Relationship:
Since 2013
Service Provided:
Web Application Development
Industry:
Financial
Stonewood Financial Solutions, a boutique financial services firm, now has a custom application that intuitively recommends the best retirement income products based on a distinct set of criteria.
Instead of manually running estimates on dozens of these products for each client, Stonewood is able to provide real-time estimates to their clients.
Stonewood’s Retirement Estimates For Clients Are Now Real Time
01 The Challenge
Stonewood’s actuaries were manually running estimates on dozens of these products for each client, a time consuming yet valuable process.
02 The Solution
GlowTouch developed a custom application that would intuitively recommend the best retirement income products based on a distinct set of criteria.
03 The Benefit
Stonewood is able to provide real-time estimates to their clients. The finalized app operated precisely as Stonewood had expected.
“Our clients responded exceptionally well to the application. Quite frankly, our customers have never seen something do what this application does. It’s like having a Travelocity database and search tool for retirement income.”
Martin Ruby
Stonewood Financial Solutions CEO
“GlowTouch’s collaborative project approach ensured we knew exactly where the project stood at all times. Not only did they deliver the software on time, they even provided general, non-technical recommendations aimed at improving the application.”
Becky Ruby Swansburg
Stonewood Financial Solutions CMO
“Since the application is objective in its analysis, our clients know that our recommendations are objective, too. This gives our clients invaluable peace of mind. They know we’re helping them select the very best product for their needs.”
Martin Ruby
Stonewood Financial Solutions CEO
01 The Challenge
Having achieved great success and a loyal customer base using this approach, the management team at Stonewood recognized an opportunity to capitalize on this momentum and utilize technology to streamline this all-important process. Ideally, the company wanted a technology application that could intuitively recommend the best retirement income product based on a distinct set of customer criteria, as well as support the generation of reports for formal client proposals.
02 The Solution
The company’s executive team decided to vet local technology providers who could help in developing a custom software application that automated the manually-intensive product selection process. As a result, Stonewood invited GlowTouch Technologies to its home office to explore the IT firm’s technical capabilities and discuss the application’s high-level requirements.
With a specific direction for the app in mind, Stonewood provided GlowTouch with project specifications, as well as example reports and calculation tables. This information allowed GlowTouch to understand Stonewood’s overall vision and to craft a proposal tailored to their precise needs. After a thorough search process, Stonewood’s executive team determined that GlowTouch possessed the expertise, capabilities and experience needed to bring the company’s vision to life.
At the outset of the engagement, GlowTouch proceeded to conduct a thorough discovery and analysis phase that would help it formulate a viable solution. Stonewood and GlowTouch met twice a week to conduct in-depth discussions on the direction of the application and work through design mock-ups, user interfaces, and admin accessibility. The mock-ups helped Stonewood visualize how the application would look and function and gave the executive team peace of mind knowing their vision was intact.
Following a successful analysis phase, GlowTouch transitioned into a highly-collaborative development process, where it would begin web application development based on the interface mock-ups approved by Stonewood. Replacing sample data and staged workflow with actual functionality, GlowTouch performed weekly demonstrations with Stonewood to showcase its progress on the application and work through specific functional components. Following the development phase, GlowTouch provided Stonewood with the opportunity to get “hands on” with the application to ensure it was ready for launch via user acceptance testing.
03 The Results
The finalized app operated precisely as Stonewood had expected: it used the company’s algorithms to process a client’s individual criteria and relevant data inputs to produce a ranking of product recommendations tailored to the client’s individual needs. The application then generated automated reports which could be shared with the client.
Once the application was finalized, it was formally launched by Stonewood and immediately put to use by its team.
Stonewood’s sales team found the application immensely beneficial, as it allows them to provide real-time estimates of what their clients can expect to receive in benefits based on provided inputs. The application also allows the proposal support team to automatically select the best products for the client, and generate reports to quickly build personalized client proposals.
More importantly, feedback from Stonewood’s clients regarding product recommendations and deliverables produced by the application was also universally positive.
Through a joint effort, GlowTouch and Stonewood were able to conceptualize, develop, and launch an application that delivered tangible value to Stonewood and its stakeholders.
Due to the incredibly successful partnership, Stonewood has approached GlowTouch again with the hopes of expanding the app’s functionality and re-deploying it on a larger scale.
