CASE STUDY
Restoring Confidence After a Vendor Over Promised and Under Delivered
Company Background
A regional property and casualty insurance carrier was in the middle of a strategic modernization initiative intended to improve speed to market, enhance operational efficiency, and retire aging policy and billing components. The program was highly visible at the executive level and positioned as a foundational investment to support future growth and competitiveness.
The carrier engaged a system integrator that promised rapid delivery, deep platform expertise, and minimal disruption to ongoing operations. Initial plans projected phased releases over eighteen months, with early wins expected to build confidence and momentum across the organization.
CLIENT CHALLENGE
Within the first year, progress stalled. Delivery milestones were repeatedly missed, and completed components failed to meet functional and quality expectations. Key integrations were incomplete, testing cycles dragged on, and production readiness reviews uncovered fundamental gaps in design and execution.
Leadership lost confidence in both the delivery plan and the vendor’s ability to recover. Reporting lacked transparency, estimates shifted without explanation, and there was no meaningful accountability for missed commitments. Internal teams were left uncertain about what had been built, what was usable, and what risks remained. The program faced growing skepticism, and cancellation was becoming a real possibility.
The carrier needed a partner that could quickly assess the state of the program, provide a clear path forward, and restore executive confidence through disciplined execution and visible progress.
Our
Solution
Inforce was engaged to take over the program and stabilize delivery. The first step was a rapid but thorough assessment of the existing implementation, including architecture, code quality, integrations, testing artifacts, and project governance. Inforce worked side by side with client stakeholders to separate what was salvageable from what needed to be rebuilt.
Where components met quality and design standards, Inforce integrated them into a revised delivery plan. Where gaps or technical debt posed long term risk, the team rebuilt those elements using proven patterns aligned to the carrier’s business processes and platform capabilities. Clear technical ownership was established, and dependencies were re-sequenced to eliminate bottlenecks.
Equally important was the introduction of transparent governance. Inforce implemented structured sprint planning, measurable delivery commitments, and weekly executive level reporting tied to a real service level agreement. Risks, tradeoffs, and progress were communicated plainly, restoring trust through consistency and follow through rather than promises.
By combining hands on delivery with disciplined program management, Inforce reset expectations and created a sustainable cadence that internal teams and leadership could rely on.
THE RESULTS
Rate Updates Cut from Weeks to Days
Pricing changes now deploy in under three days instead of three to four weeks.
45% Faster Release Cycles
Biweekly releases replaced quarterly deployments without added risk.
70% Reduction in Manual Testing
Automated regression testing replaced thousands of hours of manual validation.
99.9% Rating Accuracy Post Deployment
Improved testing coverage eliminated production rating defects.
business Impact Analysis
Within the first ninety days, delivery velocity increased by 35 percent as priorities were clarified and rework was eliminated. The backlog of incomplete or partially delivered features was reduced by 40 percent as unusable components were either remediated or replaced.
Release predictability improved significantly. Milestone adherence increased from under 50 percent to over 90 percent within two quarters. Defects discovered during user acceptance testing declined by 45 percent due to improved design standards and earlier validation.
Executive confidence rebounded as reporting became consistent and outcomes aligned with commitments. The program successfully delivered two major releases within six months of Inforce taking over, enabling the carrier to retire legacy components sooner than planned and avoid an estimated eight months of additional delay.
What began as a failing initiative was transformed into a controlled, forward moving program with clear ownership, realistic timelines, and restored credibility across the organization.