Agile Nearshore Development Case Study

With remote work and remote collaboration becoming the norm, the case for nearshore outsourcing has been justified. While the rest of the world tries to catch up or go back to the office, nearshoring companies have been facilitating remote and effective software development since the very beginning. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that agile nearshore development continues to gain traction. 

But how does this service actually work? What does a nearshoring collaboration really look like in action?

In this blog, we will do a deep dive into a nearshoring case study, and illustrate what a successful outsourcing partnership should look like.

The nearshoring client: Fexco

Established in 1981, today, Fexco is Ireland’s most successful privately held company, providing bespoke payment solutions and efficient and secure global bank-to-bank transfers for both business and individual clients. 

Fexco processes over €34bn in transactions per annum across FX, treasury, digital tax, and government-backed financing sectors. The company employs 2,300+ people across 29 countries in domains such as international payments, asset finance, outsourcing services, and currency conversions.

Nearshoring goals

The most crucial step when starting a nearshoring project is determining specific goals to ensure traceability and alignment. In the case of Fexco, we had introductory meetings with stakeholders across different departments to understand their problems and identify solutions to resolve each of them.

For us at Zartis, it’s standard practice to make sure everyone is working towards the same goals from the very beginning, and that is only possible through clear and transparent communication. 

Based on the inputs we collected from the Fexco team, our consultants devised 3 main goals for the project:

1. Hire stellar talent

The team at Fexco was struggling to find high-quality software professionals from their location in Ireland. Fexco was challenged by the remote location of their HQ, which made relocation less favorable for engineers outside of Ireland and limited them to the local talent pool. So, hiring remote team members flexibly became one of the main priorities.

2. Replace legacy software

Fexco was looking to rewrite and migrate mission-critical mature applications from monolithic, on-premise solutions to modern cloud-based software. Therefore, our team worked on finding software developers who worked on similar projects before, and more importantly, who would enjoy working on such projects again. 

3. Modernize the tech stack

Investing in modern software applications, cloud-based solutions, a microservices architecture, and an entirely new technology stack was among Fexco’s key priorities from the very beginning.

A Tailored Nearshore Solution

In 2016, Fexco contracted Zartis to build a nearshore development team to help them achieve their goals. 

Firstly, we assembled a team of three full-stack developers, which quickly expanded to a total of 11, from our distribution centers in Spain and Portugal. 

While designing a tailored solution to cater to Fexco’s needs, a few things were taken into consideration:

• The expertise of each team member: We interviewed and hand-picked suitable engineers for the project in order to provide Fexco with the specific skill sets they lacked in-house. To achieve the project goals, we hired engineers specializing in cloud technologies, modern frontend frameworks, and migrating monolithic systems into modern, decentralized architectures. 
• The locations of extended developers: For this project, we focused the sourcing in a few nearshore locations including Spain, Portugal,l and Poland to allow for easy collaboration through similar time zones with the client HQ in Ireland. 

Step 1: Modernizing the Tech Stack

As a first step, our nearshore team migrated one of Fexco’s mature applications from a monolithic, on-premise solution to a new cloud-based software using Microsoft Azure and a microservices architecture — one of Fexco’s first experiences in the world of the cloud.

The new application was written in Java, using Angular for the frontend. The Azure cloud automated deployment was completed using Ansible and Jenkins.

Step 2: Creating a Central API

Our extended developers then moved on to supporting the creation of a Central API — one of the key priorities for Fexco Technology Solutions.

Zartis started by defining the software delivery lifecycle, quality controls, and process. Next, they introduced an entirely new architecture and technology stack, including Golang, Scala, Kubernetes, and Helm.

By operating as an extension of Fexco’s in-house engineering department, the Zartis developers helped speed up the development of the Central API.

Step 3: Developing Cutting-Edge Software

Our next project with Fexco involved using the Central API, Electron, and Angular to rewrite a monolithic application and migrate it to the cloud.

Today, our nearshoring project with Fexco involves leveraging the Central API, a micro-frontend, Angular, Scala, and Go for the purposes of a digital signature project.

The goal is to introduce a more efficient approach to the trading and financing of aviation equipment. Key elements of this project include the creation of a secure platform and a live, searchable electronic ledger with details of ownership and security interests.

The Collaboration Results

Our collaboration with Fexco has been ongoing for 6 years and counting. Currently, the nearshore and in-house teams are working together on various projects across Fexco’s portfolio.