Platform architecture and integrations

Customer journeys through to core systems

Most platform problems are integration problems wearing a disguise. The customer journey is fine in isolation, the core system is fine in isolation, and the business lives in the gap between them.

The front and the back of the same product

A quote, an application, a claim or an order is a single thing to a customer. Inside, it is a journey in one system, a policy or ledger in another, several third parties, and a set of assumptions nobody has written down.

We work along the whole path, so the front end is designed against what the core systems can actually do, and the integrations are specified before they become someone else outage.

Architecture you can staff

An architecture is only as good as the team that has to run it. Elegant designs that need three specialists who are not on the payroll are not elegant. We favour arrangements the existing team can own, with the complexity put where it earns its keep.

That usually means clear boundaries, documented contracts between services, and a deliberate decision about which third parties you are prepared to depend on.

Where this comes from

Technical leadership across customer journeys, platform development, third-party integrations and the core systems behind a growing insurance product, in a sector where the integrations are the product as much as the interface is.

Is this a review, or will you build?
Either. Some engagements are an architecture review with a route out of the current state. Others are hands-on technical leadership through a build, embedded with your team.
We depend on several third parties. Is that a problem?
It is a decision rather than a problem. The work is being deliberate about which dependencies you accept, what happens when each one fails, and where you keep an escape route.
Can you work with our in-house team rather than replacing them?
That is the point. An architecture your team cannot run is not a good architecture, so we favour arrangements the people who stay can own.

Talk to us about this kind of work.

Tell us what you are building and what makes it hard. A short note is plenty, and it comes straight to Juan and Andrew.

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