In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, businesses often face challenges that impede growth, particularly when managing complex operations across multiple regions. Our client, a leading online employment marketplace in Australia, encountered these issues as they expanded across Asia, struggling with disconnected product platforms and inconsistent user experiences, which impacted scalability and operational efficiency.
Recognizing the need for transformation, the organization turned to Thoughtworks for help. With a proven track record in digital innovation, we were brought in to streamline their operations and enhance scalability. Our DAMO™ Managed Services provided a comprehensive approach, ensuring seamless integration and improved platform efficiency. This collaboration was pivotal in supporting their growth objectives and optimizing operational capabilities.
Upholding seamless operations during any transformative phase is essential to prevent disruption and foster sustainable growth. It became evident that a unified product platform was no longer optional, but a necessity — one that would not only ensure consistent offerings throughout the platform, but also lay a solid foundation for future international expansion.
The DAMO™ Managed Services approach
The client's previous systems required frequent upkeep, leading to inefficiencies and security vulnerabilities. They needed a low-maintenance solution to maintain and evolve their core systems. DAMO™ managed services provided a solution that went beyond sustaining applications to continuously enhance and transform them. By adopting this approach, our client could achieve enhanced efficiency, improved security measures and scalable solutions aligned with their operational goals.
We assumed ownership of seven key applications tailored to support the client’s diverse operational needs. Within the domain of Candidate applications, we assembled a dedicated team focused on enhancing user engagement and ensuring an intuitive experience. Additionally, in the Hirer domain, encompassing five critical revenue generation and agent-facing systems, a streamlined team worked diligently to improve functionality and efficiency. This targeted expertise helped foster a cohesive, user-centric ecosystem that drives sustained growth.
- Phase 1: Discovery and transition
To get started, our client sought to enhance the security of two critical systems. Thoughtworks conducted a Security Vulnerability Assessment, providing detailed insights that paved the way for a Discovery Workshop. During this workshop, we worked closely with the client to assess their current state, challenges and future opportunities. These collaborative efforts led to meaningful discussions among stakeholders and resulted in improved transition documents that offered greater quality and value, addressing key client concerns and supporting their ongoing journeys, resulting in a decision to embark on a managed services journey.
- Phase 2: First product ownership transfer
After being entrusted with leading and managing the Candidate systems, Thoughtworks took on the end-to-end transition of two key Candidate applications. This process was carefully managed, with each application transitioned and stabilized in phases, ultimately resulting in full product ownership of the entire Candidate system. This detailed approach, which included creating a comprehensive automation regression test suite and optimizing deployment pipelines, resulted in an impressive SLA compliance increase from 58% to 98% within two months. Additionally, we addressed critical security vulnerabilities in legacy application code.
- Phase 3: Extending DAMO™ Managed Services to other products
In October 2022, inspired by the impact of the Candidate experience, our client entrusted us with their critical Hirer system, the core of their revenue-generating activity. Thoughtworks developed a transition plan and took ownership of applications run by teams in China and Malaysia, where we achieved 100% SLA compliance by the start of Q2 2023, compared to their previous in-house records of 65%, and proactively closed 550+ Critical, High and Medium severity security issues in their product suite, helping with the unification of their platforms as well as managing their applications. Additionally, we added new metrics in production that notify engineers of any new issues found on the mobile site pages, ensuring a robust platform.
- Phase 4: Going beyond DAMO™ Managed Services
Post successful unification of their platforms, a significant milestone in solidifying their efforts to streamline operations and enhance efficiency, there were systems that were no longer in-use. The team proposed decommissioning these applications, reducing unnecessary infrastructure costs and mitigating the risk of accidental access. The goal was to achieve this decommissioning by Q1 2025, but was completed ahead of schedule in Q3 2024.
Fifteen years ago, Thoughtworks helped create a new way of building software (with the whole Agile movement). Today, you have the opportunity to do the same for managed services.
Partnership and transformative impact
Through DAMO™ managed services, we were able to foster a strong, enduring partnership. The client valued our meticulous approach to planning, execution and value articulation, leading to the successful unification of their legacy systems.
Key Metrics and Results
Flawless SLA compliance: Achieved and maintained 100% SLA compliance since Q2 2023 in the Hirer system.
Reduced manual efforts: Automation streamlined processes, freeing up resources for innovation.
Enhanced security: Proactive identification and mitigation of security risks ensured a robust platform.
Operational efficiency: Significant reduction in operational errors and incidents.
Client satisfaction: High client satisfaction scores reflect improved user experience and reliability.