Argenta discovers the benefits of nearshoring with Cegeka’s Team-as-a-Service

As the sixth biggest bank insurer in Belgium, Argenta has a reputation for simple, easy-to-explain products focused on customer needs. But when it comes to their digital channels, maintaining this reputation was proving challenging. The ‘war for people’ in Belgium was making it increasingly difficult for the company to find the skilled developers they needed for their app development. In Cegeka’s Team-as-a-Service they found a solution: scalable nearshore development teams who fit in perfectly with their own culture, people and company DNA. 

Philip Rosiers, Argenta’s Digital Solutions Manager, explains: “The challenges Argenta is facing are the challenges of today. The customer expects a digital channel that’s available 24/7: secure, functional and always there. With the infamous ‘war for talent’ in Belgium, it’s not that easy to find the right skills. And it also involves a lot of HR and administrative work. We wanted a partner who would take that off our hands.”

The bank insurer knew what they were looking for. The ideal IT partner would be compatible with Argenta’s culture and DNA, with clear and specified experience in people management. They would be able to provide a scalable solution, with limited cultural differences. A visit to Cegeka’s nearshore facilities in Bucharest sealed the deal. “Ultimately, what decided it for us was that we got the same story about Cegeka from everyone we talked to”, Philip Rosiers comments. “From the top management to the developers to the customers, everyone told us the same thing. Add that to Cegeka’s clear match with our own DNA, and it was clear that we had a working alignment.”

“Ultimately, what decided it for us was that we got the same story about Cegeka from everyone we talked to.”

Philip Rosiers, Digital Solutions Manager, Argenta

Everyone on the same page

It was crucial that Cegeka’s nearshore team hit the ground running with Argenta’s team in Belgium, but Argenta’s team communicated solely in Dutch, which was a challenge when working with the Romanian developers. A solution was found in the creation of an English language app in the test phase of the project. This quicky convinced the Belgian company that the developers would be able to work effectively together using English. 

Avoiding an ‘us and them’ mentality was also crucial in the formation of a cohesive team. “Teamwork was a constant focus”, Philip Rosiers emphasizes. “We had to be clear from the start that we were working on this together.” Bringing together teams of IOS, Android and Java developers allowed for flexibility of scope, so that teams could switch tasks and prioritize in an agile manner. “Another advantage of Team-as-a Service was the stability of the team, because they grow together with the onshore teams. So they’re not one-trick ponies who can only handle a limited scope. This gave us the ability to scale up and down, but without losing control at any point”, says Philip Rosiers. “Argenta stayed in the driving seat and had the final word in all decisions.” 

“Argenta stays in the driving seat and has the final word in all decisions.”

Philip Rosiers, Digital Solutions Manager, Argenta

Working in close cooperation

The success of the collaboration is already evident. Joran Van Moer, Digital Product Manager at Argenta, has been very pleased to see the two companies pull together. “It’s going really smoothly. They’re not just code monkeys doing what we say, but we’re really working together to aim for the best customer experience.”

Short lines of communication drawn from Agile methodology are a big part of that success. The team works in two-week sprints with 15-minute daily meetings and fortnightly sprint meetings. They also try to do quarterly PI planning meetings face-to-face, either in Belgium or Romania. “We meet in person and go through the planning, but there is also room for fun - we have dinner together and go to the frituur to experience Belgian fries culture!” Joran Van Moer explains.

“It’s going really smoothly. They’re not just code monkeys doing what we say, but we’re really working together to aim for the best customer experience.”

Joran Van Moer, Digital Product Manager, Argenta

People management 

The Romanian developers had to get up to speed quickly. Argenta had never worked with a nearshore team before either, but despite these challenges, the team gelled quickly.  Dumitru Cernei, an Agile Developer at Cegeka, puts this down to similarities in company culture: “The cooperation went smoothly because we had clear boundaries. Our professional mentalities are quite similar and we got along from day one.’ Laurentiau Merfu, Scrum Master for Team Absolute at Cegeka, agrees. ‘The people at Argenta were very open and very willing to make it work.’

Within Cegeka, all employees are assigned a ‘people manager’ that helps support team members throughout their career. “Any time I have an issue I feel I’m listened by the people manager, and we work together to find a solution”, Dumitru explains. “I also feel supported to grow and express my own desires from a technical perspective.”

“Any time I have an issue I feel I’m listened to by the people manager, and we work together to find a solution.”

Dimitriu Cernei, Java developer, Cegeka 

Whole-cycle support from Cegeka

Sam Wuytens, Account Manager for Argenta at Cegeka explains how Cegeka has helped the bank insurers develop new features and accelerate with their mobile application. “We started with a proof of concept, basically a mini team, to let them experience onboarding. They actually ended the proof of concept faster than expected because they wanted to scale up to a complete team right away.”

Cegeka’s thorough HR recruitment processes are a vital ingredient in this kind of rapid onboarding. “It’s not just the technical skills we’re looking for, but also the way that candidates fit into the team”, Sam Wuytens states. Our HR recruitment involves a lot of people, with the people managers and the recruitment team all briefed in detail – not just about the technical skills needed but also about the client environment and soft skills. This adds value by fostering a cohesive team that works well together and is compatible. Clients are involved in this process from the start, and kept up to date on all stages of the recruitment process to ensure that the final team are a good fit. “We also stay onboard throughout the whole cycle”, Sam Wuytens explains. “So we still have regular meetings to see whether everything is going to plan.”

The end result was two fully operational teams of nine, fully staffed within the expected KPIs. “In fact, the feedback that we got was that these teams had the same onboarding times as internal teams,” Sam Wuytens concludes. “That was a nice achievement. It’s important for Cegeka to really support the connection between the client’s team and the nearshore team though regular meetings and face-to-face visits. One of the things that we really made clear from the beginning is that we’re not just providing a nearshore team – these people will become part of your team.”