Toughlex
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Private equity investment fund internal and customer facing systems development and maintenance

INVL web app design on a computer screen
ClientINVL
IndustryFinancial services
RegionLithuania
Work implementedUI/UX Design, development of self-service, cluster of microservices
INVL is the leading investment management and life insurance group in the Baltic region. Its companies manage pension and mutual funds and life insurance directions, individual portfolios, private equity, and other alternative investments. Over 300,000 clients in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and international investors have entrusted the group’s companies with the management of more than EUR 1.75 billion of assets. In the business for more than 30 years now, the group has solid experience in managing private equity assets and building market players that are leaders in their respective fields in the Baltic countries and Central and Eastern Europe.
Challenges
One of the main challenges we faced at the outset was refactoring and migrating the code base to open source solutions. All of this while keeping on a tight schedule in a heavily regulated fintech environment.

In order to achieve stellar results we communicated with the previous vendor for a smooth takeover. Dedicated PO from our side and implemented Agile principles to keep up with this large scale project.
  • Challenging code base and out-dated frameworks
  • Inefficient system logic resulting in high maintenance fees
  • No Agile process in place
  • Heavily regulated fintech environment
Goals
Initially we focused on INVL gaining full ownership of the internal systems. From there we progressed to develop and maintain a cluster of services: self-service, admin portals, APIs for clients, brokers, AML, identity management and various others. To achieve this, we set ourselves these intermediary objectives:
  • Transform to Agile Scrum
  • Establish necessary communication channels
  • Refactor outdated code
  • Introduce new open source solutions
  • Redesign self-service UX/UI
Created Value
In order to be a valuable long-term partner and provide top-notch service, Toughlex's priority was to establish smooth channels of communication. We facilitated a collaborative effort of gathering feedback and conducting business analysis to create a roadmap using an Agile approach. A wide range of skills were required to work on what had already been built in order to redesign, develop, or expand a cluster of microservices.
AgileTo effectively utilize our resources and tackle a wide range of tasks, we adopted Agile principles with short iteration cycles. Our framework of choice was Scrum, which emphasizes transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement. We broke down large goals into smaller, more manageable chunks, and the regular meetings and check-ins within the Scrum framework kept everyone aligned.
Liberated code baseAfter careful assessment of the code base we identified proprietary solutions that needed to be replaced with open source. It often has large communities of developers who work to improve the code and increase security. Once the migration was done INVL enjoyed full ownership of their software thus further protecting the business.
Reduced maintenance feesDuring our assessment we discovered a number of areas with inefficient code logic. It was causing multiple issues and making it difficult to maintain and scale the software. This low hanging fruit has paid off once we implemented our best practices. It significantly reduced the maintenance fees while also improving scalability.
UI/UX redesignIn order to further increase operational efficiency we implemented design changes for self-service system. Bringing the whole look and feel to the present day. We believe that a more intuitive and visually appealing UI leads to higher levels of user satisfaction. Which aligns with INVL's grand vision to be exceptionally good in terms of customer-centric company.
Technologies
When we joined the project, it was already underway with the main technology stack in place. Our top priority was making sure we followed all the GDPR and fintech requirements to the letter, so we placed a strong emphasis on authentication and security.

We took on the development and maintenance of a cluster of services using the .NET technology stack. It’s created by Microsoft, secure and widely used. Most importantly it will be supported for a long time to come. To manage servers and reduce system crashes, we used Kubernetes. We also utilized Docker for continuous integration and to keep microservice instances running separately.

To create a premier user interface, we turned to the React library and GraphQL as a back-end and front-end communication protocol. While GraphQL may require a bit more effort to set up, the benefits of faster update and retrieval of services make it worthwhile. For external systems, we used REST, which is easier to implement and still gets the job done.

Finally, to bring everything together and ensure smooth project management, we utilized Azure DevOps. This platform provides a range of tools and services for collaborative software development, including version control, agile planning, continuous integration and delivery.

Overall, we leveraged a combination of secure and reliable technologies to ensure that the outcome was nothing short of legendary.
Skills
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