How Aloa Helped RXR Modernize Critical Internal Systems Before Internet Explorer's End-of-Life

"We chose Aloa after previous negative experiences with offshore development. Aloa was super flexible, taking risks on our account and providing breaks when needed. Despite our complex requirements, the project was completed successfully, and I would definitely work with Aloa again."

Andrew Min

SVP, Strategy & Digital Initiatives

Modernizing RXR's Legacy Systems Under Deadline Pressure

y-forward real estate leader, RXR had built much of their competitive advantage through digital innovation. However, their TaskBank platform—an essential internal application—was built for Internet Explorer compatibility only. With Microsoft's announcement that Internet Explorer would be phased out in late 2022, RXR faced a critical timeline to modernize this system.

The situation was complicated by several factors. Though RXR had an internal engineering team, they were fully allocated to other strategic initiatives, and the processing of interviewing, hiring, and onboarding new employees would take too long. The TaskBank application at its core was a task reminder system, which might sound simple, but it contained highly specific use cases unique to RXR's business model that made the complexity higher than expected. With other 500 employees, many of whom used TaskBank daily, there were a lot of stakeholders interested in this transition.

Adding to an already tricky situation, RXR had previously outsourced development and had extremely negative experiences. They had seen everything, from poor communication to bad code quality and even getting "ghosted" by their offshore team. It was up to Aloa to redefine their outsourcing experience.

The Approach: Strategic Partnership and Collaborative Development

Working directly with RXR's Senior Vice President of Digital Initiatives, Aloa implemented a carefully structured approach to meet both technical requirements and organizational needs.

Aloa paired RXR with a development team in Colombia with enterprise-level experience as the ideal development team. The team was nearshore, addressing many of RXR's concerns about communication and timezones, and had demonstrated an impressive ability for understanding and delivering complex requirements.

The project followed a methodical process:

1. A discovery and design phase to fully capture requirements
2. Development of a comprehensive prototype based on RXR's user stories
3. Multiple review cycles with all stakeholders to refine the solution
4. Implementation of an extended user testing period to accommodate RXR's multi-layered approval process

Aloa Delivered RXR a Seamless Transition with Enhanced Capabilities

The collaboration between Aloa and RXR delivered exceptional results. The project was completed on time and within budget, ensuring RXR experienced no disruption when Internet Explorer reached its end-of-life.

The new TaskBank platform accomplished quite a few business goals. It simultaneously provided compatibility across all modern web browsers, which eliminated the dependency on obsolete technology, while delivering a more responsive and user-friendly interface. As an application that was used every day by RXR employees, this meant a faster, more enjoyable workflow.

The new platform also achieved not only feature parity, but also added new features that exceeded the functionality of the original, now obsolete application. This successful digital transformation allowed RXR to maintain its position as one of the most technology-enabled real estate companies in the United States, turning a potential business risk into an opportunity for improvement.