Mobile Applications for HR Management

WageWorks, founded in 2000 and headquartered in San Mateo, California, is a leading on-demand provider of corporate spending account management programs, including Flexible Spending Accounts, Health Savings Accounts, retirement solutions, and transit and parking programs for employees and consumers. As the benefits provider to 50% of Fortune 100 companies, WageWorks sets industry standards for service and innovation in the benefits management space. By 2008, the rapid growth of mobile phones in corporate IT environments created both an opportunity and a necessity for WageWorks to bring their desktop applications and services onto iPhone, Android, and Blackberry platforms.

WageWorks faced a strategic transition: while their desktop and web applications dominated the corporate HR space, the mobile-first shift in workplace technology threatened their market position. Their internal engineering team had deep expertise in web and backend systems but lacked the specialized knowledge needed to develop native iOS and Android applications that met enterprise-grade security and usability standards. The challenge required three concurrent solutions:

Speed to market: Mobile adoption was accelerating; delays meant losing competitive ground.

Deep technical expertise: Developing for multiple platforms (iOS, Android, Blackberry) required platform-specific knowledge and best practices.

Security and compliance: Managing sensitive financial data (retiree benefits, health savings accounts, commuter programs) demanded rigorous security protocols.

Waverley successfully accelerated WageWorks' transition from web-only to a multi-platform mobile presence:

Multi-platform deployment: iOS, Android, and Blackberry apps delivered and in market

Accelerated development: Distributed development model compressed time-to-market by enabling parallel development across time zones

Team knowledge transfer: WageWorks internal team gained hands-on mobile development expertise through embedded partnership

By embedding specialized mobile expertise into WageWorks' development operation, Waverley transformed a critical business transition from a high-risk, high-cost undertaking into a coordinated, time-efficient delivery. The partnership demonstrated how focused technical expertise, combined with agile process alignment and distributed execution, can accelerate enterprise software modernization without disrupting internal team dynamics.

As mobile-first workforces become the norm, WageWorks' multi-platform presence serves as proof that enterprise benefits platforms can evolve to meet user expectations without sacrificing the security and reliability that large organizations demand.