Lighthouse POCs: A Smarter Approach to PBM Modernization

Modernizing PBM systems is a complex challenge. It requires introducing new technology strategies—like microservices, cloud, and serverless architectures—while minimizing risk and delivering results. But as the many depressing stats about failed modernization initiatives will tell you, blanket approaches and big bang releases don’t work.

Lighthouse Proofs of Concept (POCs) offer a practical way to test, validate, and govern new strategies before committing to full-scale implementation too soon.

What is a Lighthouse POC?

A Lighthouse POC is an end-to-end implementation of a new technology strategy applied to a small, high-impact feature or service. It proves the technical approach while delivering measurable business value.

Rather than taking a leap of faith, Lighthouse POCs allow you to test new strategies in real-world scenarios, refine best practices, and build confidence in your modernization efforts.

How Lighthouse POCs Add Value

1. 1. Prove the Strategy

   Validate new technologies and architectures on a manageable scale before rolling them out across the organization.

   Top Tip: Start with a feature that has dependencies across systems to ensure your new strategy is tested end-to-end.

2. 2. Deliver Measurable Business Value

   Choose a small feature that improves efficiency, customer experience, or operational outcomes while also validating the technical approach.

   Top Tip: Balance technical validation with business impact to maintain relevance and gain stakeholder buy-in.

3. 3. Standardize Best Practices

   Develop reusable tools, templates, and frameworks based on what works, making it easier for teams to adopt the new approach.

   Top Tip: Build automation into your workflows to embed best practices and reduce manual effort for developers.

4. 4. Scale Technical Leadership Oversight

   Reduce risk by assigning your most senior or experienced engineers to lead the Lighthouse POC where uncertainty and room for error are highest. Once the POC is proven, these leaders can scale their learnings to the rest of the team.

   Top Tip: Form a dojo team, where Lighthouse developers build reusable assets and tools that simplify adoption, then work directly with other teams during sprints to teach the new approach.

How to Run a Successful Lighthouse POC

1. Choose the Right Initiative

Select a feature or service that offers both technical and business value. It must be end-to-end to fully validate the approach.

Top Tip: Prioritize initiatives with dependencies that will highlight how new strategies work across systems.

2. Focus on Adoption from Day One

Embed best practices into reusable tools and workflows to ensure adoption at scale. Include these steps in your backlog to avoid creating silos.

Top Tip: Invest in tools that improve developer experience, making the best-practice approach easier than the old way.

3. Measure Success

Define clear performance, scalability, and cost savings metrics to evaluate the Lighthouse POC.

Top Tip: Align success metrics with business goals to demonstrate value to both IT and business stakeholders.

4. Document and Share Learnings

Capture what worked, what didn’t, and how to apply those insights organization-wide. Use this as the foundation for scaling.

Top Tip: Turn lessons learned into playbooks and reusable templates to accelerate future projects.

Avoid Common Pitfalls

• Overly Narrow Focus: A Lighthouse POC that only addresses technical concerns or business outcomes misses the mark. It must do both.

• Incomplete Functionality: Without end-to-end validation, scaling becomes risky and untested.

• No Adoption Plan: Reusable tools and developer training are critical to embedding best practices and ensuring long-term success.

Start Small, Scale Smart

Lighthouse POCs reduce the risks of modernization by validating new strategies on a smaller scale. They deliver actionable results, improve developer experience, and set a clear path for scaling success.

If you’re considering introducing a new strategy but lack the experience in-house, Praxent’s senior tech leads can help you get it right the first time. We provide hands-on, battle-tested expertise across modern architecture, cloud, data, DevOps, and AI to help you design, execute, and scale your Lighthouse POCs.

Build smarter, de-risk modernization, and keep your systems ready for the future.

Got a project in mind? Get in touch.