In today’s rapidly evolving digital environment, selecting the appropriate technology architecture can make the difference between success and failure. Every organisation has individual requirements, so choosing a solution that genuinely fits those needs is essential for sustainable growth. In this post, I will share two contrasting examples from my career: firstly, scaling the extensive online betting platform at bet365, and secondly, building a cost effective, serverless solution for the startup Huler. My aim is to demonstrate why a single, universal approach is never advisable, and to explain how guidance from an experienced Fractional CTO in the UK (like me at Bytesizedcto) can help you avoid expensive mistakes.
Case Study 1: bet365 and Building for Extreme Scale
During my time at bet365, I led a technical R&D team during a period of dramatic growth. Our task was to develop an architecture that could handle millions of bets, in play markets, and real time odds updates with minimal downtime and extremely low latency.
Challenges Faced
-
Massive Concurrency
In play betting depends heavily on both latency and throughput. Latency is vital because if the odds shift while a bet is being processed, that bet cannot be accepted, which leads to unhappy customers. Throughput is equally important when many thousands of users place bets simultaneously during popular sporting events. -
Reliability and Trust
As a bookmaker, bet365 needed its service to be available at all times. Every bet had to be processed accurately, leaving no room for downtime. Reliability was central to building and maintaining customer trust. -
Rapid Feature Development
The business wanted to be the first to release new features such as cash out. However, so much time was spent solving scale issues that it sometimes hampered the creation and rollout of these new offerings.
Why We Chose Erlang
After extensive research, we discovered
Erlang, a functional programming language originally developed by Ericsson
for telecoms. It offered several advantages that made it suitable for
bet365:
- It made it easier to handle large numbers of concurrent operations.
- Its philosophy of “let it crash” promoted fault tolerance, essential in a high reliability environment.
- It allowed us to take full advantage of multiple core servers, delivering the necessary performance at scale.
We began by applying Erlang to publishing systems that broadcast live odds to large audiences, then extended its use as the business continued to expand.
Case Study 2: Huler and Rapid Startup Development
Several years later, I became CTO at Huler, a startup creating a user friendly employee experience platform. Huler’s software acts as an intuitive layer over existing corporate systems, boosting engagement and productivity.
Challenges for a Startup
-
Finding Product Market Fit
Early stage startups need to iterate quickly, using real user feedback to refine their offerings. -
Speed to Market on a Tight Budget
Resources are limited, so solutions must be affordable and fast to deploy. -
Adopting a SaaS Model
The platform had to support multiple clients securely, without becoming prohibitively expensive before revenue began to flow.
Why We Chose a Serverless Approach on AWS
To launch quickly and affordably, we relied on AWS’s serverless
services.
- AWS Lambda: Runs code on demand, so we only paid for what we used. This kept our monthly bill in the low hundreds of pounds during development.
- AWS API Gateway: Gave us a secure, reliable way to expose our APIs, working seamlessly with AWS Cognito and the Web Application Firewall.
- AWS DynamoDB: Provided automatic scaling and low latency, crucial for our global user base.
- AWS Cognito: Handled secure user authentication without needing to build everything from scratch.
- AWS WAF: Helped meet the high security standards demanded by enterprise clients.
- AWS CDK: Allowed us to script and update environments rapidly, essential for quick iteration.
Although serverless is cost effective for smaller workloads, paying on a per use model can become expensive as traffic increases. To avoid future difficulties, we separated our business logic from AWS Lambda, allowing easy migration to Kubernetes or another platform once Huler reached a larger scale.
Why the Right Architecture Matters
bet365 and Huler operate in very different spaces. One is a global betting giant, and the other is a rapidly growing startup. Their architectural choices had to reflect these realities. The key lesson is that every organisation’s needs are unique, so using the same approach in every scenario can be a costly mistake.
This is where experience truly adds value. Technology choices always involve trade-offs, and selecting correctly means understanding the long-term impact on performance, reliability, and cost.
The Advantages of a Fractional CTO in the UK
Making the right technology decisions can significantly affect your business’s ability to scale and adapt. A Fractional CTO UK service provides expert guidance without the commitment of a full-time salary, allowing you to benefit from high-level leadership on your terms.
If you need help selecting and implementing the most effective architecture for your organisation, I offer Fractional CTO services at Bytesizedcto. My goal is to help businesses of all sizes create sustainable, strategic technology plans that align with their objectives so please get in touch if you would like to discuss your architectural issues.
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