Pebble

The challenge

Pebble – a specialist provider of funding and finance software to schools – was enjoying the growing success of its platform Fund Manager, which we’d taken from a Windows desktop application to an online SaaS product several years previously.

However, as costs and complexity grew, the team realised it was time for another update. With an ambitious vision for their funding and finance software, Pebble asked us to assist in preparing a streamlined architecture and to provide cost-effective management of their service, now hosted at Amazon Web Services (AWS).

How could Pebble harness the power of Kubernetes and AWS to optimize their platform while ensuring significant cost savings?

The proposition

The approach was dual-pronged; migrate Pebble’s services into a Kubernetes cluster to enhance flexibility and scalability, and

simplify the system’s configuration and release mechanism. This not only addressed Pebble’s immediate needs but positioned the platform for future growth and adaptability.

The project journey

After a detailed review of the capacity, performance and operation of Pebble’s entire estate, we worked with the in-house development team to manage the migration project, completing it on time and budget, and achieving the projected cost saving.

We then developed an architecture that would go on to cut the AWS bill by more than 80%, migrating Pebble’s many services into a Kubernetes cluster and drastically simplifying configuration and release.

We have since been providing expert cloud architecture advice and ongoing management of the platform, helping to make sure it delivers the service that Pebble customers depend on.

The impact

Ryan Green, Pebble’s managing director said: “Our internal team didn’t know what cost savings could be made by utilising Kubernetes. They didn’t have enough experience with AWS to simplify our system and make it more efficient. When we invited Isotoma to conduct a review, I was gobsmacked at the savings they said could be made. We covered the cost of their work within a year. I wish I’d done it sooner!”