A work-life services provider transformed the care experience for its customers with a user-friendly, intuitive and responsive web platform.
Client
A leading provider of work-life services to caregivers
Goal
Enable caregivers to easily set up and manage care schedules
Tools and Technologies
HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Bootstrap, JQuery, Atlassian User Interface (AUI), AngularJS and Liferay DXP7.2
Business Challenge
Many young and middle-aged workers combine both work and caregiving responsibilities that cover not only children but extend to parents and pets. Research shows that employees who achieve greater work-family balance are more satisfied in their jobs and happier with their families. For our client, a leading provider of work-life services, the key to enabling that balance is the setting up of care schedules for dependent or vulnerable family members.
The client’s existing solution for managing such schedules, however, was not user-friendly, flexible, or mobile-responsive. The client's websites offered no provision to schedule premium services for care. The websites were served by a Liferay V6.2 content management system (CMS) as the common backend for which support ended in December 2020.
Solution
We designed and developed a web platform for scheduling care for family members including parents, children, self and pets, with e-mail notifications and quick access to customer care. We migrated the websites to Liferay DXP7.2 CMS backend. To improve the performance of the web application, we developed website forms as AngularJS-based single-page applications. We developed a responsive website that worked flawlessly across different-sized screens on desktops, tablets and mobile phones.
We used Agile methodologies right from the requirements-gathering phase until the final deployment of the web platform to shorten development time. To save cost and time, we used an almost identical codebase for both iOS and Android platforms (except for a few configuration settings and device specific features). Furthermore, our team performed continuous integration using automated build tools, and script and code repositories, to save time during the development, testing and deployment phases. We ensured that the sites we built followed the WCAG 2.0 and OWASP accessibility and security standards.
Outcomes
- The web platform we developed ensured the client’s care scheduling interface was user-friendly, flexible and mobile-responsive.
- Customers could easily create, change and cancel schedules. They also had easy access to records and historical data.
- The common codebase across iOS and Android ensured significant cost savings in the development and maintenance of the application.
- Agile methodologies and a high degree of automation reduced costs and shortened the development time.
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A robust platform for investment advisors
A prominent U.S. brokerage firm transformed its monolithic legacy apps for registered investment advisors (RIAs) into a microservices-based open platform and significantly improved user experience.
Client
A leading brokerage and wealth management firm based in the U.S.
Goal
Create a best-in-class platform for registered investment advisors (RIAs)
Tools and Technologies
Pivotal Cloud Foundry, Spring Boot, Spring Cloud Gateway, Angular 6, TIBCO AMX BW, SQL Server, Hybrid Automation Framework (Selenium, Appium, Perfecto) and AppDynamics
Business Challenge
With growing competition from nimble fintechs, custodians are under pressure to provide RIAs a differentiated experience. Many of them are looking to use advanced technology solutions such as machine learning, artificial intelligence and data and analytics to help RIAs improve the end consumer experience.
Our client had multiple legacy platforms built over the years that was preventing it from providing their RIAs with a secure, integrated and cost-effective solution.
Solution
Iris has played an integral role in transforming the client’s technology landscape from a legacy system to a modern, open, API-based architecture. The solutions we have implemented include:
- An open access platform with API architecture as part of the client’s go-to-market strategy. We continue to work on integrating third party vendor applications and RIA back-office applications onto this platform.
- The platform is highly reliable and secure with protection of data at rest and in motion using encryption. We have enabled encryption of data in transit to protect over 100+ integrations outside the client environment. We have used SAML and OAuth for user authentication.
- An SSO solution provides multi-factor authentication (MFA) and a framework for privileged access management to secure customer information. The Iris team has also ensured mobile security for iOS and Android devices and helped the client plug platform vulnerabilities.
- Developed responsive design as part of the UI transformation initiatives for core trading, advisory and educational solutions.
- Transformed monolithic application into micro services-based architecture.
- Provided flexible development capabilities with distributed Agile teams and extensive test automation reducing time to market and achieving significant cost savings.
- Digitized end-to-end client onboarding with features for bulk onboarding, advisor authorization and ability to submit statutory documentation online and offline.
- Created back-office solutions for money movement and cash and asset management that allowed RIAs to get a holistic view of clients and serve them on the go.
- Customizable workflow to serve needs of individual advisor firms.
Outcomes
- We enabled the client to securely integrate over hundreds of third-party apps and RIA back-office applications.
- Our test automation and Agile solutions helped the client reduce time to market for new features by 40%.
- Reduced the regression cycle duration by 60% with automated tests over six months.
- Improved performance of business transactions by 30% to 40% on the web platform.
- Addressed > 70% of security and vulnerability issues, leading to a better customer experience.
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Gain speed to market with DevOps solutions
A wealth management firm moved from a legacy application environment to a microservices ecosystem. The switch reduced the production time and expedited the roll-out of releases.
Client
The client is a leading wealth management firm in the U.S.
Goal
DevOps strategy to shorten production timelines and speed time-to-market
Tools and Technologies
JIRA, Jenkins, GitHub, AWS, ECR, Docker, EKS and Helm
Business Challenge
The client used multiple legacy applications with a highly complex codebase to run its operations. As a result, it had long production lifecycles and spent several person-hours in integration and deployment.
On the technology front, the client faced challenges in the way server-side applications were defined, stored and managed. Its IT team also had to manage the deployment of multiple Kubernetes manifest files.
Solution
Iris recommended that the client move to a microservices ecosystem. Here’s how we deployed the solution:
- We defined an enterprise-level DevOps strategy using Helm
- Identified the scope of apps that needed to be onboarded across the enterprise
- Implemented a DevOps pipeline for microservices on the Kubernetes cluster
- Deployed the infrastructure, dependencies and applications with Kubernetes using Helm
- Delivered continuous improvement through Helm release updates and rollbacks
Outcomes
The DevOps pipeline significantly improved time-to-market for new releases.
- 20x faster release cycle
- 40% improvement in quality with end-to-end traceability
- 15x improvement in the mean time to deployment (MTTD)
We also put in place robust security control and validation processes, and provided auditable release requests.
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India’s No 2 HR Influencer, Sharad Verma, reflects upon technology, behavior and the Future of Work
17-Jun-2019
India’s No.2 HR Influencer, reflects upon technology, behavior & the Future of Work
Interesting perspectives from the CHRO at Iris.
Recently named India’s no. 2 HR Influencer by SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management), Sharad Verma is Iris India’s VP and CHRO, leading Human Resources for the company. A graduate of XLRI Jamshedpur, Sharad spent his entire career in HR. He joins Iris after being the HR Head at Polaris Consulting and Sears Holding.
Even though he has 30,000 followers on LinkedIn and close to 15,000 followers on Twitter, Sharad does not see himself as an ‘influencer.' “I started a blog to share my thoughts on HR but I also wrote pieces around mindfulness and special interviews such as the Facebook workplace. Another piece called ‘talent hacker’ also got a lot of traction. The blog morphed and now reflects a cross section between technology and behavior.”
HR is getting complicated with many specializations such as recruitment, rewards, training, etc. What do they mean and how do they fit together?
There is a lot that HR has to achieve between leadership, capabilities, strategy, retaining, competencies, rewards and culture. Some of it is quantifiable and measurable but much of it is not. Some, like culture, is palatable and you can see it. As I have had opportunities to do many ‘hands-on’ HR tasks either individually or as part of the whole, it gave me a wholesome ‘HR function’ perspective for an organization. My approach, which has been deliberate, has helped me understand the complete picture by working alongside business leaders to achieve both, people and business goals.
You were acknowledged as India’s 2nd biggest influencer by the recent SHRM report. That is a pretty big deal, considering India has close to 1 million HR professionals. What does the acknowledgement mean?
I have always been passionate about Twitter, seeing it less as a social media platform and more as a medium of expression. Traditional HR is more about process and policy. Influence, on the other hand is about how to influence another’s opinion, discovering your key message, what you stand for and building an audience around it to create a brand for yourself and for your company. I write about data, analytics and HR, with a focus on how technology is affecting HR today. The confluence of both is a really interesting space. A recent study by Stanford Labs, for example, talked about how to change behavior in small bites; I now apply it at Iris as well as share it in my writings.
Tell us more about this intersection of data, analytics and HR. How does HR interact with data today and why is it important?
My starting point has always been the insights that come from the intersection of capabilities, technology and data. When I joined, I conducted values workshops to discover what values were important to Iris. What is strong in our DNA? What do we live on, on a daily basis? What would we like to change? The results? Client delight came out as a consistent factor with a natural desire amongst team members to understand and be curious about clients to see them happy. Empathy and people-touch were also strong. The empathy part being intentional and upfront was a pleasant surprise, as many companies hope that it comes up but is usually difficult to preserve as a value. As the future of work continues to morph, empathy will continue to be key.
Iris is a good company; it takes care of clients and employees. The challenge is to continue growing while preserving our strong culture. We are, therefore, focusing on the three pillars of process, technology and policy. We will be investing in an HR management system because without the proper tools one cannot achieve what we have set out to do, no matter how good the intention.
At the end of the day, business is about people, especially at Iris. It is therefore important to understand how to unleash the creative function of the employees, so that they, in turn, can expand the client portfolios that they manage. It is important for HR to understand the whole picture along with the business value; otherwise it only adds value from a functional perspective. My belief has always been business value first and function next.
The Future of Work is changing. In that context, where is HR heading?
HR as a function has become more agile. The data from simple metrics such as ‘Where are we hiring from?’ ‘What is our success rate?’ ‘Did they join or not join?’ ‘What are the drivers to stay?’ and so forth, can help us do some predictive analytics. For example, data showed us that engaged teams + collaborative colleagues + exciting work = higher retention. We found out that we need to do some more work around coaching and mentoring and that a 3-month feedback cycle may be more effective than a 1-year feedback cycle. We also found out that appreciation may mean different things to different people. In this and many other ways, data generated from HR can be used to drive strategy.
Do you have any advice for young HR professionals graduating now?
Human Resources, at the end of the day, should be about people. Ask yourself if you are genuinely interested in people and be naturally curious in them, rather than in excel sheets. As AI takes over several functions in an organization, the ‘human’ side of business will become even more important. Secondly, HR is more interesting when you are interested in more than its traditional boundaries. I urge students to see it as the key to understanding companies and businesses by not constraining yourself to the traditional HR boundaries.
Any advice for Iris team members?
The great thing about Iris is the close partnership between the 3 founders. I have had in-depth individual interactions with all 3 and each meeting has been really inspiring. Business is about people, especially at Iris, which, as I mentioned earlier, is very customer and people focused. It is therefore important to keep that Iris DNA of small teams and committed team members while we continue to grow at the exponential rate that we have for the past few years. I am excited to be part of that journey and taking it to the next level.
“As AI takes over several functions in an organization, the ‘human’ side of business will become even more important” – Sharad Verma, VP and CHRO, Iris
What gets Sharad out of bed every day?
The prospect of being a life-long student with the advantage of indulging my creative side is an exciting proposition. “I see myself as a little bit of an artist and a writer, with an effort to bring that side into the corporate world. It is important to keep that side of me alive in what would normally have been a rather straight jacketed job.”
Follow Sharad Verma on Twitter @isharad
SMHR’s recent Influencer report for 2019 can be accessed at: https://www.shrm.org/shrm-india/Documents/HR%20Report2019.pdf
About Iris
Iris Software is a professional software services organization serving customers in the USA, Canada and India for over 25 years. Iris focusses on developing ready-to-deploy Custom-Off-The-Shelf solutions, Application Software development services, as well as services towards the maintenance, testing, integration and support of software.
Iris services the information technology requirements of companies ranging from the Fortune 100 to medium-sized firms by utilizing specialized domain knowledge, best-of-breed technologies, rapidly deployable proprietary frameworks/solutions and flexible engagement models. Iris provides thought leadership to solve business problems creatively by conceptualizing and delivering uncommon solutions, leveraging existing technologies and new computing paradigms such as Digital Transformation, ML, Analytics and Insights, Cloud Computing and Process Automation. Iris continually innovates to accelerate outcomes such as time-to-market, lower costs, ease of maintenance and reduced Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Iris’s core strengths of software engineering best practices enables it to deliver high-quality solutions consistently.
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Get in touchHow Iris Software’s ES Unit is Aligning Itself with Changing Client Needs
29-Apr-2019
How Iris Software's ES Unit is Aligning Itself with Changing Client Needs
New Enterprise Services Chief Ravi Chodagam taps existing Iris strengths, new talent and new skills in migrating to a 'partner' relationship with clients as they transform.
When Ravi Chodagam joined Iris Software in early 2019 to head its Enterprise Services (ES) business unit, he identified two major trends on how businesses approach their IT requirements. First, Iris' clients across the board are undertaking digital transformation initiatives as their digitally-savvy end consumers are demanding these capabilities. For instance, consumers want access to services seamlessly on different channels instantaneously and look for instant real time services. Second, clients now expect technology services provider like Iris to be a value-added partner on these transformation initiatives while "owning the outcome" and sharing the risk with customer.
Iris' ES unit services customers of varying sizes, from Fortune 500 companies to relatively smaller, niche product companies. They are spread out across industries like insurance, life sciences, manufacturing, consumer packaged goods, retail, logistics, education and professional services. In over 27 years of operations, Iris has built a strong and holistic suite of assets in terms of client relationships, competencies and solutions, he added.
Iris is involved with its clients in what Chodagam described as a "Run, Change, Grow" model. In 'Run' scenario, Iris helps its clients run their businesses better by supporting their operational systems, extracting cost efficiencies and enabling them to become faster and more agile. In 'Change' scenario, it helps clients manage their transition as they are "changing gears" or transforming themselves from a business or a technology perspective. And in a 'Grow' setting, it supports customers as they look to launch newer revenue streams, enter newer geographies, or service newer customers.
Building on Existing Competencies
As Chodagam draws from that broad industry landscape to set goals and strategies for the ES unit, he said he has been able to hit the ground running.
"Our competencies are in developing new technology solutions to support the 'change' and 'grow' agenda of companies, while automating processes to achieve cost efficiencies and be faster in the marketplace," Chodagam explained. "Some of our recent successful engagements include developing omni-channel customer experience platform for a major work-life services company; cloud migration and micro services driven technology modernization for the world's leading standards organization; automating critical business operations using a machine learning based solution for a leading North American Education services provider and many more digital enablement projects.
Iris' customized delivery model staffed with experienced and highly skilled team across all levels has enabled it to provide more agility and higher productivity than its peers in the market. High skill levels complemented with deep domain expertise has helped Iris bring differentiated offering to its customers and become a relevant value added partner in their transformation journey.
All of above has resulted in Iris having longstanding relationships of 10-to-15 years with many of its clients, and enjoys high customer satisfaction scores. "I have inherited that stickiness with clients where they like the work we do for them," he said. "We have consistently won repeat business from them as they have been going through their own transformation journeys."
Fleshing out the Goals
Chodagam also brings to Iris a set of competencies from his own, two-decade experience in the IT services industry. For one, he brings experience in multiple verticals. That "cross-vertical market experience" means he understands how a customer in the consumer goods, retail or logistics industries is different from that in manufacturing or insurance. Another strength he brings is in building industry verticals, which happens to be one of his top goals at Iris. Thirdly, he brings experience in the "shift left approach, which is "moving from a transactional play to becoming a value-added partner for clients"; he has worked on that with a few Fortune 500 companies on similar exercises in the past.
About Iris
Iris Software is a professional software services organization serving customers in the USA, Canada and India for over 25 years. Iris focusses on developing ready-to-deploy Custom-Off-The-Shelf solutions, Application Software development services, as well as services towards the maintenance, testing, integration and support of software.
Iris services the information technology requirements of companies ranging from the Fortune 100 to medium-sized firms by utilizing specialized domain knowledge, best-of-breed technologies, rapidly deployable proprietary frameworks/solutions and flexible engagement models. Iris provides thought leadership to solve business problems creatively by conceptualizing and delivering uncommon solutions, leveraging existing technologies and new computing paradigms such as Digital Transformation, ML, Analytics and Insights, Cloud Computing and Process Automation. Iris continually innovates to accelerate outcomes such as time-to-market, lower costs, ease of maintenance and reduced Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Iris's core strengths of software engineering best practices enables it to deliver high-quality solutions consistently.
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