Application Modernization & Quality Transformation for a Benefits Administration Platform

A mid-sized benefits administration provider engaged our team to modernize a core customer-facing and internal administration application responsible for HSA and FSA plan management, including sensitive payment-processing workflows. After previous modernization attempts had stalled, the organization sought experienced technical leadership, a modernization roadmap, and improved software quality practices to reduce risk and accelerate product evolution.

The client faced several critical obstacles:

• Lack of technical leadership to guide architecture decisions and modernization strategy

• A growing backlog of quality issues resulting in instability and customer-impacting defects

• A legacy 1990s-era user experience across both customer and internal admin applications

• Failed internal attempt at kicking off modernization due to unclear roles, planning gaps, and lack of engineering maturity

• Limited visibility into system risk and no automation to support continuous quality

The business needed a transformation plan—not just for the application, but for their entire software development discipline.

The client wanted:

• A clearly defined digital modernization roadmap for the core ASAP application

• Quality engineering transformation, including automated testing and improved DevOps practices

• Guidance on organizational roles and hiring needs to build a sustainable internal engineering function

• Fractional CTO support to establish guardrails, architecture, and delivery standards

• Short-term engineering capacity to stabilize the current system while long-term improvements were underway

Our team provided both strategic leadership and hands-on engineering support, including:

• Fractional CTO oversight to establish architectural direction and long-term technical strategy

• A full application modernization roadmap, including UX revamp considerations, platform evolution, and phased delivery

• Introduction of a test automation framework and quality engineering discipline to reduce defects and increase delivery velocity

• Definition of a target engineering organization model, including role definitions and hiring guidance

• Temporary engineering support to help stabilize the system and deliver key modernization components

• Implementation of best practices across CI/CD, cloud hosting readiness, and code quality standards

Our engagement delivered measurable business, operational, and technical impact:

• Enabled the company to quickly launch a new ICHRA offering, generating new revenue and expanding their customer base

• Positioned the organization for scalable growth with a modernized, more stable platform

• Improved ability to pursue future modernization initiatives with clarity and confidence

• Created a comprehensive digital modernization roadmap that aligned business and technical priorities

• Introduced a repeatable quality engineering process, test automation, and DevOps improvements

• Reduced application risk by significantly improving code quality (XX% improvement metric placeholder)

• Improved system stability through targeted engineering enhancements

• Accelerated delivery by defining proper engineering roles and guiding the hiring of key team members

• Helped the client establish a high-performing internal software development organization

• Delivered strategic guidance that increased engineering maturity, visibility, and predictability

• Ensured the internal team could sustain modernization long after our engagement