Case Study: Fully Replacing the Sales Outsourcing Matching Service "side bizz" to End Search Delays and Run Over a Year Without Downtime

Overview

"side bizz," operated by WebX Co., Ltd., is a matching service that connects companies looking for sales talent with sales professionals and freelancers who want to put their sales experience to use. As users and features grew, the service slowed down significantly: searches for sending scout messages took more than 5 seconds and sometimes timed out. Although a scout feature existed, some users gave up on sending messages because of the long waits. Modifications had piled up without any design documents, making it hard to add new features.

After understanding the current state by reading the source code and interviewing the people involved, we took on a full replacement that rebuilt everything from the screens and features to the server environment. The live service was switched over to the new system with only about one hour of downtime.

Challenges

• Searches and data display took more than 5 seconds, and timeouts occurred
• There were no design documents, making operations and adding new features difficult
• The server setup was vulnerable to outages and data loss, and there were also security concerns

What We Did

• Identified the existing features from the source code and interviews, and redefined what the service should be
• Redesigned the screens and visual design, and sped up search and data processing
• Moved to a cloud environment that is less prone to outages and requires less maintenance, and renewed the login mechanism
• Ran repeated advance simulations of the data conversion and migrated to production with about one hour of downtime

Results

• Search delays and timeouts were eliminated, so the previously unused scout feature can now be used without frustration. A recommendation feature was also newly introduced
• The service has not gone down once in more than a year since release
• The development setup now allows releases several times a week, and new features are added continuously

Turning a Rebuild into an Investment in Growth, Matched to the Stage of the Business

In the launch phase, a service prioritizes keeping costs down and getting to market first. That is a reasonable decision in itself, but if the same setup stays in place as users grow, slowness and outages stall the growth of the business. At the start of the project, the client also shared a worry: "Won't we need to rebuild it again in a few years?"

We explained that the previous setup had been a sensible choice for the early stage of the business, and proposed a design that could be used for 10 to 15 years even as features and users grow. We design a rebuild as an investment that keeps the next stage of growth from stalling. The development team and the client communicated in the same chat, and the client valued an approach where progress was always visible, saying, "Being able to see things moving forward gives us peace of mind."

Our Scope of Work

• Investigation of the existing system and requirements definition
• UI/UX design
• Design, development and testing
• Infrastructure setup and data migration
• Maintenance and feature additions after release

Client Information

Company Name

WebX Co., Ltd.

Business Overview

• Operation of "side bizz," a sales outsourcing matching service that connects companies with sales professionals and freelancers

Frequently Asked Questions

Can we ask you to work on a system with no remaining design documents? Yes. In this case too, we started with no documents and organized the existing features by reading the source code and interviewing the people involved.

Do we need to stop the service for a long time during a replacement? Downtime during migration can be kept short through advance simulation. In this case, we switched over in about one hour, informed users in advance by announcement and email, and also set up automatic redirects from the old URLs.

Can we consult you on whether to rebuild completely or whether partial modifications will do? Yes. After reviewing your current setup and future business plans, we will propose how much should be rebuilt.

Related Information

• Replacing and renewing existing systems → System Development
• Product development from launch through the growth stage → PoC and MVP Development

Related news

• Full renewal of side bizz, one of the industry's largest sales outsourcing matching services

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