Crédito Real USA Finance is bringing significant innovations to its organization as it focuses on providing financial solutions to segments of the population that have been underserved by traditional financial institutions. Technology is key to the company’s success in that mission. Scott Oliver, Chief Information Officer at Crédito Real USA Finance and a seasoned industry veteran, chose Quest as his application development and infrastructure support partner to help him achieve the company’s ambitious innovation goals.
Effective budget management depends upon on-demand IT expertise
After taking over as chief information officer (CIO) for Crédito Real USA Finance, a growing financial services company, Oliver set out to build an effective, efficient IT department that could deliver on the company’s innovation objectives. After attempting to build an in-house software development team to achieve those objectives, it became apparent a different approach was required.
His starting point was drawing clear distinctions between efforts that required long-term, short-term, or flexible staffing so he could wring the most out of his IT budget. “I needed to find a strong partner who could help me both augment my staff when needed and provide specialized application development expertise on demand—and do it all as quickly as possible,” said Oliver. “I had previously tried using offshore resources in Asia and Eastern Europe but consistently ran into problems with synchronizing across time zones and unwieldy budgets, so I focused my search on countries better aligned with North America’s time zones for the right partner.”
Initial test project builds trust and leads to many more
Previously unfamiliar with the company, Oliver found Quest through recommendations from his professional network. After reviewing several candidates, he chose Quest based on its direct approach, IT experience, project management and application development capabilities that matched his requirements.
“We started the engagement by having Quest provide a demo for updating our lending application site,” said Oliver. “They delivered on time and actually came in under budget. Based on that success I had Quest start on phase one of our auto dealer portal, during which time they introduced their technical architects for application development.” Oliver then brought Quest in for staff augmentation to help get some backlogged, longer-term application projects done. He also found some issues in existing systems that were underperforming and turned to Quest for solutions. With Quest’s help, Crédito Real USA Finance was able to completely replace those components and develop a more optimized solution much faster.
Once Oliver saw that Quest could quickly and effectively deliver on its objectives, the relationship took off. Beyond staff augmentation Quest was soon providing more and more specialized application expertise for Crédito Real USA Finance.
A lasting partnership across a wide range of IT services
Today, Quest functions as an integral part of the Crédito Real USA Finance IT team, freeing up the internal team’s valuable time. Quest concurrently provides the company with services across multiple disciplines and has completed projects that range from automating formerly manual reporting activities to updating its database to building out the company’s innovative auto dealer services portal.
“A lot of companies say they use Agile development practices but few do it well. Quest has truly mastered the Agile delivery approach.”
– Scott Oliver, Chief Information Officer, Crédito Real USA Finance
“I trust Quest’s capabilities and expertise completely,” said Oliver. “I’ve even tasked Quest with rebuilding Crédito Real USA Finance’s entire messaging infrastructure, developing a new enterprise service bus (ESB) which will be the foundation of every interface for every application we use both inside and outside of the company. Essentially, Quest is architecting one of the most critical components of the foundation we need to build to scale, including writing several interfaces for third-party vendor integrations into the ESB.”
Quest has also provided Crédito Real USA Finance with professional services across the coding universe, from SQL to Java, as well as UI/UX engineering. Quest application security services—available as a one-time or ongoing service—have also come into play throughout the engagement.
A collaborative approach adds value
“Quest started out working with me on a single project but never tried to pressure or push me to give them more work—they earned it,” said Oliver. “Their pricing is reasonable, and they have a roll-up-your-sleeves, can-do attitude. They have consistently delivered on our objectives. When we talk IT, they give me thoughtful and carefully considered opinions. The truth is, they have become our partner in driving innovation in our company.”
THE BOTTOM LINE
Scott Oliver, Chief Information Officer for Crédito Real USA Finance, continues to work with Quest to modernize and upgrade its IT infrastructure, systems, and applications.
