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Finastra Win – Lessons from a Complex Opportunity [Sep-25] - Coggle Diagram
Finastra Win – Lessons from a Complex Opportunity [Sep-25]
Opportunity
Client: Finastra (BFSI, HQ London, $1.9B revenue, 12K employees)
Geography: India, USA, UK, Israel, Eastern Europe
Scope: Multi-product modernization (18-20 months)
We bid for Wholesale Payments & Retail Lending
Won: Wholesale Payments modernization
Deal Snapshot
Size: $15~M
Duration: 18–22 months
Peak team size: 335 FTEs
Engagement: Outcome-based Fixed Price with penalties
Why Complex
New domain (Payments)
Largest modernization ask so far
Outcome-based FP vs our T&M comfort zone
Competition: Niche domain experts + IBM
Long 6-month sales cycle
Cross-enterprise effort across presales, architects, CXOs, delivery, legal, sales intel, marketing
People Involved
Client Side
Procurement: hardball negotiators, disconnected from tech
Tech/Product leadership & mid-management
CXOs: confidence and oversight
A coach in the Pune team at a senior position
Cybage Side
Central Outreach: nurtured - RFP invite
Technology Team: mature solutioning, estimates, end-to-end stack coverage
Presales / Sales Enablement: orchestration, collaterals, revisions
Domain SMEs: stitched Payments understanding
Delivery Teams: governance, dashboards, strong client references
Legal Team: navigated penalties & clauses
Support Functions: IS, HR, finance, travel, admin
Executive Leadership (Arun & Jagat): bold calls, risk appetite, executive connects
Challenges
Limited info & short timelines
Outcome-based FP model pressure
Interrogation-style workshops
Pricing, discounts, penalties
Competitors showcasing AI accelerators
No direct domain references - transparent approach + CEO assurance
No outcome-based references - client champions filled gap
Innovations
Innovation Lab concept
Tech SMEs (Cloud & Data)
Velocity SMEs (SDLC efficiency)
AI SMEs (GenAI solutions)
POC: Copilot Agents demo
Candid CTO conversations: no silver bullets
Offered free 2-month pilot (monolith - microservices)
Why We Won
Strong intent & commitment to succeed
CEO-to-CEO connect
Adaptability & agility
Cost competitiveness (to an extent)
Easy to work with, collaborative style
Pune location
Lessons Learnt
Don’t fear scale or new domains - leadership will back you
No cookie-cutter - every pursuit is unique
True team sport - collective ownership with clear roles
Strong leadership (Kiran) + iterative reviews
Scripted & rehearsed key meetings
Finding and communicating with client champions
Delivery should be involved earlier
Single tech SPOC improved coordination
Leadership gave freedom to experiment which reduced pressure
Regular touchpoints with different client stakeholders
Use workshop better
Push back for more details when submitting proposals
Execution & Risk
3-month discovery & define - knowledge acquisition
Execution phase with milestone-based payments
Negotiation wins
Termination penalties first 6 months
Reduced penalties after reward-based counter
Scope Management
Transparent on misses, negotiated deltas
Accepted one uncertain product family (calculated gamble)
Effort buffers preserved - helped later
Strategic Impact
Entry into BFSI space (first footprint)
Already new requests from Finastra (horizontal + staff aug)
Success here - broader portfolio penetration
Reference win for BFSI modernization
Reflection
"We need to believe that we can, and then go all out."