94% Increase in Engineering Productivity and 68% Faster Delivery Across R&D
Key Results
Context
Florence Healthcare is a leading clinical research platform that connects sponsors, CROs, and research sites. The company supports over 37,000 research sites across 90 countries and powers more than 7.2 million research workflows every month.
Following a $80M Series C investment led by Insight Partners, the company scaled rapidly from ~150 to nearly 300 employees, with around 100 people in R&D. This growth followed a consistent pattern of doubling headcount year-over-year between 2017 and 2022.
The Challenge
With rapid growth came the first signs of strain.
Despite hiring strong talent across engineering and product, delivery output didn’t keep pace with the increase in headcount. Roadmaps started slipping, delivery became slower, and commitments to key customers were increasingly difficult to meet.
The organization had capable leadership and high-quality teams, but systemic inefficiencies were holding them back. Bottlenecks appeared across the development process, as well as in collaboration between product, engineering, and other functions.
Operating in a highly regulated environment, shortcuts were not an option. Quality, compliance, and audit requirements had to be maintained, which meant improvements had to be made carefully and systematically across the entire delivery lifecycle.
How We Approached It
We started with a full analysis of the end-to-end delivery process, from idea and discovery through design, development, testing, and release, all the way to feedback and measurement. This made it clear where work was getting stuck, where delays were happening, and which constraints were limiting the overall flow.
We worked closely with senior leadership across Product, Engineering, QA, and Compliance to align on priorities and ensure a shared understanding of both the problems and the direction forward.
At the same time, we partnered directly with development teams and managers to implement changes in day-to-day work. We focused on high-impact improvements first, introduced them quickly, and continuously tracked results to adjust and improve in real time.
Results
Business Impact
The company was able to deliver its roadmap faster and with higher quality, directly supporting its strategic growth goals.
Beyond speed, the value of delivered work improved through better discovery and stronger feedback loops. Leadership gained confidence in delivery, with clearer visibility and more reliable forecasting.
Customers also felt the difference. Commitments were met more consistently, and operational issues were resolved significantly faster, restoring trust and strengthening long-term relationships.
Testimonial
How Does This Compare to Your Company?
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