Coconuts Software

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there

I work for an insurance broker. We are the third largest in Argentina and we focus on large volume insurance portfolio management. We have car insurance services as well. We currently have 50 people in our office. It wouldn’t be possible to do the type of work we do without a strong internal systems strategy and alliance that we manage here. I’ve been working with the company for 15-16 years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Coconuts Software?

We initially started developing in 2002 in Visual Basic technologies with the support of Access databases. This was then migrated to SQL server. We’ve been adapting as new technologies arise. We started a big project to start refactoring everything and building web applications. We have several web apps, a total of 38 developed applications approximately.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Coconuts Software has been helping us even before they became a company. They helped us a great deal in the analysis, development, and implementation of this new base at the core of our business, which is 100% web-based application with web services and interactions with the insurance market. They participated actively in this project together with other members of our company. We’re an internal team of 8 other employees. They used technologies such as Bootstrap, c-Sharp, JQuery, CSS, HTML, and others.

What is the team dynamic?

This project has been going on for 3 years and it was initially developed by them. They continue it. We have several other providers for our internal projects and they participate in one project in particular which is related to the migration of our apps and our new scheme which conceals with RM and adapts to new technologies. These meet the requirements we ask for and they are helping us pass those codes on this new technology. We interact with five of them. They have different roles, come to meetings and actively participate in analysis and development

How much have you invested with Coconuts Software?

We have an ongoing contract for $143,000 which include the application migrations. Afterwards, we had smaller projects between $8,000 and $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The big migration project was divided into phases with different approval checkpoints and advancements. The last phase started in mid-April. This was the migration of a platform for General Motors, an ongoing program that was already in use.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The main tangible result is in time savings. We have an internal development team and for us, it’s a great relief to be able to hand over tasks to a team that is already knowledgeable about the insurance market and that can also handle our requested technologies. Furthermore, they have certain ideas or concepts that are great, and many times we ended up using those ideas. Certain functionalities they proposed on the users' end were very considered innovative. 

How did Coconuts perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Trello with them while working on the projects. Tickets were generated for them with what we want them to develop. We also have an internally developed app for project lifecycle management. They develop what we ask from them based on tasks and assignments. Project management is handled by us. Since they have more resources than us, it’s easier for them to meet the desired deadlines, testing, functionalities, etc. They meet deadlines consistently but if there are any cases that aren’t met it’s because of us. Their project manager is always on top of things.

What did you find most impressive about Coconuts Software?

They know a lot about the insurance business. The possibility to understand the user and their problems and understand what is happening to them and try to solve things is something I can highlight. Regarding the insurance vertical, they have lots of working knowledge in the insurance industry and it's definitely an advantage to them. 

Are there any areas Coconuts Software could improve?

Some things such as vision and budgeting could be improved.