Case Studies
BigPay Ghana
BigPay Ghana Achieves Scalability and Cost Optimization by Migrating to AWS Cloud
About BigPay Ghana
BigPay Ghana is a global payments network that offers Payments-as-a-Service (PaaS) to Peer-to-Peer (P2P) business owners in Ghana, helping them cater to customers worldwide.
BigPay Ghana uses the latest state-of-the-art technology to make cross-border payments secure and convenient. The company partners with financial institutions ranging from banks and telcos to money transfer operators and payment service providers to help them process global remittances.
The Challenge
Inability to Scale to Meet Customer Demand
BigPay Ghana hosted all its 15 servers on-premises and while striving to provide efficient services, faced various challenges that impacted its operations and customer satisfaction. One pressing issue was the intermittent internet downtime caused by the local internet service provider, which disrupted critical services hosted on their on-premises servers. This led to instances of poor customer satisfaction, as business partners experienced disruptions in service consumption.
Furthermore, the company struggled with the underutilization of its high-capacity servers. Despite having these robust resources at their disposal, they often remained unoptimized and not fully utilized.
The company also grappled with the limitation of scaling its operations. Relying on a constrained number of data centers within Ghana, the company grappled with expanding its global footprint. This limitation resulted in noticeable latency issues when serving customers on a global scale.
In addition, a pivotal event in the company’s history underscored the importance of disaster recovery and high availability. Following the breach of the Weija dam and subsequent flooding of nearby communities, BigPay Ghana recognized the vulnerability of relying solely on data centers within the country. This incident served as a wake-up call, leading the company to proactively seek a reliable data center solution that could ensure uninterrupted business operations even in the face of unforeseen disasters.
These inefficiencies prompted BigPay Ghana’s realization that transitioning to a cloud-based infrastructure could potentially offer a solution.
The Solution
Leveraging AWS and Partnership with Digitank Africa
Choosing AWS for Cloud Computing
BigPay Ghana made a strategic decision to adopt AWS as its chosen cloud computing platform. The primary reasons behind this choice were the global reach and compliance advantages that AWS brings to the table. Recognizing the need for a robust and expansive infrastructure, BigPay Ghana found AWS to be an ideal solution.
Furthermore, BigPay believed that AWS’s well-architected framework could serve as a guiding light to future-proof their business. This framework not only addresses potential threats but also mitigates concerns related to latency and downtimes. It stood as a beacon of reliability in navigating the complexities of modern financial technology.
The user-friendly nature of AWS and the provision of free tiers offered BigPay Ghana the opportunity to streamline their migration experience to the cloud while cutting down on costs. This seamless transition would further enhance the company’s operational comfort.
Partnering with Digitank Africa for Seamless Transition
BigPay Ghana made a strategic decision to adopt AWS as its chosen cloud computing platform. The primary reasons behind this choice were the global reach and compliance advantages that AWS brings to the table. Recognizing the need for a robust and expansive infrastructure, BigPay Ghana found AWS to be an ideal solution.
Furthermore, BigPay believed that AWS’s well-architected framework could serve as a guiding light to future-proof their business. This framework not only addresses potential threats but also mitigates concerns related to latency and downtimes. It stood as a beacon of reliability in navigating the complexities of modern financial technology.
The user-friendly nature of AWS and the provision of free tiers offered BigPay Ghana the opportunity to streamline their migration experience to the cloud while cutting down on costs. This seamless transition would further enhance the company’s operational comfort.
The Process
Assessment and Setup
Digitank Africa initiated the process by conducting a comprehensive assessment of BigPay Ghana’s on-premises servers. Subsequently, assistance was provided to BigPay Ghana in setting up its AWS accounts, followed by the establishment of a landing zone. This included the creation of Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) with both private and public subnets.
Network Configuration
To ensure secure communication, a FortiGate firewall was configured on AWS to establish a site-to-site VPN connection with the on-premises FortiGate firewall.
Final Transition
The process culminated in test failover and the ultimate cutover to the cloud environment.
Migration Process
The migration of all 15 servers/virtual machines was executed using the AWS Application Migration Service. The progress of migration was meticulously tracked through the AWS Migration Hub.
Results and Benefits Achieved
The migration to AWS bore substantial fruits for BigPay Ghana. The company achieved near 100% uptime, alleviating concerns about potential downtime. Remarkably, this transition led to a 30% reduction in IT costs, which were previously allocated to hardware refresh, power, cooling, and licenses.
At its core, Amazon S3 is not merely a storage service; it is a meticulously designed ecosystem that redefines how data is stored, accessed, and managed in the cloud.
In the cloud, BigPay Ghana also experienced the benefits of a more resilient and robust IT environment, with resources distributed across different availability zones and AWS regions.