Accelerating Digital Transformation in Chemical Manufacturing

The Customer

A leading chemical engineering company

The Project

Accelerating Digital Transformation in Chemical Engineering

Overview

The Customer embarked on a digital transformation journey with the aim of becoming more agile and innovative. They engaged Improving to navigate this complex process, facing challenges such as a lack of agile methodology understanding, poor cross-department collaboration, and leadership skills for rapid growth. Improving was tasked with bringing the Customer up to industry standards and fostering innovation.

The Challenge

The Customer's ambition for agility was hindered by leadership gaps and a misunderstanding of agile methodologies, resulting in departmental disconnects. Compounded by the initial vendor's failure to deliver agile solutions, the Customer sought a partner capable of overcoming these obstacles to achieve industry-standard agility and innovation.

The Solution

Improving's intervention began with leadership restructuring, assigning team leads to enhance project ownership and drive. This change propelled team velocities, achieving quicker results and deployments. Modern technologies like React and C# were introduced to revamp outdated systems, elevating the Customer's development standards. A significant contribution came from Jonathan Camara, who innovated the Customer’s infrastructure with DevOps practices and Terraform, managing their server banks and Azure network effectively.

The Business Benefits

• Enhanced departmental collaboration and coordination

• Accelerated application development team velocities

• Swift project results and deployments

• Technology stack modernization

• Infrastructure management innovation

• Development process efficiency and effectiveness

The Partnerships

Improving served as the primary partner, delivering software development and consulting expertise. The collaboration featured cross-office support, pooling diverse skills and perspectives without significant external partnerships, to facilitate the Customer's transformation goals.

Lessons Learned

Effective leadership is pivotal in agile transformations, emphasizing the need for training and a clear digital transformation vision. Collaboration and knowledge sharing, including with competitors, are crucial in navigating digital transformation challenges successfully.

Conclusion

The Customer's digital transformation, facilitated by Improving, modernized their operations and fostered a culture of agility and innovation. Adopting React, C#, DevOps, and Terraform not only improved operational efficiency but also positioned the Customer for continued success in the chemical manufacturing sector.