Security, uptime, and a guarantee that data never leave the EU were some of the requirements that Vilja, a Swedish fintech company, had in their search for a new private cloud supplier. The company needed a more agile platform to continue to be a leader in the industry. – We wanted a company committed to develop and grow together with us. Already within a month after our first meeting we started our journey to create an even more scalable and secure platform, says Erik Nyfelt, VP Operations at Vilja.
Who are Vilja?
– Vilja is a privately-owned company with headquarters in Stockholm. The company was founded in 2007 and is a leading provider of cloud-based core banking solutions. Our platform with extensive self-service capabilities, open APIs and the quickest time to market allows our customers to create and launch new revenue streams. I am a co-founder and my responsibility is to secure our clients’ production systems. My mission is to ensure that our clients feel completely safe with our solutions.
What did your previous solution and challenges look like?
– We have always been a market-leader through our technical platform. We have transformed from a monolithic system to an MSA-based system (Micro Services Architecture). Our company has expanded alongside our clients, and we realized that we needed to increase scalability and availability. We chose to proceed with a Kubernetes-based platform and needed a new private cloud provider. We required a partner that could meet our demands for ISO-certification, up-time, security, and scalability.
Why did you choose Elastx as your private cloud provider?
– Elastx's solution meets all our requirements and I got a very good impression of Henrik Grankvist, COO at Elastx. We share the same values concerning security, automation and operations. In addition, they offered a great customer experience and granted us access to a Kubernetes-cluster to immediately evaluate our products on the platform.
"We provide cutting-edge solutions through our implementation of Kubernetes"
What are the significant improvements?
– The digital transformation in the society makes our customers more demanding. With Kubernetes' technology, we have the capacity to meet our clients' requirements and provide a system with minimal disruption. This enables us to develop a more manageable and secure platform. This is crucial since many of our clients' solutions consist of public pages that require 100% uptime. In addition, with an easier and more manageable system, we have more time to work proactively.
What are the main advantages with Kubernetes?
– The core benefits of using a technically superior and licensed platform are rapid scaling and high availability. With Kubernetes we can meet our clients' requirements without having a 20-30% overcapacity in our servers to ensure high levels of demands. Our current solution ensures that we can optimize our resources and eliminate manual processes.
How do you manage security and how does Elastx contribute?
– Together, we have developed an explicit framework to attain the highest level of security. Besides secure processes, continuous analyses are made through an external security company to ensure that we deliver according to our promise.
"The partnership with Elastx is characterized by high competence and shared values"
How do you value the partnership with Elastx?
– To change a private cloud provider is a major move, but we feel very confident with our decision. Elastx is an agile company that delivers highest levels of engagement, competence, and efficiency.