Web platform modernisation: Stabilisation, Scalablity, Reliability

Halo Oglasi’s road to IT modernisation  

Halo Oglasi had an old application that was maintained by an external partner and was hosted on inadequate IT infrastructure. The system lacked stability as well as scalablity, which resulted in frequent issues with application performance. The company realised there was a need to introduce a new system to achieve a higher level of reliability and flexibility.

After researching various options and consulting with our team, Halo Oglasi chose Mainstream as we had a strong reputation in our industry and a proven track-record of delivering successful projects.  

Goals

• Stabilise the Halo Oglasi platform and services  
• Enable greater system scalability  
• Ensure high system reliability and availability  
• Set up proactive monitoring and optimisation of system performance  

Mainstream’s strategic approach to solving client challenges  

Working closely with the client’s team, Mainstream’s experts analysed the company’s existing IT environment, defined problems and business goals, and estimated expenditures. Because Halo Oglasi had a negative experience with their previous IT partner, their focus when selected a service provider was proactively solving problems instead of merely putting out fires.  

Our approach to defining the right solution was divided three phases:  

• Defining the type of solution that needs to be implemented, creating and comparing proposals  
• Reaching a final agreement  
• Solution implementation

To ensure platform stability, the Mainstream team planned out the following activities:

• Break down all services to smaller components eg. microservices to enable scalablity at a component level  
• Introduce a DFS system for web services in the Microsoft system to manage large quantities of content data  
• Implement smart load balancing 
• Enable 24×7 system monitoring that provides better control of the system and prevents failure  
• Continuously improve the platform.  

We also defined the technologies that would be utilised and the best ways to use them.  

Results achieved

After Mainstream completed the platform upgrade, including the implementation of a DFS system and DDoS protection, Halo Oglasi decreased their page load speed by 70%. With pages loading faster, the company reduced its website bounce rate.  

Our recommendation to use microservices opened up new scaling possibilities and faster problem solving. Most importantly, the new platform was tailor-made for Halo Oglasi and therefore provides greater stability. Improved performance and fewer issues are significant benefits, which are further enhanced with continuous monitoring. For the client, one of the most important aspects of working with our team was our partnership approach: Mainstream not only helped the company select the most appropriate technologies, but also ensured their management received the bigger picture and understood the project’s long-term goals. 

Benefits at a glance

• A stable platform with high availability 
• Page load speed decreased by 70%  
• A scalable system that can support business growth  
• Continuous platform monitoring and proactive issue detection  

“For Halo Oglasi, partnering with Mainstream is more like insourcing than outsourcing. The value they provide to our business with their services and the relationship they have cultivated with our teams make them our colleagues, not just service providers. Moreover, the level of support that we receive from them goes beyond what was initially agreed.” Branislav Kulašević, Executive Director, Halo Oglasi