A case study by Praxent⌘
Microservices Assessment for an Enterprise Insurance Carrier
A leading enterprise insurance carrier embarked on a modernization effort to transition from monolithic systems to a microservices architecture.
The goal was to increase system scalability, improve deployment flexibility, and accelerate time-to-market.
However, development teams encountered persistent roadblocks—rising costs, deployment failures, and slow performance—threatening the success of the project. To resolve these challenges, they engaged an architectural assessment to identify the root causes and provide a clear path forward.
Architectural assessment
Assessment of technology, people, and processes
Architecture recommendations
- 7 key architectural issues identified
- Roadmap of tailored solutions provided for each bottleneck
- Accelerated feature releases
- Improved alignment between system design, developer productivity, and business objectives
The challenges
Frequent Downtime During Deployments
System outages disrupted business operations every time updates were deployed.
Slow System Performance
Latency and poor response times led to degraded user experiences and increased operational strain.
Inflexible and Slow Business Workflows
Business teams couldn’t adapt workflows quickly, making the system unresponsive to new requirements.
Rising Maintenance Costs
Support costs increased due to inefficiencies, impacting budgets and straining engineering teams.
Delayed Product Releases
Releases were frequently delayed due to inefficient testing processes, adding risk and slowing delivery timelines.
Stalled Frontend Development
Frontend teams were unable to deliver new user experiences quickly, leading to missed business opportunities.
Late Detection of Outages
Monitoring tools failed to identify issues in time, causing downtime to impact users before being addressed.
The client wanted a modern, scalable architecture that enabled:
Uninterrupted deployments
to eliminate downtime and improve system reliability.
Faster, more responsive performance
for seamless user experiences.
Centralize business logic
to adapt quickly to evolving requirements.
Reduce maintenance costs
and streamline operations with standardized development practices.
Accelerate product delivery
with efficient, automated testing strategies.
Empower frontend teams
to deliver user experiences independently and faster.
Proactively detect and prevent outages
with reliable, real-world observability tools.
What We Identified and Recommended
Backward-Compatible Database Migrations
Problem: Deployments caused downtime due to database schema coupling.
Solution: Introduce database backward compatibility and automate schema updates using tools like Flyway or Knex. Orchestrate database changes and ensure constraints are enforced only when consumers are ready.
Event-Driven Architecture for Service Performance
Problem: Poor system performance from excessive REST calls.
Solution: Adopt tools like Kafka or RabbitMQ to implement event-driven updates, allowing services to scale and tolerate eventual consistency.
Centralized Business Logic
Problem: Scattered business rules slowed workflow updates.
Solution: Centralize business logic in an orchestration layer using tools like Lambda Step Functions, Camunda, or Netflix Conductor for easier updates and greater flexibility.
Developer Experience Through a Standard Tech Stack
Problem: Rising costs and maintenance inefficiencies.
Solution: Establish a standardized “golden path” with intuitive tools, self-service access, and robust documentation to reduce variance and drive efficiency.
Automated Testing Strategy for Incremental Releases
Problem: Slow delivery caused by inefficient testing.
Solution: Implement fail-fast strategies with unit tests and adopt contract-based testing tools like Pact. Design automated tests to isolate changes and speed up incremental releases.
Abstracted API Design for UX Acceleration
Problem: Frontend delays stifled user experience delivery.
Solution: Use experience API patterns like Backend-for-Frontend (BFF) or GraphQL to decouple microservices concerns from frontend development, enabling faster delivery.
Reliable Observability with Synthetic Load
Problem: Outages were detected too late due to insufficient monitoring.
Solution: Simulate real-world traffic with synthetic load generation to ensure monitoring tools detect issues before users are impacted.
A partner from end to end
Praxent’s holistic approach uncovered architectural, operational, and performance challenges that were holding back the modernization effort. With hands-on expertise in microservices design and insurance technology, we delivered actionable solutions to:
Optimize architecture for scale and resilience
Reduce deployment downtime and performance bottlenecks
Enable developer productivity with streamlined tools and standards
Drive business agility through flexible workflows and reliable testing
Services Provided
Architectural Assessment and Audit
Event-Driven Design Recommendations
Developer Experience and Tooling Strategy
Workflow Orchestration and Testing Guidance
Observability and Monitoring Recommendations