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Hjemmelegene's Comprehensive AWS Migration and Talent Strategy

Beyond Migration: Integrating AWS and Cultivating Talent for Advanced Healthcare Solutions

Summary:

Client

Hjemmelegene

Country

Norway
Project scope and technology

Team extension and migration to AWS of the following parts;
Ruby on Rails, AWS, Heroku, Cloud, DevOps

Industry

MedTech
Tech Stack

- Cloud Architect
- DevOps Engineer with AWS and Heroku experience
- DevOps Engineer with AWS and general tooling experience
- Senior RoR Developer
- Technical consultant
- Hjemmelengene’s CTO and a Consultant
- RoR developers

Work duration

378 days

Our client, Hjemmelegene, is a healthcare provider specializing in in-home healthcare services and online consultations. Hjemmelegene began in 2017 to relocate healthcare from clinics to patient locations - and now they are the top supplier of medical house calls in Norway. The client has a system to manage/logistics a network of doctors, nurses, and equipment through which you can order home visits or online consultations.

Specialists come with their own equipment and are able to do more advanced tests, take samples, etc. They are growing very fast, now have more than 100 medical staff and cover all major cities in Norway and conducted over 200,000 consultations at homes, offices, and online.

Client Pain Points - A Story of Two Needs

They had built a strong reputation in their local market, but as demand for their services grew, they faced challenges related to scaling their operations.

Hjemmelegene was a startup in an expansion phase. The first version of their platform had been built with a minimalist approach to quickly prove its value in the market and deliver core features. To achieve this, they used Ruby on Rails and hosted the platform on Heroku.

But then, issues began to arise:

1. Scaling the platform and the need to grow the dev team

Over time, their rapid growth and development practices created challenges. The technology landscape in the medical device industry has also evolved, making it difficult to find top talent for a platform built on Ruby on Rails. The company's founders built the platform, but as they grew, they needed more skilled people on board to manage the coding with scaling in mind. It was no longer enough for the CTO to be burdened with all the programming core tasks.

What’s more, both the backend and the frontend of the system ran on pure Ruby on Rails. The customer was aware that Rails is a good tool to get started with, but later on other technologies might be better for specialized purposes.

They need someone at the start to go through the code and rewrite it so that it scales.
The client also needed to separate the front-end from the RoR.

Initially, Hjemmelegene tried to meet the growing needs by hiring more people. Unfortunately, they were faced with a shortage of available RoR developers and comparatively high rates in Norway, which led them to look beyond their borders for expertise. They turned to Ideamotive to help them meet their challenges.

2. Their hosting provider could not scale their RoR application

As they grew, it also became clear that they needed more flexible Platform as a Service (PaaS) options and a new infrastructure that could accommodate experimentation, new Minimum Viable Products (MVPs), and services developed in different programming languages.

Clients came to us with the need to migrate their system from Heroku to AWS and needed our expertise and guidance.

Why was the migration required?

Heroku offered ease of configuration and deployment, but lacked flexibility. The client needed a world-class hosting provider with rich tooling, while maintaining a DevOps-friendly experience.
They needed to reduce costs and be able to deploy more high-performance hardware.
Clients wanted to move to microservices without burdening developers to achieve agility and scalability. Developers should have a choice of programming languages, libraries, and frameworks, as well as the ability to scale services independently.

The client needed support on 2 lines - scaling their product and migrating their application from Heroku to AWS hosting environments.

Ideamotive has helped Hjemmelegene with team augmentation and migration to AWS over a span of 18 months. During that time their relentless, swift, and positive solution focus has been at the heart of the collaboration.

Øyvind Nordhagen

CTO @ Hjemmelegene

Goals:

Solution

We collaborated with Hjemmelegene in a phased project approach. It began with a technical planning phase, where we had chats about how the app is built, what parts need fixing, and how the devs work on it.

Project delivery time is divided into 2 phases:

Phase 1

Recreating existing environment (from Heroku to AWS) - it took 1-2 months

Our specialists, comprising a team of three experienced DevOps professionals, diligently executed a comprehensive and structured process to ensure the successful transition and optimization of Hjemmelegene's hosting environment. This process involved:

In-Depth Analysis of the Current Hosting Environment: Initiated with a thorough review of Hjemmelegene’s existing Heroku setup, this phase involved our DevOps team meticulously assessing the infrastructure to understand its capabilities and limitations.

Strategic Planning for Application Architecture and Refactoring: Our team conducted a series of strategic sessions focused on the application’s architecture. These discussions were crucial in crafting a detailed plan for refactoring the application, ensuring it would be scalable, maintainable, and more efficient post-migration.

Workflow Optimization for Scalability, Quality, and Delivery: We placed significant emphasis on optimizing the developer workflow. This included deep-diving into current practices and implementing new strategies to enhance scalability, improve quality control, and streamline delivery methods.

Designing a Tailored AWS Hosting Solution: Leveraging our collective expertise, the team proposed a bespoke AWS hosting solution. This design was not just a mere migration plan but a comprehensive proposal addressing Hjemmelegene’s specific needs, including scalability, performance, and cost-effectiveness.

Throughout this process, our team maintained a collaborative approach, ensuring that every step was aligned with Hjemmelegene’s goals and the healthcare industry's demanding standards. Our structured approach and the involvement of a dedicated DevOps team underscored our commitment to delivering a robust and future-proof solution for Hjemmelegene

Phase 2

Development and deployment on AWS - took about 2 months

The DevOps project involved migrating from Heroku to AWS and was led by a Cloud Architect. We made sure their day-to-day operations continued smoothly by carefully planning and testing the data migration. The cooperation had bumps in the road, but we managed to complete the migration successfully after open and transparent feedback sessions after each issue that arose.

We also helped them with any concerns they had and supported them as they transitioned to the new setup.

The list of components that had been migrated

Not everything went smooth:

Such complex projects rarely go without a flaw, and this was no exception. The primary issue raised by the client centered on the qualifications and performance of the team, a concern that had not been formally addressed during the project but emerged starkly in its aftermath.

Our goal was to not only address the specific issues raised but also to reinforce the trust and confidence the client had in us. Recognizing the cultural nuances and the importance of maintaining a strong client relationship, we offered a solution that showcased our commitment to client satisfaction and our adaptability in the face of unexpected project hurdles.

Our resolution involved introducing fresh expertise to the project. We proposed assigning new specialists, providing an additional hours of expert man-hours, and extending three months of complimentary DevOps support. This approach aimed to address the remaining issues effectively and provide a new perspective to the ongoing challenges. We understood that the essence of a successful client-vendor relationship hinges not just on the contractual obligations but on the ability to listen, adapt, and show genuine commitment to the client's needs.

The client's positive reception to our approach underscored the effectiveness of our relationship-first strategy. This experience highlighted the importance of open communication, cultural sensitivity, and a willingness to adapt and improvise. It served as a valuable lesson in managing client expectations and turning challenges into opportunities for growth and improvement. This project, like many others, reinforced the notion that navigating through difficulties and finding amicable solutions is pivotal in fostering long-lasting client relationships and establishing trust in our expertise and commitment to excellence.

[...] long-standing relationship is bound to experience challenges. I'm happy to say that these were also dealt with in the same manner and led to positive outcomes for us. All in all, Ideamotive takes responsibility and goes the extra mile to deliver.

Øyvind Nordhagen

CTO @ Hjemmelegene

Team Extension:

How quickly did we match new specialists?

We found specialists in one day - both experts - Marek - Senior RoR Developer and Dawid - Technical Consultant for assessment and consulting - were available on the spot.

The client accepted them after one internal interview.

What did we do?

We not only provided the developers, but also supplied with a constant flow of recommendations on what could be done better, as well as advice on how to approach the scalability challenge in the long term.
We provided feedback on the application code and co-developed and evolved the application together. We monitored system performance and fixed bugs that prevented the app from working smoothly.
Over time, our specialist Marek and technical consultant Dawid gained trust and demonstrated their expertise through a thorough audit process, many technical sessions on application architecture and developer workflows.

The client saw that we were not just a broker of developers, but that we actually cared about both them and the provided specialist (for example, we helped organize Mark's arrival in Norway, advised on the further development of the application, and were in constant contact).

Results achieved through the partnership

Hjemmelegene's journey to address talent shortages and scale its healthcare services resulted in several benefits and outcomes:

Talent Acquisition and Expertise:

Ideamotive quickly connected Hjemmelegene with experienced RoR developers, including Marek, who not only joined the team but also contributed valuable insights and expertise.
Marek's participation in company meetings and close collaboration made him an integral part of the team.

AWS Migration:

The migration from Heroku to AWS was done in two phases, with the initial setup taking 1-2 months, followed by about 2 months of development and deployment on AWS.

Jerzy, a Cloud Architect, led the devops project and ensured a smooth data migration.
Regular feedback sessions addressed challenges and obstacles in the migration process, ultimately resulting in a successful transition.

Ongoing support and collaboration:

Ideamotive not only provided developers, but also continuously offered recommendations for improvements, scalability approaches, and code quality enhancements.
We actively participated in application code reviews and collaborative development, addressing system performance and resolving issues to ensure a seamless user experience.
Ideamotive's support went beyond coding to include assistance with logistics and application development.

Hjemmelegene found in Ideamotive a partner that not only filled their talent gaps, but also provided invaluable guidance, making their journey to scalability and excellence in healthcare services a success story.