Building faster solutions without IT dependency

Solution

McDermott had accumulated a significant backlog, particularly from Finance, HR, and Supply Chain. With limited IT bandwidth and thousands of users requiring process automation, the traditional development model was not sustainable.

At the same time, leadership was driving modernization. The organization needed structured workflows and applications, better visibility into approvals, and operational transparency without expanding IT headcount.

It was then that Vagesh Dave, the CIO, and Renee Villarreal, the Senior Director of IT, began searching for a platform that could enable business users to solve their problems independently.

Vagesh explained that this vision began long before low-code/no-code and citizen development became widely adopted industry terms.

“Even eight to ten years ago, we were thinking about what today is called low-code/no-code citizen development. We wanted to enable our end users to digitize manual processes.”

The evaluation process was practical and tied directly to real operational needs. Renee consistently reviewed the IT backlog to assess whether potential solutions could realistically support those use cases. The platform needed to integrate with systems such as SharePoint, be secure, intuitive for non-technical users, and scalable across geographies.

External validation also influenced the decision.

“We looked at a few products. We looked at Gartner and the ratings. Everything we looked at told us that Kissflow was a platform that was easy to use and scalable. Since then, we’ve seen that journey, and we are not disappointed.”

Kissflow stood out not only for its capability, but also for its usability.

Renee recalled a defining moment during rollout.

“One of our Finance Leads said, ‘This is so easy, even my mom could do this. It was extremely intuitive and straightforward.’ The watermark was, ‘I don’t need to call IT to do this. I can do it myself.’”

Finance became one of the earliest adopters. Repeatable manual processes were digitized, replacing email chains with structured workflows. Approvals became traceable. Data became centralized. Bottlenecks became easier to identify.

One of the most visible and widely recognized implementations internally is the CapEx approval process.

As Vagesh shared:

“Everybody knows Kissflow by our CapEx approval process.”

Previously, many CapEx approvals happened outside structured systems. With Kissflow, McDermott gained centralized visibility and the ability to analyze spending patterns.

“Now having something like Kissflow creates that platform where you can store data and do analytics on it. Having visibility into where the CapEx goes is important.”

IT alone manages between 10 and 15 million dollars in CapEx annually, while company-wide spending runs into millions more. Bringing these approvals into Kissflow significantly improved transparency and oversight.

Over time, adoption expanded globally. McDermott operates in 54 countries, with major offices in Houston, Kuala Lumpur, Chennai, London, The Hague, Dubai, and Saudi Arabia. Kissflow supports the core functions for McDermott worldwide.

What began as a workflow automation initiative evolved into something more foundational.

Kissflow became McDermott’s digital operations backbone. It is the platform through which business users build, run, and track critical operational workflows across geographies. It enables structured execution while reducing IT dependency.

Some of the workflows that the business users have streamlined using Kissflow are:

• Welding Work Orders
• Marine Operations Approval
• Ferry Ticket Requests
• Routing Approvals
• Invoice Processing
• Accounts Payable
• CAPEX
• Intercompany Billing
• Employee Expenses

For Vagesh, enterprise success is measured simply.

“If I take the platform away and my users scream, that means it’s valuable. Kissflow is one of those platforms.”

Its longevity reinforces that value.

“When a product is in an organization for ten years, people build skill sets around it. As long as the organization is finding value in it, there’s probably no reason to change it.”

Beyond workflow automation, Vagesh views Kissflow as part of a broader democratization of technology.

“It cannot just be IT. It cannot just be engineers. It has to be everybody.”

By empowering business users to digitize routine processes, IT is freed to focus on more complex initiatives such as machine learning, advanced AI, and strategic transformation programs.

Looking ahead, AI represents the next phase of this evolution.

“If a company cannot enable everybody to use AI, they will never get the true benefit of AI. Platforms like Kissflow allow us to put that capability in the hands of our users in a safe way.”

Nearly a decade after adoption, Kissflow remains embedded in McDermott's global operations. It supports structured approvals, operational visibility, and business-led innovation across the enterprise.