Agile way of working

Agile transformation in the Health Insurance Industry to deliver digital transformation outcomes.

Client

A national health insurance company, headquartered in Abu Dhabi, with businesses in insurance, 3rd party claims processing, and medical claim management consulting.

Need

Adopt an Agile process, structure, and mindset within a large-scale digital transformation program that cuts across four core functions of the health insurance organisation. The client did not have the required expertise, structure, and resources to initiate an agile transformation. A strategic partner was sought to help accomplish this multi-year effort.

Solution

Knowledgeworks worked with key client stakeholders to define the transformation approach, coaching pathway, and teams to work with. Seven teams were identified, all currently working in an in-house form of agile scrum aligned to both internal and external products. The Commercial Operations product team was selected as the pilot candidates. The key objective was to assess the agile maturity of the team and define the target maturity level. Through a five-member team, Knowledgeworks established the current agile practice maturity level, and performance metrics to define the target state. We coached the teams to achieve the target maturity in process, tools, and behavior and established a coaching pathway to apply the learnings to live projects. We delivered the pilot over 6 sprints demonstrating progressive improvements toward the target state metrics. The pilot completed, with a rollout to the other Agile teams.

Result

The pilot transformed the client's teams from the traditional handoff way of working to progressively high-performing teams that were able to deliver product increments effectively to the delight of management.

We are more than confident that our partnership with the client is continuing to reap the benefits delivered through the premium agile and technical coaching provided by our team. Delivering as promised resulted in the following improvements in key performance metrics:

95% of product requests are fulfilled within 63 days. Historically, 95% within 273 days.
75% reduction in software defects from circa 17 per week to 4 per week.
Reduction in tech debt to feature development ratio of 1 to 17.

These outcomes were achieved through the adoption of the agile process, structure, mindset, and habits concerning technology-related projects. The resulting overwhelming success led to accelerating the client's digital transformation plans and an invitation to provide support on the transformation journey.