Pegasystems Implementation & Customer Retention Case Study
Situation
A major US bank made a $2B acquisition of a large US mortgage provider and needed to integrate the new entity into its existing business. Both the acquiring bank and the acquired entity were both already existing Pega customers. Pega Professional Services was to lead the migration the acquired customers, data, processes, etc. over to the acquiring banks existing environment. Process improvements were also to be made to existing processes during this migration process. The initially assigned Pega engagement lead was failing, the project was not moving, and the customer was escalating and ready to scrap the project. I was parachuted in to help course correct and get the project completed.
Task
The client and the delivery team needed immediate assurance and guidance that the project could deliver as promised. I needed to inject myself immediately, understand the lay of the land, and develop an action plan to get the team and client on a pathway to success.
Actions Taken
Conducted on-site observations and spoke with client stakeholders, lead Pega architect, and various team members to understand the issues.
Quickly developed a plan, including a strategy deck that laid out next steps, a quick-hit project plan, and project tracking and status reporting.
Obtained consensus from delivery team on the stated go-forward plan to got their buy-in.
Communicated plan with client executive stakeholders within first 10 days to quickly show a defined plan and to start building credibility.
Led team execution against this plan and continued to over communicate to client and Pega executive leadership.
Oversaw delivery team in collecting requirements, defining and building in enhanced features to existing solution, defined data to be migrated, developed a migration and cutover plan, performed migration, performed testing and validation, performed cutover, and then successfully deployed the solution.
Delivered the upgraded solution and migration successfully, on budget and on original timeline.
Results
The key result, was through deep implementation experience, perspective, and action a go-forward plan was quickly devised and the overall implementation was a success.
Within 4-6 weeks of getting onsite, I was able to build credibility, get the project back on target, and get it delivered successfully.
Client over time, became one of Pega’s largest global customers.
Key Takeaways & Lessons Learned
Never underestimate the level of communication needed for a large and complex enterprise implementation - Use communication and salesmanship to drive project momentum.
The technology is typically not the problem in an implementation, challenges typically arise from a deficiency created by a human element.
