Founded in 2018, Space International, a digital banking platform from Georgia and subsidiary of the TBC Group, expanded into Uzbekistan as TBC UZ. With a user base exceeding 7 million, it became clear that a modern approach was needed to accommodate user growth and prepare for further expansion to other countries.
They partnered with Thoughtworks to modernize its technical architecture and improve engineering and delivery practices. This collaboration began with a comprehensive analysis of Space International’s systems and processes. Thoughtworks identified key pain points and focused on optimizing workflow and increasing efficiency. Our tailored approach aimed to establish robust standards, setting the stage for future scalability and innovation.
Identifying challenges
Thoughtworks' assessment revealed several critical pain points across various domains, including backend, frontend, testing, analysis, releases and security. These challenges were primarily due to a monolithic system and numerous manual processes, leading to long lead times, scalability issues and high dependencies.
The modernization strategy focused on implementing a microservices architecture, which significantly improved system performance and optimized resource utilization, emphasizing working smarter rather than harder. This approach introduced fault isolation and enabled continuous delivery, enhancing scalability and efficiency.
Overall, the landscape has significantly changed. Each component now operates more independently, allowing developers to focus solely on their tasks through smart platform engineering. The continuous delivery process enables the company to test and launch multiple products simultaneously, greatly improving work efficiency.
A collaborative approach
The collaboration between Space International and Thoughtworks is characterized by continuous interaction and problem-solving. Weekly meetings ensure that both teams address every aspect of the process, maintaining seamless communication. This collaboration has led to the creation of new roles within Space International, including Tech Lead, Solutions Architect, and MLOps specialists.
Workshops and training sessions have empowered Space International’s existing talent, fostering confidence and competence in the new structure. Giorgi Zhorzholiani, Head of Backend Engineering and Architecture at Space International, highlighted the collaborative synergy:
“Now we have two main directions as a Platform Team, one which works on infrastructure and one which works on architecture. Both directions work together creating new capabilities and tools on the platform. The main goal is to raise efficiency, and to make processes fast and easy for stream-aligned teams.”
Transformation outcomes
The collaboration yielded significant improvements across various metrics:
Increased deployment frequency
from once every two months to multiple times per day.
Reduced lead time for changes
from two months to five days.
Downtime reduced
from 20 hours per month to zero, and no rollbacks or bugs reported.
Decreased time to market
for new products from 1-6 months to on-demand and continuous deployment processes became fully automated.
Benefits of collaboration
This strategic collaboration set the foundation for Space International’s ambitious future plans and enhanced flexibility for global market endeavors.
Our collaboration with Space thrived under the guiding principle of 'One Culture, One Team.' Space embraced new capabilities and gained a deeper appreciation of Agile and XP Practices. The shared experience fostered mutual growth for both companies.
Space International’s proactive approach and partnership with Thoughtworks paved the way for substantial advancements, positioning the company at the forefront of the global fintech landscape. Through this collaboration, both companies have demonstrated the power of working together to achieve significant technological and operational improvements, with each team member proud to contribute to something truly futuristic in the tech world.
