A Fortune 50 national health insurance provider serving more than 40 million members set out to modernize a legacy claims platform built in COBOL and running across 14 states. Hiring for the original language was hard, and an 18-to-24-month Waterfall cycle meant requirements no longer matched the business by the time anything shipped.
The challenge
Modernizing a live, multi-state claims system was like changing an engine mid-flight. The organization needed an iterative, incremental way to deliver features on a timeline that could support the business for the next decade.
How we helped
We built a transformation roadmap, starting with a SAFe for Executives workshop, then trained teams and formed cross-functional teams before implementing the Scaled Agile Framework. Work moved from Word, Excel, and Microsoft Project into epics and user stories in Jira and Confluence, with Scrum and Kanban boards and program-wide dashboards. We ran value stream mapping, certified teams in SAFe, and launched the first Agile Release Train, with a deliberate single-state go-live to lower risk before the wider rollout.
The result
- New Java and PEGA claims system live in the first state in a record nine months
- 46% increase in delivery velocity across the Agile teams
- 240+ employees trained and certified in SAFe
- A Lean-Agile Center of Excellence stood up for ongoing planning and improvement