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Build blueprints and client outcomes

Three detailed blueprints showing exactly how a Kompass build runs — the sequence, the ramp curve, the cost shape and what the centre owned at the end of year one.

Sectors we build for

Software
and SaaS
Insurance
and BFSI
Healthcare
and life sciences
Logistics
and mobility
Manufacturing
and industrial
Private equity
portfolios

GCC mandates carry confidentiality terms, so the blueprints below are written as programme patterns rather than named accounts — the sequence, the ramp, the cost shape and the governance are exactly as they run. Named client references are shared during scoping, matched to the shape of build you are considering.

Blueprint one

Platform engineering centre for a US software company

Build-Operate-Transfer · Hyderabad · 12 people at month three, 85 at month eighteen

The situation

A mid-market SaaS company with roughly USD 240 million in revenue could not hire platform and infrastructure engineers fast enough in its home market. Two prior attempts with outsourcing vendors had produced capacity but no ownership: every time a contract ended, the context left with it. The board wanted a centre it would eventually own, but the CTO had no bandwidth to run an incorporation.

What the build looked like

  • Weeks 1–3: capability mapping across platform, SRE, data and QA; Hyderabad selected over Bengaluru on cost per productive FTE and attrition
  • Weeks 2–8: entity incorporated and registrations completed in parallel with a site-leader search
  • Week 9: site leader joined; first engineering pod of six offers issued the same week
  • Week 14: floor live in managed seats, payroll running, first sprint connected to the US release train
  • Months 6–18: three further pods, an engineering manager layer, and a dedicated floor at month eleven
  • Month 22: entity and employees transferred to the client at the pre-agreed consideration

Where it landed

85people at month eighteen, against a plan of 80
14 wksfrom signed mandate to the first working sprint
11%annualised attrition in year one, against a 16% plan
3platform services owned end to end by the centre
Hiring the site leader in week nine rather than week twenty was worth a full quarter. Everything downstream — the hiring bar, the interview loop, the credibility with senior candidates — ran through that one appointment.
The decision that mattered

Blueprint two

Finance and global business services hub for a UK insurance group

Wholly owned subsidiary · Delhi NCR · 60 people across finance, actuarial support and claims operations

The situation

A listed insurance group had board approval for India but no operating experience there. The constraint was not cost — it was the regulator’s view on outsourcing and data residency. The structure had to be a wholly owned entity from day one, with an audit trail their compliance function could defend.

What the build looked like

  • Weeks 1–5: regulatory and data-residency design agreed with the group’s compliance and legal functions before any hiring began
  • Weeks 3–11: incorporation, registrations, transfer pricing structure and the intercompany service agreement
  • Weeks 6–16: finance lead and actuarial lead hired; Gurugram chosen over Noida on candidate commute geography
  • Week 18: dedicated floor with segregated access control, CCTV and clean-desk enforcement to satisfy the group audit
  • Months 5–12: claims and finance operations pods, monthly close moved to the India team over three cycles

Where it landed

60people live inside twelve months of mandate
0audit findings in the first group compliance review
3close cycles to transfer the monthly financial close
58%realised cost saving against the UK baseline
Designing the data-residency and access model before the first job description went out. Bringing compliance in at week one cost five weeks; bringing them in at week twenty would have cost the go-live date.
The decision that mattered

Blueprint three

AI and data unit for a private-equity-backed logistics platform

Managed capability centre · Bengaluru · 28 people, senior-weighted

The situation

A portfolio company with a four-year hold period needed applied AI capability it could not hire at home at any price. An entity made no sense: the payback ran past the likely exit. The sponsor wanted capability on the balance sheet story without a legal structure to unwind at sale.

What the build looked like

  • Weeks 1–2: charter written around ownership of two model families rather than a headcount target
  • Weeks 3–7: senior-weighted hiring at a 1:2 senior-to-junior ratio, paid at the 75th percentile and held there
  • Week 8: team live under a managed structure with present-assignment IP clauses in every individual contract
  • Months 3–6: evaluation infrastructure, data lineage and model-risk governance established before the first production model
  • Month 14: conversion path to a wholly owned entity documented and priced, ready for the buyer’s diligence

Where it landed

28people, delivering the scope originally sized at 55
8 wksfrom mandate to a working team, with no entity
100%of work product assigned and documented for diligence
2model families owned end to end by the India unit
Refusing to size the team by headcount. Twenty-eight people who owned two model families outperformed the fifty-five the original plan called for, at well under the budgeted run-rate.
The decision that mattered

What these have in common

Three different models, one pattern

i

The charter came before the headcount

Every one of these builds started by naming what the centre would own end to end. None started with a number of people to move.

ii

Leadership was hired first

The site or functional lead was in place before volume hiring began. That single sequencing choice is worth roughly a quarter on every programme.

iii

The exit was designed at the start

Transfer terms, IP assignment and documentation standards were fixed at signature — not negotiated later, when the centre had become valuable.

Next step

Ask us for references on your shape of build.

Tell us the capability, the headcount and the horizon, and we will point you at the closest work we have done and, where the client permits it, put you on a call with them.