Partnering With a Big Four Consultancy to Drive Digital Transformation for a Large US Investment Firm

About Our Partner

The Partner is one of the Big Four global audit and consulting firms with more than 250,000 employees and member partners. The company provides full-cycle strategic consultancy to businesses in over 140 countries.

Seeking a Reliable IT Vendor to Upgrade Investment Software

The Partner was involved in a digital transformation project for its major client (further — Client), a large US investment firm serving institutional fund owners. The project entailed massive rebuilds across the Client’s IT ecosystem. The primary target of modernization was the investment firm’s legacy document management system (DMS), which was no longer able to handle the growing scale and complexity of documentation processes.

To ensure smooth digital transformation for the Client and secure the quality of the improved DMS, the Partner sought a third-party technology contractor experienced in delivering large-scale investment IT projects end-to-end. ScienceSoft, with its mature collaboration and project management practices and a proven track record in engineering custom investment solutions, appeared to be a strong match. The Partner included ScienceSoft in its vendor shortlist and submitted a request for proposal (RFP) for DMS revamp.

Initial Discovery for Cost-Effective Software Enhancement

Within five days of the initial request, ScienceSoft signed an NDA with the Partner and started preparing a proposal. We dedicated a team of two lead financial IT consultants, two solution architects, an IT operations consultant, and a project manager to conduct the initial discovery for the DMS modernization project. This step would ensure the proposed solution upgrades are technically viable, cost-effective, and meet the Client’s needs and constraints.

• ScienceSoft’s financial IT consultants analyzed the functional specification for the current DMS and the requirements specification for the intended solution. They prioritized existing features for revamp based on issue severity and triaged new features for launch based on their value for the investment firm.
• The architects studied the software’s technology stack and the required enhancements and proposed several modernization scenarios. Although the Partner originally intended to revamp the DMS, ScienceSoft’s experts found out it would be cheaper to build a new DMS than undo the legacy system’s technical debt. The architects mapped several viable scenarios and tech stacks for new DMS development alongside revamp options. This way, the Partner could consider alternative, more cost-effective ways to improve the Client’s document management workflows.
• The IT operations consultant took part in auditing the investment firm’s IT ecosystem and selecting the optimal deployment strategies for the refined DMS. The consultant also elaborated on the maintenance and support approaches that would ensure smooth DMS functioning and lower software TCO in the long run.
• The project manager was responsible for estimating the resources, time, and budget needed to complete the DMS revamp. The PM also planned and supervised the proposal preparation workflow to speed up the progress without compromising the depth of initial discovery.

As a result, the team compiled their findings and suggestions into the detailed Scope & Vision document and submitted it to the Partner. The paper spanned the proposed strategies for system revamp, replacement, and maintenance, the breakdown of project resources, and ballpark time and cost estimates.

Full-Scale Discovery for Custom Investment DMS Development

The Partner qualified proposals from five shortlisted vendors, and ScienceSoft was selected as the most promising one. The Partner’s representative stressed that ScienceSoft’s proactive suggestions of alternative, more viable approaches to DMS upgrading were a strong argument in favor of ScienceSoft, since they indicated both strong technical foresight and a focus on business value.

ScienceSoft’s team was introduced to the Client and invited to proceed with a full-on discovery for DMS development. Cooperating closely with the investment firm’s stakeholders, our consultants mapped a comprehensive functional specification for the new DMS. They helped the Client define the features that should be introduced first for quicker operational benefits and smoother user adoption. The consultants also analyzed the functionality of the current DMS and outlined the components that could be reused in the new system, which would reduce coding efforts and contribute to higher logic accuracy.

ScienceSoft’s architects proposed several secure architectures and tech stack options for the new DMS and pointed out the one best fitting for the Client’s case. Given the growing complexity and collaborative nature of the Client’s document management processes, the architects recommended building the DMS in the cloud to ensure the solution’s easy accessibility and scalability for future needs. When picking the cloud techs, the experts prioritized reusable services and frameworks that would speed up DMS delivery and reduce operational costs.

After the technical design was finalized and approved with the Client, the team sharpened the integration, quality assurance, deployment, DevOps, and collaboration strategies. ScienceSoft and the Client agreed to organize the project workflow following the Scrum methodology. The choice of the iterative model would enable frequent communication between the project stakeholders and a swift response to potential changes.

Finally, ScienceSoft’s project manager assembled the work breakdown structure (WBS) for the DMS development pathway and estimated precise project resources, timelines, and costs taking into account all the information gathered during the discovery phase. The Partner cross-checked the implementation plan and confirmed that the budget was realistic given the clarified scope of the software to develop.

It took ScienceSoft a total of six weeks to complete the full-scale discovery for DMS enhancement. After the Partner and the Client were confident in the predictable project flow and accurate estimates, they readily involved ScienceSoft in developing a custom DMS.

Better DMS Revamp Options Drive Client Success for a Big Four Consultancy

As of May 2025, ScienceSoft has developed the new investment DMS and is finalizing data migration from the Client’s previously used software. Throughout the project, the investment firm was consistently satisfied with the collaboration mode and the quality of deliverables.

For the Partner, engaging ScienceSoft became a strategic win: the team’s advice on alternative DMS upgrading pathways helped the Client optimize the budget and efforts for digital transformation and prevent unnecessary spend and further tech debt accumulation. The Client got a high-performing, cost-effective proprietary DMS implemented within the agreed timelines and budget. This let the consultancy secure the Client’s loyalty and add one more success story to its digital transformation portfolio for the investment sector.

Technologies and Tools

.NET, Java, Angular, TypeScript, Microsoft SQL Server, Azure, AWS, Terraform, Docker, Kubernetes.