Client Overview
Empego is a pharmacy technology SaaS platform designed by pharmacists to enhance care quality and streamline operations. The company serves digital pharmacies with scalable tools.
- Industry: Pharmacy SaaS
- Team Size: 15
- Stage: $1M+ ARR, Growth Stage
The Challenge
As Empego expanded, they encountered significant obstacles in infrastructure, capacity management, and reporting that hindered delivery and strained their small team.
Cloud Subscription
Empego required a secure, scalable cloud infrastructure but couldn’t justify hiring a full-time DevOps engineer. Compliance requirements were critical—SOC 2-level safeguards and 24/7 infrastructure support were essential for handling sensitive pharmacy data.
Capacity On-Demand
The team lacked bandwidth flexibility for tight deadlines and proof-of-concept projects. They needed temporary resource scaling without the overhead of traditional hiring cycles.
Talent Acquisition
Finding qualified engineers quickly and affordably proved challenging. Traditional recruitment costs and timelines didn’t align with their lean operational model and growth ambitions.
Platform Pro Licenses
Developers spent considerable time categorizing and validating work for SR&ED and e-business claims. The company lacked visibility into how resources were allocated across projects.
The Solution
Chrono Platform delivered an integrated solution addressing all operational challenges.
Scalable Cloud Infrastructure
Chrono established a cloud environment featuring:
- Pre-configured CI/CD pipelines and secrets management
- Observability tools providing infrastructure visibility
- Fully managed clusters requiring minimal maintenance
- SOC 2 compliance built into the foundation with encryption, access controls, and comprehensive audit trails
- Ongoing performance monitoring and incident response support
On-Demand Engineering Capacity
The platform provided:
- Multidisciplinary engineering teams ready for deployment
- Pre-configured workflows eliminating onboarding delays
- Support for short-term sprints and proof-of-concept initiatives
- Teams synchronized with the company’s roadmap from day one
Curated Talent Pipeline
Chrono’s recruitment process included:
- Engineer-led technical interviews and code challenge evaluations
- Performance-based candidate assessments rather than keyword matching
- Deep understanding of company culture and workflow requirements
- Clear performance breakdowns enabling faster hiring decisions
Chrono Platform Pro Tools
Time Tracking for SR&ED and CDAE
The automated system:
- Integrated directly with existing tools without installation requirements
- Captured and categorized developer activity automatically in the background
- Organized tasks by project and activity type
- Mapped work to R&D categories in real time
- Example: Captured 3,586.75 hours against one core infrastructure project with automatic task-level categorization
Automated Compliance and Reporting Features
The platform:
- Automatically compiled documentation needed for SR&ED and CDAE claims
- Tracked project progress throughout the year
- Maintained synchronization across integrated tools
- Flagged discrepancies early for timely corrections
- Identified previously unclaimed eligible work activities
Real-time Resource Allocation Visibility
Empego gained:
- Live dashboard views of team capacity and project demands
- Instant visibility into overall workload distribution
- Ability to identify resource overallocation across projects
- Data-driven rebalancing capabilities before bottlenecks developed
- Intelligent resource matching based on actual project requirements
Implementation & Rollout
Chrono deployed the complete solution within one week, including infrastructure setup and license activation. Empego maintained normal operational pace throughout onboarding with zero workflow disruption.
Outcomes and ROI
- $456,000 in salary costs saved
- 108.78% annualized ROI across platform, talent, and infrastructure
- SR&ED and CDAE reports prepared in just 2 hours by the Head of Engineering
- Audit-ready compliance integrated into workflows
- Reliable real-time reporting for leadership decision-making
“Working with Chrono allows us to move quickly and scale with peace of mind. They provide a secure cloud environment, SOC 2 compliant, and 24/7 incident management.” — Eric Poitras, Head of Engineering at Empego