Sorodo successfully transitions to eCloud VPC with ANS

Background

Sorodo is a FinTech that specialises in helping businesses access finance through its comparison website for SMEs in the UK, facilitating business funding.

Sorodo operates three core brands, with the main one being Capalona, a comprehensive platform for business finance. The other two brands focus on invoice factoring and the merchant cash advance product, which allows companies to obtain finance through their card machine without affecting their cash flow, repaying the funds as customers make card payments.

The Challenge

As an FCA-regulated organisation handling hundreds of financial applications a day, any downtime posed a significant risk to Sorodo.

Over the course of a 15-year partnership with ANS, Sorodo eventually ran eight dedicated servers to host its sites and ensure uninterrupted availability and reliability of its services.

However, as Sorodo continued to grow and the need for more computing resources increased, running that number of dedicated servers was becoming a significant cost to the business.

Having carried out a few cloud trials in the past, Sorodo was ready to investigate how the cloud could make a difference to its business.

“One of the reasons we’ve stayed in partnership with ANS for 15 years is because of the quality of the service. Whenever we have a question or need assistance, we can easily reach our account manager. If they don’t know the answer, they promptly connect us with a specialist who does. This level of accessibility and expertise is invaluable. Their deep understanding of our operations and proactive approach in addressing risks and future needs is essential to our ongoing success.”

Simon Moorcroft – Chief Technical Officer & Co-founder, Sorodo

The Outcome

Following a 30-day trial of ANS’ eCloud Virtual Private Coud (VPC) solution, the Sorodo leadership was impressed by the ability to quickly set up servers and modify resources in the environment in real-time.

Spurred on by this trial, and working with ANS’ cloud specialists to scope the eCloud platform specifically to Sorodo’s business needs, the business made the decision to transition from its dedicated servers to ANS’ eCloud VPC.

Sorodo’s migration to the cloud was seamless. Within days of receiving the new server, they were live, with the old server kept running briefly to ensure a smooth transition.

Now, resources like CPU, read-write speeds or storage can be easily scaled with a few clicks – upgrades that previously would have involved taking a dedicated server offline overnight. And, crucially, it’s all done without any interruption of service.

Sorodo also utilises ANS’s Managed Detection and Response (MDR) cybersecurity service, which provides 24x7x365 monitoring of activity on Sorodo’s from ANS’ UK-based Security Operations Centre (SOC) and alerts the business of any threats. For an FCA-regulated business like Sorodo, this additional level of defence is essential.

“We highly value working with a UK-based business like ANS. Being able to tour the data centres in Manchester reassures us of their robust management and the on-site support team. This local presence and accessibility are crucial for our operations.”

Simon Moorcroft – Chief Technical Officer & Co-founder, Sorodo

The Future

It’s clear that this was the right choice for Sorodo’s growing business needs. With ANS, they have successfully transitioned from dedicated servers to ANS’ eCloud VPC and cybersecurity solution.

It’s a move that will fuel evolution for the business. Sorodo is taking advantage of the flexibility of the VPC model – especially the ability to easily fire up new servers to create test environments and innovate new solutions and services.

Overall, the partnership with ANS has been pivotal in their technological growth and operational security, ensuring Sorodo are well-positioned for future advancements.

And the future looks promising, especially as the move to cloud opens the way to integrations of AI and data modelling, and potentially implementations of Microsoft Copilot.

“The only way we could achieve our growth plans via a cloud platform. And ANS have gotten under the skin of our business and built the system to meet our needs. Moving from dedicated servers to the cloud has totally future-proofed our business. It gives us the add new technologies, like Open Banking, without worrying about back-end. We know we can do it.”

Simon Moorcroft – Chief Technical Officer & Co-founder, Sorodo