1. Objectives
• Create a mobile version of the client’s advisory
portal
• Implement proven systems development life
cycle (SDLC) methodologies
• Minimize disruption on current site
• Utilize current content management system
Challenges
• Transfer knowledge from our solution center
during the Construction phase
• Transition from an off-site, outsourced delivery
model to an on-site managed services model
to comply with corporate policy
• Adapt to changing business needs and
additional scope
Implementation Highlights
• Onboarded strong local resources to help with
implementation and reduce time to market
• Introduced automation testing and Agile best
practices to internal staff
• Matured the client’s Agile processes
Technologies Supported
• HTML5
• Java
• JQuery
• Responsive Mobile
• Spring MVC
Results
• Launched mobile Web advisory portal to more
than 800 financial advisors
• Coached client’s in-house team on mobility
development best practices and methodologies
• Completed the project in time for marketing’s
planned product release and email campaign
• Provided metrics on adoption rate and portal
activity as a proof of concept for future mobility
initiatives
[Financial Services,
Application Development – Mobility]
QUICK FACTS
Client Profile
Industry: Financial Services
Revenue: $12.6 billion
Employees: Approximately 41,000
Geographic Presence: Headquartered
in Boston with several regional centers
across the United States and Canada,
serving customers worldwide
Developing a Mobile Financial Advisory Portal
for a Leading Financial Services Firm
TEKSYSTEMS GLOBAL SERVICES
CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORIES

2. TEKsystems.com | 2Global Services: Customer Success Stories
Developing a Mobile Financial Advisory Portal for a
Leading Financial Services Firm
Client Profile
The client is a leading provider of investment
management, retirement planning, brokerage and
other financial products and services to more than
20 million individuals and organizations, as well
as through 5,000 financial intermediary firms.
The client has partnered with TEKsystems for
over 10 years.
Project Overview
Technology has enabled our economy to
operate at faster speeds than ever before.
The introduction of mobile technology allows
consumers to access information quickly through
personal smartphones and tablets, and mobile
applications provide real-time data, convenience
and portability. Banking and finance customers
increasingly rely on their personal mobile devices
to check account balances, review portfolio
information and transfer money or pay bills.
Customers value the real-time, accurate data
provided by these mobile solutions.
Financial services firms are also leveraging
mobile technology in order to offer more
personalized services. Due to the increased
amount of information available and the
portability of mobile devices, customers can
access investment calculators, financial
advice and retirement modeling on their own.
Financial advisors must be able to deliver a
custom, targeted experience to clients in order
to differentiate and show value. In response,
many advisors have turned to their tablets to
enhance their interactions with clients—sharing
personalized, interactive presentations based on
real-time data and scenarios.
Situation
A leading U.S. investment management provider
has a financial information Web portal where its
financial advisors access market briefs, market
analytics and white papers to prepare for client
meetings and advise their end customers on
real-time investment decisions. However, this
portal was inaccessible via mobile devices,
making it difficult for financial advisors to
leverage up-to-date information on the go and
during client meetings. The client knew that
in order for its advisors to stay relevant and
competitive with other investment management
companies, it had to implement a mobile solution
for its advisory portal.
The client wanted mobile users to be able to view
the same information on a mobile device as they
would on a PC. A mobile site solution was ideal as
it would require minimal changes and disruption to
the original portal and would not duplicate efforts
by putting content on two platforms. They sought to
leverage their existing Web content management
system (CMS) for the mobile version; however,
this homegrown CMS did not originally support
mobile form factors. Additionally, the client wanted
the mobile portal to be device-agnostic; they were
looking to adopt a responsive design to ensure
it would work seamlessly on any device at any
size. The client’s marketing team was driving this
project and had set an aggressive timeframe for
the turnaround of the mobile portal so its launch
would coincide with an upcoming campaign for
new products and services.
In addition to the campaign, this project was also
aligned with the client’s enterprise-wide initiative
to capitalize on mobile technologies to improve
The client partnered with TEKsystems to develop a mobile
Web portal for its financial advisory platform to provide its
advisors with quick access to key financial data.
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY

3. Developing a Mobile Financial Advisory Portal for a
Leading Financial Services Firm
TEKsystems.com | 3Global Services: Customer Success Stories
efficiencies and increase profits. The client
was already working to reduce the number of
work-issued laptops in the field—which were
expensive to supply and support—and moving to a
mobility policy would alleviate overhead costs by
leveraging advisors’ personal devices.
The client lacked the mobile development expertise
in-house to handle a project of this scale and meet
the deadline posed by the client’s marketing team.
Thus, the client was looking for a partner with a
dedicated mobility practice with core competencies
in CSS3, HTML5 and Agile, who could ramp up
quickly and adapt to its culture and environment.
The firm was also seeking an experienced
partner with a proven SDLC process for mobile
development and platforms, as they were hoping to
grow their internal mobility capabilities in order to
adapt to future needs.
Solution
We would perform a three-phased approach
comprised of Inception, Knowledge Transfer and
Construction at our Montreal Solution Centre
(MSC). Our team would include skilled mobile
experts, including a UI developer, two technical
architects, a business analyst, project manager,
a QA analyst and a UX developer.
Inception
We would partner with the client to understand
their unique needs, processes and environment
to build the strategy, perform the design and
recommend a construction plan. The three major
stages of this phase would be:
1. Definition: We would begin with educating the
teams, validating the working relationship and
disseminating a high-level vision and design in
order to set expectations and ensure the entire
team had the same basic understanding of the
solution before committing to qualification.
2. Qualification: We would define priorities and
the business value of the solution to aggregate
and qualify enough information to execute a
plan. We would also prioritize risk identification,
develop product backlog and define the
architecture.
3. Planning: We would then provide a
comprehensive plan that included a complete
effort estimate, team composition, foundational
duration, stabilization strategy and release plan.
Initially, the client sought to have our mobility
experts continue with the Construction phase at
the MSC. However, the firm’s corporate policy
required mandatory audits of off-site facilities
prior to embarking on an outsourced engagement,
and due to a backlog, the internal auditors would
be unable to perform a site audit in time to meet
the client’s deadline. To mitigate this issue, our
team offered a solution where we would source
high-quality local resources on site at the client to
complete the Construction phase with the client’s
financial advisory development team and also
provide support and consulting from the MSC. Our
Application Development practice and our Service
Management Organization (SMO) would work in
concert quickly and effectively so that we could
meet the scope within the original timeline
and budget.
Knowledge Transfer
Since Inception and Construction would occur
at two separate locations, we would establish a
The client knew that in
order for its advisors to stay
relevant and competitive
with other investment
management companies, it
had to implement a mobile
solution

4. TEKsystems.com | 4Global Services: Customer Success Stories
Developing a Mobile Financial Advisory Portal for a
Leading Financial Services Firm
knowledge transfer transition stage to support
the client’s ability to manage the Construction
phase themselves. TEKsystems would travel on
site at the client to review deliverables and coach
the financial advisory development team project
leadership on findings and disciplines that would
support successful delivery. Our MSC mobility
experts would stay on site for two weeks to coach
the internal development team through the first
iteration of Construction.
Construction
Throughout this phase, we would continue to
utilize an iterative development process, utilizing
several technologies to enhance the mobile Web
portal’s look and feel, design, user interaction
and layout. TEKsystems would provide an on-site
support team consisting of a business analyst,
a QA analyst, two UI developers and a delivery
manager. Using an application managed services
model, we would assume responsibility for
TEKsystems’ on-site resources, including resource
selection, onboarding, knowledge management,
resource management, and service and deliverable
management. Additionally, our MSC mobile
development team would remain available as
virtual consultants, which would include a weekly
call with the on-site team.
TEKsystems, a trusted client partner for over 10
years, had learned of the client’s plans to launch
a mobile advisory portal during a meeting with the
financial advisory development team. The client
was aware of our expertise within mobile and
back-end platforms and chose to partner with us
based on this recommended solution, the strength
and reputation of our reputation of our Mobility
Center of Excellence, and our knowledge of Agile
methodologies and best practices.
Results
The mobile Web advisory portal was successfully
launched to the firm’s more than 800 financial
advisors. The project was completed within budget
and in time to launch along with marketing’s
scheduled campaign, giving its financial advisors
access to critical information when discussing its
new products and services. Moreover, this mobile
solution will continue to help advisors be more
efficient in client-facing situations, build out their
portfolios, capture market share and, ultimately,
increase revenue by having a technology that’s
imperative in an industry marked by technology
innovation and large IT investments.
Although performing the Inception and
Construction phases in separate locations was
not the original plan, TEKsystems’ teams were
able to adapt to comply with the policy and still
deliver a quality product. The time our mobility
developers spent on site with the financial
advisory development team produced an effective
knowledge transfer and the client was able to
continue to tap into our mobility expertise to help
overcome technology and design questions.
During the Inception and Construction phases, the
marketing team identified additional features for
the portal that would align with future campaigns.
We were able to adapt our solution and deliver
on the increased scope while also remaining on
time and within budget. We also increased their
technological footprint in the mobile environment,
and the client’s in-house resources were exposed
to Agile and automation testing best practices.
Agile was still relatively new in their organization
and they relied on our experience to help enhance
their knowledge as well as spread it throughout
the organization based on the results from our
Inception phase. With automation testing, we
We also increased their
technological footprint in
the mobile environment,
and the client’s in-house
resources were exposed to
Agile and automation testing
best practices

5. Developing a Mobile Financial Advisory Portal for a
Leading Financial Services Firm
TEKsystems.com | 5Global Services: Customer Success Stories
have streamlined the client’s ability to test and
deploy changes.
The client was utilizing this project as a proof
of concept for future mobility investments. They
wanted to know the adoption rate and measure
activity to determine if mobility had an impact
on overall advisor productivity. They also wanted
to find out what types of devices were accessing
the portal so this information could be leveraged
in the future if they were to develop additional
mobile applications. We were able to capture and
channel these metrics through their in-house
analytics application. This information will help
them garner executive buy-in for future mobility
investments. For example, the data received helped
the client determine that the user community was
predominately iOS, and it has gone on to initiate a
project to create an iOS application.
Key Success Factors
• Creativity
Although moving the Construction phase of the
project from off site at the MSC to on site at
the client was not originally planned, our team
adapted and delivered a creative solution where
we could maximize our mobility subject matter
expertise via weekly consulting calls with the
MSC and hands-on assistance and coaching
from our local on-site team. With this solution,
we were able to meet the client’s time restraints
and stay within budget while still delivering
quality service.
• Honest partnership
At the onset of the engagement, the TEKsystems
team established a collaborative relationship
with the project sponsor. We relied on the client’s
people to provide us with institutional knowledge
and they leveraged us for technology knowledge.
The client also needed a partner who would give
them honest advice and feedback—positive or
negative. Previous vendors the client had worked
with only did what was asked of them which
produced mediocre results, whereas we were
able to offer solid, complicated advice that could
take them where they needed to be.
• Cultural alignment
It was very important to the client that their
partners be invested and aligned to the
company’s business, IT strategy and values. For
instance, security is very important to the client.
When they visited the MSC, they recognized that
security was a high priority to us as well and
were impressed with the security principles in
place. Sharing similar cultural values provided
the client with the confidence they needed to
trust that TEKsystems would deliver the results
they aimed for.
ABOUT TEKSYSTEMS
®
People are at the heart of every successful
business initiative. At TEKsystems, we understand
people. Every year we deploy over 80,000 IT
professionals at 6,000 client sites across North
America, Europe and Asia. Our deep insights
into IT human capital management enable us to
help our clients achieve their business goals—
while optimizing their IT workforce strategies.
We provide IT staffing solutions, IT talent
management expertise and IT services to help our
clients plan, build and run their critical business
initiatives. Through our range of quality-focused
delivery models, we meet our clients where they
are, and take them where they want to go, the way
they want to get there.
Visit us online at www.TEKsystems.com.