The Client: 

Powering the Future Via Connectivity

As a leading broadband connectivity company and cable operator serving more than 32 million enterprise and residential customers in 41 U.S. states, this Fortune 100 telecommunications enterprise focuses on powering the future by connecting its customers to superior award-winning communications and entertainment products at the highest quality of service. 

The company offers a full range of state-of-the-art internet, TV, mobile and voice services, as well as delivering customized advertising and production for the modern media landscape.

The Situation:

Transforming Experiences with Workflow Automation

Seeking to continue elevating its customer experience, the telecom company launched  a transformation initiative focused on streamlining the complex installation process for enterprise clients. A key component of the transformation was adopting a workflow automation solution, for which the company selected the Pega platform. 

As the company lacked Pega deployment expertise internally, it hired a Big Four firm to help lead the initial implementation phase However, for subsequent phases, the company wanted to build internal expertise in a manner that was both efficient and cost-effective. 

The Solution: 

Adopt a Proven On-Demand Talent Model

To gain the desired efficiencies while developing internal Pega expertise, the company’s Director of Automation decided to take a fresh approach to staffing his implementation teams.  He evaluated alternatives to traditional consulting models and determined that assembling a right-sized team of independent experts could meet the requirements for gaining the needed capabilities at a fraction of his existing Big 4 expense. 

During his investigations, the Director identified Graphite as offering a proven on-demand talent acquisition model. Upon contacting Graphite, the Director was matched with an experienced Account Executive (AE) who explained that Graphite’s pool of over 9000 independent experts included multiple individuals with deep expertise in Pega implementations. 

Key requirements identified

Excited  about the opportunity to create an experienced agile implementation team using a streamlined, cost-effective process, the Director and his dedicated AE conducted subsequent project scoping conversations. Key project requirements were: 

• A small team of four to six experts comprised of individuals with program management, systems architecture, and software development experience
• Pega 8 expertise
• Agile development experience
• Relational database management experience in MS SQL, MySQL, or No-SQL 
• Occasional travel to onsite locations 
• 6-12 month project commitment

Personalized assistance for rapid expert selection and onboarding

Having collected telecom company’s needs, the AE used Graphite’s AI-driven platform to identify 22 candidates. Next, he filtered the list, met personally with the most appropriate individuals, and presented the Director with the eight independent experts who offered the right expertise, fee, and availability.

While the Director interviewed candidates using Graphite’s in-app messaging and meeting room features, the Graphite AE simultaneously collaborated with the telecom company’s vendor management team to establish appropriate contracting arrangements. A managed services agreement (MSA) was selected, which ensured the selected independent experts could begin working rapidly and compliantly. 

At the end of the evaluation process, the Director selected five independent experts for his implementation team:

• A Program Manager
• A Pega Expert
• A Developer
• Two Systems Architects

 On average, each expert supplied over a decade of experience with similar Pega implementations from their service at companies such as EY, Infosys, and Wipro. 

The Result:

Achieving Cost Savings with a Right-Sized Expert Project Team

Once the Pega experts were selected, the AE introduced the Director to his dedicated Graphite Customer Success Manager, who led the onboarding process.  It started with gaining an understanding of the project, including day-to-day expectations for Graphite’s supplied team of experts.

Next, the Customer Success Manager held a series of briefings with each independent expert to explain the project as well as objectives, roles, and responsibilities. This included utilizing agile development practices, overseeing data migration, monitoring the Pega system performance, recommending options for improving  new and existing database systems, mitigating issues proactively and training the company’s internal staff. 

Leveraging experts to gain in-house proficiencies

Once work is complete and knowledge transferred, the company’s internal staff will have the proficiencies required to undertake  the remaining phases of the implementation in-house, at a high level of quality and productivity.

Overall, the company realize multiple benefits from engaging with Graphite, including:

• Achieved a 45% cost savings by eliminating Big 4 consulting spend
• Participated in a proven, streamlined on-demand talent acquisition process
• Tapped into a 9,000+ pool of fully-vetted independent experts
• Obtained a right-sized team of highly-experienced alumni from EY, Infosys, and Wipro
• Enabled in-house teams to gain proficiencies by learning from the independent experts
• Received detailed project tracking including deliverables, tasks completed, and work hours submitted
• Eliminated administrative overhead with the Graphite’s integrated invoicing and payment interface

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