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Delivering a new Direct Investment Option integration with CareSuper in three months
Migrating a high-value member service for an Australian superannuation fund
CareSuper’s Direct Investment Option (DIO) platform allows engaged members to manage their superannuation investments independently, a highly valued service for highly engaged members. When the legacy provider of the DIO service platform announced it was discontinuing its service offering, CareSuper faced a significant challenge: integrate with a new DIO provider, deliver a quality service offering and ensure minimal service disruption for members, all within three months.
CareSuper engaged Equal Experts to help build the new DIO integration application on a modern, resilient platform. The project was delivered on time, with all members successfully migrated to the new service during a short timeframe. It not only ensured continuity of the valued member service but, through upskilling and practical support, reinforced CareSuper’s broader digital transformation efforts.
Outcomes
Three months
to build and launch the new DIO integration service
1,100+ members
successfully migrated without disruption
Upskilled team
laying the foundation for faster, modern delivery
About CareSuper
CareSuper is an award-winning, profit-to-member industry super fund. CareSuper’s vision is to be Australia’s most trusted partner in retirement confidence through exceptional care and connection. CareSuper provides super, retirement, and advice options when needed to help over 573,000 members with over $53B in funds under management feel confident on their journey to, and through, retirement.
Industry
Financial services
Organisation size
573,000 members
Location
Australia
Length of project
3 months
Challenge
Recreating a high-value service with minimal disruption to members in less than three months
Super funds operate in a heavily regulated and complex environment, facing pressure to deliver investment returns, comply with new regulations and maintain security. In recent years, improving engagement has also been top of the agenda, with technology and digital transformation increasingly viewed as opportunities to boost member engagement and provide a more personalised experience.
CareSuper’s Direct Investment Option (DIO) is a key service for a group of highly engaged members who want to play a more active role in managing their super. They expect a high-quality, always available, digital experience, with a secure online portal providing access to accurate, up-to-date information such as account transfers, transaction history and investment options.
When CareSuper’s legacy DIO platform provider discontinued its service offering, the fund needed to act rapidly. It had to select a new provider and seamlessly integrate it into their systems, all while minimising disruption to members during the build and transition.
With a deadline of just three months to complete the build and migration process, CareSuper engaged Equal Experts to support the project. Our experience supporting the superannuation sector, including ongoing work supporting CareSuper with its Azure platform, meant we were confident in our ability to support the DIO project.
Solution
Building a modern, resilient application with improved testing
We partnered closely with the CareSuper development team, building the new cloud-based DIO application on Azure and integrating with both the new platform provider and CareSuper’s existing administrative system.
With members using the system to manage their investments, one of the biggest challenges was ensuring that member balances remained consistent across all CareSuper systems. Any transfers or transactions needed to be accurately reflected in both the member’s DIO fund and the administration system.
The new application used Azure to monitor transactions and notify both the admin system and DIO platform, providing a long-lasting self-healing workflow. If an error occurred, retries would be attempted, and if it continued to fail, the transaction would be compensated for, ensuring all systems remained in sync without manual input.
The Azure build was delivered with automated approval testing, allowing for fast feedback and enabling the team to automatically check new features and perform regression testing during development.
The project enabled us to illustrate, in a practical way, how to deliver modern, resilient features and applications in Azure, developing the CareSuper team’s understanding and capabilities.
Results
A smooth migration, better member experience and stronger digital foundations
The new DIO application and integration with CareSuper’s administration system were delivered on time in a tight three-month window. Our approach and rigorous testing provided CareSuper with the confidence to go live with the new application and begin the member migration process as planned.
The fund entered a three-week limited service period – a set amount of time where some services and transactions within a super fund are restricted or unavailable – with members limited to read-only access to their DIO. This process is typically reserved for major changes or transitions within the fund, such as a merger, to ensure a smooth and secure process. It is not entered into lightly, with funds needing to be confident that they can complete the changes during the allotted time and minimise member disruption.
During this period, all 1,100+ CareSuper members with a DIO account were successfully migrated to the new system with no issues reported. This enabled the fund to minimise the member disruption, exit the limited service period on schedule and continue to provide a DIO service.
The DIO application and integration are now successfully working in production, providing a high-quality service for members.
Conclusion
In the complex, highly regulated superannuation sector, providing members with effective, engaging and secure options to manage their retirement savings is crucial for funds to remain competitive.
By successfully delivering the Direct Investment Option integration within the three-month deadline, Equal Experts supported CareSuper to continue delivering on its member promise and provide improved services for thousands of Australians.
Upskilling the CareSuper team throughout the project and reinforcing the value of a modern approach to building and testing applications also helped accelerate the super fund’s internal digital transformation, building capability for future success.