AWS cost optimisation and an EU-hosted version at Scrive

Context

Scrive runs e-signature services where trust and uptime are the product. The operation ran on AWS and needed lower cost, and GDPR meant some customers needed their data hosted inside the EU.

What I did

I cut yearly operational cost by around 10% by optimising the AWS setup and the database IOPS, rather than by re-platforming the service. Separately, to meet GDPR, I set up an EU-hosted version of the application on Kubernetes, so customers who needed their data kept inside the EU had it. Building that version on containers and Kubernetes introduced that way of working to Scrive, and it was recognised internally for enabling the company to adopt containers.

Outcome

Scrive ran around 10% cheaper a year, with an EU-hosted option for customers who needed it under GDPR and a container way of working that the wider organisation could build on.