Skip to content
Download the latest Gartner® Market Guide for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Professional and Managed Services.
SQL Server
Industry: Financial Services

Microsoft SQL Server performance tuning and support for Zopa

zopa

Discover how DSP optimised Zopa's estate with Microsoft SQL Server performance tuning and continuous improvement plan

SQL Server performance tuning
SQL Server support

Contents

Overview

Since 2005 Zopa has experienced phenomenal growth and has grown its business to more than 63,000 lenders and 150,000 borrowers. The Microsoft SQL Server Database was seen as an area to be looked at in order to manage this growth, with a possible upgrade to Enterprise Edition licensing.

zopa

"It was really impressive how quickly DSP got on board with our systems and processes in order to start delivering results from the outset."


Zopa

Microsoft-logo-black-transp

The Challenge

Zopa has a talented team of developers and technicians who have managed their phenomenal growth since 2005 through innovative development and focused deployment of technology.  Incremental performance improvements were becoming more expensive to achieve through traditional infrastructure improvements but provided less impact each time. 
 
An internal review was set up to evaluate options to enhance performance short term and to support further growth.  The Microsoft SQL Server Database was seen as an area to be looked at in detail, including an upgrade to Enterprise Edition licensing. Zopa approached its trusted IT services partner Highlander Computing Solutions (HCS) for a proposal for licenses.
 
“We wanted to implement a long-term solution to strengthen our platform’s performance which would enable Zopa to deliver against an aggressive growth strategy,” said J.B., Head of Infrastructure at Zopa.

The Solution

Zopa appointed HCS partner DSP as its database performance and support partner in April 2015, based on DSP's extensive technical expertise, flexible commercial approach and strong relationship with HCS. DSP performed an initial performance study on a fixed price, flexible delivery approach. This approach made use of a flexible resource model, which ensured that Zopa was not paying for resources to watch screens through periods of benchmarking.
 
This enabled an exceptionally cost-effective model. The environmental knowledge gained through the performance review provided a fast take on of the support service. DSP was appointed to provide services for three key tasks:
 

Performance Review - Analyse the existing system and process and come up with an improvement plan.

Execute Performance Plan - Deliver the services to implement the plan.

On-going support - Maintain the availability and performance of the systems, in line with the long-term growth strategy. 


Zopa's Head of Infrastructure was especially impressed with how smoothly DSP was about to fix the issues within their estate. 

The Result

The performance review was completed on time and on budget and identified 6 key areas to be optimised. The subsequent consultancy has already delivered a 25% performance boost to the daily load, freeing up more than three hours a day.

DSP is now supporting the database on a continuous improvement plan leaving Zopa to continue to concentrate on development and innovation.
 
“We are a fast-paced, innovative organisation and we expect partners to share our culture and values. We value the relationship we have with Highlander and are delighted to extend this to DSP” says the Head of Infrastructure at Zopa.
 
Zopa is also looking to HCS and DSP to support other data management initiatives around the organisation including a strategic Data Modelling and Business Intelligence programme.

Find out more about our bespoke finance service and speak to our specialist today.

Added value

Performance boost

The performance review performed by DSP highlighted 6 areas which could be improved to fully optimise their environment. After the improvements were implemented, Zopa benefitted from a big performance boost which reduced their daily load by 25%.

Ongoing support

Following a successful performance tuning, DSP is now maintaining the database as part of a continual upgrade plan, allowing Zopa to focus on growth and innovation. The main goal is to maintain availability and optimised performance across the estate.

Flexibility

DSP conducted a preliminary performance analysis on a fixed-price, flexible delivery model. This method used a flexible resource strategy to ensure that Zopa was not paying for resources during benchmarking times, therefore, ensuring significant cost savings. 

Why DSP? 

  • extensive technical expertise
  • flexible commercial approach
  • strong relationship with HCS
  • fixed price, flexible delivery approach

“We live and breathe this every day but it was really impressive how quickly DSP got on board with our systems and processes in order to start delivering results from the outset.”

Zopa

DSP-white-logo-2019-250px

 

Contact us Today