Subscribe For Free
FOLLOW US

giffgaff to go all in on AWS in European first

Jasper Hart
December 14, 2020

Using AWS in full increases efficiency and analytics detail

giffgaff will migrate all of its technology infrastructure and application development to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud, which it claims will make it the first MVNO in Europe to do so.

By the end of the year, giffgaff will remove all of its databases and applications from its existing on-premises data centre to AWS, a move that the company says will make it more efficient and quick to develop new applications for its users and respond quicker to issues.

giffgaff is using more than 60 of AWS 175+ services to give it a better understanding of which services its members are using, what new services they want, and how it can best implement these services.

“We started out with a traditional, on-premises infrastructure, but the need for ongoing maintenance made this model overwhelming for our technical team. For example, it used to take us up to two weeks to provision a new server,” said giffgaff’s chief operating and technical officer Steve MacDonald.

“When we began to adopt AWS, we were able to turbocharge our development lifecycle by focusing on innovation rather than wasting time on maintenance. It’s such a powerful capability for a digital-native business like ours. The process of constantly evolving our software means that we can always deliver an award-winning service to our members. Our plan now is to extend the use of AWS, and make our members’ voices serve as one of the primary data sources for business decision making.”

The move to AWS has thus far freed up 3,000 days of engineer and developer time, the MVNO says, while its feature releases have increased from 10-12 times a year to more than 9,000.

AWS UK and Ireland general manager Darren Hardman added: “giffgaff is demonstrating its ambition to be a data-driven company that can quickly scale and innovate to meet the needs of its members.

“It’s exciting to see how giffgaff is using cloud technology to transform its business – and the industry – and we look forward to working alongside them as they leverage the breadth and depth of AWS to drive innovation and a compelling customer experience.”

Share this article