Lighthouse1 turns to Coherent Solutions for product development capacity and process expertise in fast growth SaaS healthcare sector.
Out of the gate fast
Founded in 2005, Minneapolis-based Lighthouse1 found its stride quickly in the white hot healthcare industry, learning along the way that early success in any industry is not without its bumps and bruises.
The privately held company quickly captured the attention of the health benefits administration marketplace with innovative products that rode the crest of the hottest trend in health care – consumer-directed health plans such as Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA), Variable Employee Benefits Arrangements (VEBA) and Health Savings Accounts (HSA). By leveraging a hosted, software as a service (SaaS) model, Lighthouse1 empowers benefits administrators with its flexible, cost-effective OnDemand system to help manage the many complexities of these healthcare accounts.
Development resources were in short supply
As a start-up, Lighthouse1 got out of the gate fast, but quickly learned they had limited resources to keep the new product pipeline flowing. And in the highly competitive healthcare industry where innovation and time-to-market is critical, the company knew they needed incremental resources quickly. What’s more, Lighthouse1 was young, with virtually non-existent software development processes, which drastically complicated the prospect of seeking software development outsourcing partners. Management realized they needed to augment their OnDemand platform with HSA capabilities, and both time and software development resources were in short supply. That’s when Lighthouse1 turned to Coherent Solutions.
A new outsourcing model was needed
Peter Jobbagy, Product Executive for Lighthouse1 had enough previous experience with outsourcing to know it wouldn’t be easy. “Time zone differences, language issues, and cultural differences make it difficult to utilize offshore development resources, and it’s hard to assess progress and overcome development challenges,” Jobbagy notes. “Our lack of development processes further complicated matters, but as a young company, we needed the cost savings associated with utilizing offshore resources.”
Lighthouse1 Management knew they needed a different model and found it with Coherent Solutions, Inc. (CSI). CSI, a Minneapolis-based software development outsourcing firm, is one of a very few firms with a strong, permanent presence in both the U.S. and Eastern Europe that specializes in helping companies with limited internal development procedures and documentation integrate an outsourced software development capability. By building customized development teams consisting of client resources, local CSI resources working onsite, and well-integrated development resources in Minsk, Belarus, CSI is able to overcome the challenges associated with immature processes and the drawbacks of utilizing traditional offshore vendors.
Becoming a believer
After meeting with Coherent executives and a visit to CSI’s operations in Minsk, Jobbagy knew he had found a model and partner he could believe in. In fact, early on in the relationship, the Coherent team took a set of draft requirements from LH1 and played the leadership role in developing Lighthouse1’s new HSA product for the OnDemand platform.
Since founding the partnership, Lighthouse1 has migrated to an Agile development methodology based on Scrum, with support from CSI. The new approach has further streamlined and solidified a partnership founded in mutual success.
"We are going to stick with this relationship for the long run" he says. "Process flexibility along with a customized blend of local, onsite, and highly professional offshore talent – what could make more sense?"
Today, Lighthouse1 has become a flagship customer for Coherent Solutions with a large team dedicated to the company’s new HSA application, as well as onsite, local and offshore resources in areas like software support/maintenance, QA, and developers working across several other teams. Clearly for healthcare industry pioneers like Lighthouse1, Coherent Solutions’ process flexibility and blended resource approach to outsourced software development is just what the doctor ordered.