Burned by offshore before. Then the caliber of the engineers changed the outcome
A conversation with Robson Cardoso, Head of Information Technology at Forrest T. Jones & Company, a 70-year-old Kansas City insurance firm that had tried offshore development and gotten quality problems, timeline problems, and a vendor relationship it didn't trust. With Full Scale, all three turned around.
Modernize decades of systems, after offshore had already disappointed
Forrest T. Jones & Company runs on software. Its core systems, built on .NET and SQL Server, power life insurance lines and the third-party administration work it does for insurance brokers and program partners. The big body of those systems is in the middle of a modernization push toward a SaaS solution.
The company wanted offshore development capacity to get there, and it had already tried. The results were the classic failures: the quality of the delivered work, the time frames, and a vendor relationship that didn't work. Before Robson even joined, FTJ was looking for a better answer.
The caliber of the engineers made offshore work
When Full Scale came in as a new partner, the work model, the way resources were offered, and especially the rates were a big shift from what FTJ had seen before. But Robson is specific about what actually changed the outcome: the people.
On one side, Full Scale's management is present in the same area as FTJ, local leadership a Kansas City firm can meet in person. On the other, the engineers in the Philippines allocated to FTJ's projects delivered at a caliber the prior vendors never did.
"The caliber of the resources offshore in the Philippines being allocated to our projects. That was the big change that made this a successful relationship with an offshore company."
— Robson Cardoso, Head of Information Technology, Forrest T. Jones & Company
The people changed the outcome
Robson credits the caliber of the engineers in the Philippines allocated to FTJ's projects as the big change that made this offshore relationship succeed where others failed.
Management you can meet
Full Scale's management side is present in the same area as FTJ. The offshore delivery comes with local leadership the client can sit across a table from.
Communication fixed the relationship
The vendor relationship was one of FTJ's pre-Full-Scale pain points. The communication established between the two companies is what turned it positive.
Quality stopped being the issue
Quality of delivered work was one of the big problems before Full Scale. It's the complaint that disappeared from the list.
"Quality was really one of the big issues that we had before we started using Full Scale."
— Robson Cardoso, Head of Information Technology, Forrest T. Jones & Company
"Full Scale's impact on our business has been helping us expedite things by providing the right resources to deliver the right solutions."
— Robson Cardoso, Head of Information Technology, Forrest T. Jones & Company
Seventy years of insurance, run on software
Forrest T. Jones & Company is a family-owned insurance firm headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, with more than 70 years in business and over 350 associates. Life insurance is one of its big lines, and it serves as a third-party administrator for insurance brokers and program partners, on top of association programs, business insurance, and employee benefits.
Robson Cardoso is FTJ's Head of Information Technology, responsible for the systems underneath all of it. The Full Scale relationship started before he arrived. He inherited it, evaluated it against the offshore experiences that came before, and kept building on it.
One team across everything FTJ's systems need
Full Scale's model is staff augmentation: dedicated engineers allocated to FTJ's projects and initiatives, with transparent per-resource rates instead of vendor pricing games. For a shop built on .NET and SQL Server, the bench fit matters as much as the model.
The engagement covers the whole surface of FTJ's IT work, from greenfield product builds to the unglamorous ticket queue. In Robson's words, it doesn't matter which kind of work it is.
New products
When FTJ creates a new product, Full Scale engineers are part of building it.
Customer onboarding
When a new customer comes on board, the same team handles the work of getting them live.
Existing systems
Ticket fixes and maintenance inside FTJ's current .NET and SQL Server systems stay covered.
SaaS modernization
The big body of FTJ's systems is moving to a SaaS solution, and the engineering capacity to do it comes through Full Scale.
"It doesn't matter if it's a new product we're creating, a new customer we're onboarding, or fixing tickets inside our existing systems."
— Robson Cardoso, Head of Information Technology, Forrest T. Jones & Company
The right resource, for the right technology, nearly every time
Ask Robson what Full Scale brings to the table and he gives a three-part answer: the rates FTJ pays, the way Full Scale charges for the specific resources allocated to its projects, and the skills those resources bring.
The proof is in the sourcing. By Robson's own estimate, more than 90% of the time FTJ needs a type of resource, Full Scale provides one who fits the technology FTJ runs. For a company modernizing decades of Microsoft-stack systems, that hit rate is what keeps the roadmap honest.
"I recommend Full Scale as a partner. It's the combination of the rates you pay, the way they charge for the specific resources allocated to your projects, and the skills those resources bring."
— Robson Cardoso, Head of Information Technology, Forrest T. Jones & Company
An offshore skeptic's checklist, answered
FTJ came into this relationship carrying real scar tissue: quality problems, blown time frames, and a vendor it didn't trust. Those are the three reasons companies swear off offshore.
What flipped each one was specific. Caliber fixed quality. Communication fixed the relationship. And a bench deep in FTJ's technology fixed the time frames, because the right person was almost always available.
Today Robson recommends Full Scale as a partner, from a company that had every reason not to try again.
What other IT leaders can take from how FTJ staffed
A bad offshore experience isn't the end of offshore
FTJ had not-so-good experiences with offshore vendors before Full Scale. The fix wasn't giving up on offshore. It was changing the model, the rates, and the caliber of the people.
Caliber is the variable that matters
Quality, timelines, and the relationship all trace back to who is actually doing the work. Robson names the caliber of the Philippine engineers as the big change.
Local management de-risks offshore delivery
An offshore partner with leadership in your metro area is accountable in a way an anonymous vendor never is. FTJ can meet Full Scale's management in person.
Transparent, per-resource rates beat vendor pricing games
The way Full Scale charges for the specific resources allocated to FTJ's projects was a big shift from what the company was doing before, and it's part of why Robson recommends the partnership.
Bench depth shows up as speed
More than 90% of the time FTJ needs a type of resource, Full Scale can provide it for the technology FTJ runs. For a .NET and SQL Server shop, that depth is the difference between a roadmap and a wish list.
Regulated industries can do this
A 70-year-old, family-owned insurance firm is about as conservative as buyers get. If offshore staff augmentation works here, the 'our industry is different' objection gets a lot weaker.