Case Study

When Custom Development launched, ZS had business consultants and engineers — but nothing in between. Building software from scratch requires defined requirements, structured handoffs, and engineering-ready epics and user stories. Business consultants had never worked that way. On the first projects, they were used for requirements anyway. It didn’t work: timelines slipped, margins were hit, and engagements had to be restaffed mid-delivery.

Company & Position

ZS Associates, Partner (2017–2024)

Details

The resistance wasn’t only about skill — it was about project economics. Practice area leaders wanted their own consultants on Custom Development engagements for utilization and exposure. Adding specialized BA roles meant a longer, more expensive staffing plan requiring justification every time.

The solution applied ZS’s own operating model: a light onshore team for client-facing and high-judgment work, with the bulk of delivery offshore. U.S.-based BAs worked with UX — reviewing prototypes, writing functional and business requirements that translated design intent into engineering-ready specifications. Those documents and prototypes were handed to India-based BAs in a structured meeting. The India team then broke requirements into epics and user stories, sequenced them for phased delivery, and carried the work through to user testing.

Actions

• Ran a skunkworks approach with a counterpart in India — hired contractors on both sides to test the model on live engagements before formalizing.
• Proved out the model through delivery; as projects succeeded, the operating model became accepted practice without requiring a formal pitch.
• Built the BA function within the User Experience Expertise Center — separate competency model, job descriptions, and career tracks for US and India-based BAs.
• Grew the team to 12–15 globally using a contract-to-hire model; brought the strongest contractors in-house once value was established.
• Executed the merger of the BA team with an acquired company’s PM function in 2022 — creating a clearer career path into product management.

Outcome & Impact

• UX designers freed to focus on research, information architecture, and core design — no longer pulled into documentation work.
• Roughly 70% of BA work delivered offshore, keeping blended costs competitive on margin-sensitive engagements.
• BA capability delivered across every complex Custom Development project — particularly formative in Clinical Trials, where requirements depth directly enabled ZS’s ability to scale in a new domain.
• Viable career path created: BAs moved from a specialty function within UX to a development track toward product management.