any issues that need to be escalated at the steering committee meeting. Some improvement actions can be assigned during this committee to find solutions.
- From monthly steering committees bringing together the delivery manager (on the customer side), the account manager and the delivery manager (on the auditor side), enable rigorous rigorous and transparent of squad performance (speed, compliance with commitments, delivery quality), risks and improvement actions.
- From quarterly reviews allow us to verify the extent to which our squads have met their commitments.
One of the distinctive features of our service center operations is the risk-sharing clause that binds us to our customers. This clause guarantees our delivery commitment and the achievement of targets. Based on these indicators, a bonus or penalty may be applied to billing.
Depending on the capacity required to meet these commitments, audensiel makes sure to carry out the movement of players in its service center: making available the right profiles for the expertise required, adjusting the size of squads according to changing customer needs.
audensiel takes charge of the management of its experts, fromtheir recruitment (local and international) and their onboarding from recruitment (local and international) and onboarding to replacement and transfer of knowledge to new players, as well as HR follow-up and training.
Service centers are therefore a turnkey solution for our customers’ digital projects and products:
- Commitment to results ;
- Delegated resource management with confidence;
- Transparent follow-up.
III/ Result: 100% of objectives achieved, customer and players satisfied!
1. Team performance and added value
Over the year 2023-2024, our 3 service center teams have outperformed by exceeding their commitments and significantly increasing their productivity:
- Flexifonds savings product: 103% and 70% increase in velocity between June 2023 and May 2024;
- Savings account management portal: 100% and a 65% increase in velocity between June 2023 and May 2024;
- Corporate website: 100% and 25% increase in velocity between June 2023 and May 2024.
Since the service center was reorganized into a single unified team in May 2024, the trend has remained excellent, with 103% of commitments met in the first quarter of 2024-2025.
The performance performance is our main objective, but it’s not our only goal:
- Since the intervention of our teams at the Solidarity Fund QFL, their platforms have evolved qualitatively towards a intuitive, inclusive and innovativeand innovative, which further enhances customer engagement.
- As our team of experts is keen to contribute to the Fund’s technological improvement, we have also proposed several “POC” projects (Proof of Concept) which enabled us to optimize internal tools and portal stability.
2. Customer satisfaction
“As IT Director responsible for the delivery of savings solutions and products, I am responsible for the Fund players (employees and consultants) who contribute to the business value delivery efforts for the “Savings Market” sector, and I am also accountable for the results.
In October 2022, we rolled out our new IT delivery model based on partnerships, agility and product delivery. At that time, Audensiel (formerly Maltem) Canada’s service center offering matched what we were looking for in terms of partnership dynamics. We wanted an experienced partner who could handle the development and QA side of things, provide qualified resources on demand and, at the same time, adjust capacity according to our priorities.
The advantage of working in service center mode is that we can concentrate our internal efforts on prioritization and design, leaving development (programming) and other cutting-edge technologies to experts, especially as web development is not the Fund’s core business.
The partnership with Audensiel (formerly Maltem) Canada has been essential to achieving our business value delivery objectives. Despite our initial concerns about adapting to the Fund’s reality and pace, the level of expertise to be demonstrated, and the unknown level of communication and collaboration, we were pleasantly surprised by the findings and the rapid results we achieved.
I can say today that one of the key elements of success is the level of commitment of the players our supplier makes available to us. Their team-playing qualities, skills, positive attitude and level of cooperation are undoubtedly important success factors.
For organizations with similar needs and concerns to the Fund, I would recommend going with this type of “Service Center” offering, while ensuring a maximum level of communication, transparency, proactivity and trust on a bilateral basis.”
– Martin Brisson – Director, Savings Solutions and Products Delivery – Solidarity Fund QFL
“I’ve been a project manager for the Fund for 18 months, responsible for IT delivery for our websites for connected and informational savers. In my opinion, the service center model allows us to modulate the size of the team according to future needs. On a day-to-day basis, I make no distinction between an Audensiel (ex Maltem) Canada consultant and a Fund employee. In fact, for the team as a whole, there’s no distinction at all, and that’s the most important and positive point for me.
As a customer, I consider that the main risk when setting up an “external” service center is control over recruitment, although mechanisms are in place. I have to say that this risk has faded. Today, the team is stable, efficient and committed.”
– Frédéric Blanchard, Project Manager, Solidarity Fund QFL
3. Employee satisfaction
Our experts are delighted with their experience at the Solidarity Fund QFL, and they too can testify!
“I joined the Audensiel (ex Maltem) Canada service center at the Solidarity Fund QFL a year ago as a full stack developer. full stack developer. What I particularly appreciate about this system is the proximity with the customer: we work hand in hand hand in hand with the Fund’s teams and benefit from good good visibility of the annual roadmap. As a developer, it’s really nice to know what we’re working towards and where we’re going.
Another strength of the service center is that each player is part of a team of experts: we can share our knowledge and help each other on a daily basis.
On a personal level, I’m keen to bring ideas for technical and functional improvements to the Fund, in order to optimize our ability to deliver value and better support our customer. optimize our ability to deliver value and best support our customer.”
– Jordan, fullstack developer.
“I joined the Solidarity Fund QFL at the end of September 2022 as a quality assurance (QA) analyst. What I appreciate about the service center organization is the strong link between players. This proximity provides an ideal setting for strengthening a dynamic of mutual support and knowledge sharing between us.
At the same time, this system enables customers to benefit from expertise expertise in a particular field, and offers a high degree of flexibility to adjust resources to its needs. In my opinion, the keys to the success of a service center are based on coordination, communication and trust reciprocal. For example, today we have the feeling that we’re forming one and the same team with the Fund’s players: it’s really pleasant and makes for a smooth working relationship.
On a personal level, I contributed to improving processes and testing strategy within the team, and ensured that we all had a shared vision. shared vision. I also took charge of scoping the test automation project and supported its deployment at the customer site. What I hope for the future is that we’ll be able to continue to integrate new technologies at our customer’s site and advise them on how to stay at the forefront of innovation.”
– Wafa, Quality Assurance Analyst
Conclusion
Thanks to our agile and collaborative turnkey approach with the Solidarity Fund QFL and our commitment to commitment to deliveryAudensiel (formerly Maltem) Canada has proven its ability to deliver high-quality IT solutions, perfectly tailored to our customer’s specific needs.
A true team spirit has been established within the teams and with the Solidarity Fund QFL players, and the teams never miss an opportunity to get together to celebrate the success of their deliveries.
At Audensiel Canada, we’re always excited about the prospect of growing our partnership and to continue to support our customer’s digital projects.
Has this case study inspired you? If you’re thinking about delegating the realization of your digital projects and products, while ensuring that you achieve your key objectives, we’d be delighted to suggest the right solutions for you.
You can also send us a message or talk directly directly with our Operations Manager: Olivier Beretti, at o.beretti@audensiel.comor at (438) 522-0113.