Nike tried to launch FuelBand, but its offshore vendors placed the product under jeopardy.
Catalyte met the FuelBand go-to-market deadline and helped Nike capitalize on the global digital/wearable fitness trend. Nike reported at Gartner Symposium that Catalyte’s teams were 3x more productive than the competition (cost per story point), and the software was delivered with 46% fewer defects.
Nike was creating a critical new wearable fitness platform (Nike+ FuelBand) to solidify its dominant market position and expand customer relationships. FuelBand encompassed a range of components including a SaaS foundation, embedded software, firmware, mobile applications and desktop applications. Nike required scalability with short notice.
Because of the high-profile and strategic nature of FuelBand, Nike stakeholders were deeply engaged in every stage of the effort, refining the product vision and requirements daily.
Organizational and regional culture gaps created a tangible effect on the ability of the offshore teams to align and function as a cohesive unit with a common goal. This exacerbated every project challenge.
As the early stages of the project progressed, several issues quickly surfaced:
After several months of struggling to make progress, Nike acknowledged that launch dates and project success were in jeopardy. It turned to Catalyte because of our reputation for providing exceptional services onshore and on time.
Three business days later, Catalyte had engineers on site diligently working to get the project on track and on schedule. With Catalyte, Nike found:
Catalyte increased quality and productivity dramatically by solving the issues Nike faced with its offshore partner. As a result, the product got to market on time and within budget.
As Catalyte proved its worth and value over the next three months, Nike shifted 80% of the product’s development to Catalyte. The decision to choose Catalyte as a partner was easy as its contributions and impact were imperative to the project’s success. The partnership flourished with Catalyte playing a key role in the client’s strategy for growth and continued market leadership.
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