Kastling Helps U.S. Agencies Modernize Systems with Axure
Company Size
11-200
Region
- America
Country
- United States
Product
- Axure
Tech Stack
- Visualization Software
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Cost Savings
- Customer Satisfaction
- Productivity Improvements
Technology Category
- Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
- Functional Applications - Remote Monitoring & Control Systems
Applicable Industries
- National Security & Defense
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
- Quality Assurance
Use Cases
- Predictive Maintenance
- Process Control & Optimization
- Remote Asset Management
Services
- Software Design & Engineering Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
Kastling Group offers strategic management, analysis, and implementation of enterprise systems. Located in Crystal City, Va., near the nation’s capital, the firm specializes in helping Federal agencies modernize their enterprise software systems in a way that introduces user-centered designs and is compatible with legacy systems. Kastling’s past clients include the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The company focuses on creating user-centric software systems that deliver significant savings in development, training, maintenance, and reduction in errors, ultimately benefiting taxpayers.
The Challenge
The U.S. Federal Government spends an estimated $80 billion a year on information technology, the vast majority of it for maintaining legacy systems. Tony Scott, the government’s top Chief Information Officer, has identified a need to shift investments towards modern systems that emphasize user experience. The White House also is committed to creating new digital avenues for citizens to interact with federal agencies and improving accessibility to existing systems. For contractors and federal agencies alike, there is an opportunity to create user-centric software systems that deliver significant savings in development, training, maintenance and reduction in errors that cost taxpayers billions of dollars each year. The opportunity to reshape federal IT systems comes with challenges unique to the federal space. Because government systems are complex and interdependent, each project must be precisely scoped so as to not interfere with other projects. As a result, federal projects rely heavily on comprehensive analysis of business processes. Security is also a major concern for federal clients, many of whom prefer downloaded software tools such as Axure, rather than Web-based tools, which are perceived to be less secure. Finally, any work on federal systems must comply with Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act, which ensures that federal systems be accessible to people with physical, sensory, or cognitive disabilities.
The Solution
Getting the green light on federal projects requires careful up-front planning and scoping. For contractors, this stage is critical to winning contracts and is often done prior to entering agreements with agencies. Because agencies are so mission-focused, Kastling works hard to involve stakeholders in its design process. They use Axure to project designs on the wall and gather immediate feedback from clients, turning the involvement into a collaborative effort. Kastling also uses Axure to more precisely craft proposals, allowing clients to see and interact with prototypes, which leads to immediate feedback and a proposal that closely matches client expectations. This dramatically increases the chances of winning contracts. Prototypes also help Kastling better define project scope, a critical challenge in working with federal agencies. With prototypes, they can pinpoint exactly what is in scope and what is out of scope, cutting down on the cost of rework. Among Lee’s top priorities in building Kastling is assembling a well-rounded team of consultants empowered to move quickly and adapt to new challenges. Although Kastling consultants bring unique skills to the table, each is able to communicate ideas with the rest of the team by using Axure to visually demonstrate what they mean. Team sizes can range from three to 25 contributors, including agency product owners, business analysts, user experience designers, and developers. Having a design tool that’s easy for all team members to pick up while powerful enough to go from low-fidelity wireframes and user flows to high-fidelity prototypes and interactions was critical to Lee, who wanted Kastling’s consultants to hit the ground running.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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