Editor's note: Mike Bishop is vice president, Product Delivery, for Mitchell Auto Casualty Solutions. Robin Peters is manager, Business Systems Analysis, for Mitchell Auto Casualty Solutions

Technology companies using Agile development offer a variety of benefits for their customers, and ensure that the voice of the customer is truly integrated into all aspects of the software-development process.

Lean Agile is a software-development methodology that emphasizes incremental and iterative development, and is a departure from the more traditional waterfall style where work is planned and performed in a sequential manner (requirements, design, implementation, verification, maintenance). Where waterfall lends itself to so called "big-bang" releases, Lean Agile favors a more rapid and flexible approach where small amounts of functionality are delivered at more frequent intervals. This allows product organizations that employ Lean Agile concepts to be more responsive to customer requirements and needs as they evolve.