The start-up Subtrackr improved its resilience dramatically by taking a bold step. They replaced their entire backend with a combination of Nodejs and Chills in a matter of 9 days. The digital core rebuilding resulted in a much lower cost base, and a more agile & scalable company. Read how this customer case makes you reconsider your legacy systems.
Mattias Engen CEO Subtrackr
“Chills really surpassed our expectations. To rewrite the whole backend was a big call, but Chills really made it so much easier. We can already say that we have saved time and money and our investors love it”
Subtrackr
Subtrackr, a Norwegian start-up visualizes monthly recurring costs by integrating their application with any accounting system. All subscriptions (payments) become visible in a dashboard. A contract management module connects individual contracts to the subscriptions. The accountant module integrated in the solution helps accountants deliver better advice to their customers. Subtrackr is easy to set up, easy to use and gives every business the control of their recurring cost.
History
Subtrackr digitised the idea of showing all subscriptions in a visual overview including a contract management module. Integrations with accounting systems and building the Subtrackr application were the main goals. Many customers showed interest and supported by Innovation Norway and investors the programming started in Q2- 2020.
Chills integrated in Subtrackr’s “Work in progress”
The Chills low code backend delivered by Dynamic Integrations was involved in Q2 2021.
Chills is a low code backend automating integrations, and many more data processing tasks including the delivery of data sets to the frontend. Some of Subtrackr’s hard coded integrations were quickly rewritten in Chills. The remaining backend Java coding was rewritten to connect with the low code backend. Subtrackr became a more dynamic and scalable service since all integrations and data processing created in low code is changed quickly and can be reused for other customers.
Emerging backend insights
During Subtrackr’s start-up phase many insights emerged. These new requirements went into the backend change process and external programmers rewrote the Java coding. The high number of changes with associated cost and delivery times demanded a closer look at the backends principles including the programming code in use.
Backend programming language shift in 9 days
The bold decision was made to rewrite the backend in Nodejs. This was done after careful consideration and some testing. While the application continued to be operational on the Java backend, all its functionality was rewritten in Nodejs.
It took one experienced Nodejs developer 9 days to rewrite the entire backend. Having a working backend available made the rewriting an easier task. Still, to rewrite an entire backend with all functionality in 9 days is mind blowing.
An explanation why this backend could be rewritten so fast is the use of low code technology. Chills is built on low code and responsible for all data integration and automation. The actual low code work is done graphically, meaning hard code writing is not required any more. The many Chills low code tools available make the function rewriting even more user friendly.
Chills user interface using low code functionality
Continued sustainable low costs & agility
Chills enables a low cost and agile developer base for Subtrackr now and in the future. Chills provides a framework, demanding that a backend developer works structured and with high quality standards, also important cornerstones for cyber-security.
1. Building dataflows, automations or integrations are only released after adhering to minimum criteria Chills demands
2. Documentation, a crucial but often neglected step, becomes an integral part of the low code building process. Developers can add comment to all low code functionality including comments, descriptions and explanations. A ONE button documentation generates an entire backend description by ONE click.
Conclusions
Due to the technological advances, notably the availability of low code technology, it is never too late to evaluate decisions from the past, as the Subtrackr case shows.
A low code backend provides freedom to implement bold changes in an enormous, short time frame and an equally low cost.
Every start-up, but also established organisation must consider low code technology as a cornerstone for its digital core, since it frees up budget and resources by automating hard coding.
Recommendation
Read this Dynamic integrations article how to recreate your digital core.
Disclaimer
In this customer case, replacing Java with Nodejs was beneficial. It is however by no means a judgement about the individual programming languages. In other circumstances it might be beneficial to replace Nodejs with Java, Python or any other language. This is up to the individual CDO to make these decisions.
Bård Øvrebø CTO & Fredrik The Frisian CEO