How a UK corporate bank rebuilt delivery confidence and accelerated client migration

What do you do when transformation loses momentum?

A UK corporate bank was midway through a major technology overhaul, moving thousands of clients from a legacy servicing channel to a secure, modern platform. The stakes were high, and leadership wanted to ensure a smooth delivery without disruption or delay. 

But progress had started to stall. Agile processes were immature, requirements were too high-level to be actionable and governance structures were adding friction. Teams struggled to make decisions quickly and maintain momentum. The project was at risk of delays, cost overruns and migration bottlenecks that threatened to undermine confidence in the transformation. 

Building a reliable delivery engine

The bank brought in Baringa to stabilise the programme and build the delivery capability it needed to succeed. Working closely with the bank’s teams, we began with a rapid diagnostic to identify the core blockers, then moved quickly to address them.

Our approach combined practical standards, tools and coaching to embed consistent agile delivery across the programme. Rather than handing over a methodology and stepping back, we embedded with the bank’s teams to guide the delivery and make change stick.

Establishing consistent ways of working 

We worked with the bank to create a shared foundation for delivery across the entire programme, introducing: 

• Proven playbooks for persistent, cross‑functional delivery pods 
• Standardised templates for high‑quality requirements, with clear definitions of ready and done 
• Structured governance and agile coaching for product owners and business analysts 

Improving transparency and decision‑making 

We replaced manual, retrospective slide packs with near real‑time dashboards built around metrics that matter. Leaders gained instant visibility of progress, risks and throughput, enabling proactive, data‑driven decisions across the programme.

Hard‑wiring quality into the flow of work 

We worked through the backlog to bring every user story up to INVEST standards, a structured framework that assesses whether requirements are clear enough to deliver against. We improved how teams used Jira through clear workflows, tooling and training. We established a consistent cadence of planning, reviews and retropectives to build a rhythm of continuous improvement. 

Getting the migration back on track 

The impact was tangible: 

• User story quality rose from 40-50% to 80-90%, while defect rates fell by more than 50%.
• Delivery became more predictable, with more automated testing, fewer defects and higher acceptance rates 
• Automated dashboards replaced manual reporting, lifting efficiency and freeing teams to focus on delivery 
• Culture shifted, with continuous improvement taking hold across the programme, sustained by the teams themselves. 

With these foundations in place, the programme found its pace again. The bank successfully migrated more than 5,000 clients to the new platform, restoring confidence in a transformation that had previously run late and over budget. 

Change that’s built to last

By working closely with the bank’s teams, Baringa created a delivery model that the organisation could own and sustain. Governance is stronger, ways of working are consistent, agile practices have matured and quality is built into every stage of the process. The bank has gained a sustainable model that it can count on to drive predictable change and long‑term success in future technology transformations. 

Facing similar delivery challenges?

Baringa works with organisations undergoing complex transformation to build the operating models, ways of working and team capability that deliver measurable results. Get in touch to find out how.