According to Research and Markets, the global sports trading card market was valued at USD 13.82 billion in 2019 with a CAGR of 23.01%. This does not include non-sports trading cards. Our client, an organization with a unique online trading card marketplace, is driving strong growth by allowing online users to buy and sell sports cards, gaming cards, comics, and more.

Challenges

The client had a platform that comprised their internet / consumer-facing web application and a backend interface for employees to scan cards, assess their value, and upload them to their website along with the card owners’ profiles. Payment gateway processing, warehouse management, user management, and more were all part of the platform. The client’s geographic reach had grown across the U.S., and each office had access to the platform.

It reached the point where the client had exceeded what they could manage with on-premises IT unless they invested heavily in infrastructure. Performance issues during peak days and hours were causing financial losses. Complex legacy code with integration to many third-party services made it difficult to make enhancements. 

The client decided to move to the cloud and modernize their applications.

Our solution

Celsior was selected to develop and execute a cloud roadmap. We first took temporary measures to stabilize the existing environment until the new environment could be rolled out. We then assessed the on-premises applications and identified a strategy for refactoring.

Following assessment and roadmapping, we performed the actual rearchitecting and modernization of the applications. Applications were containerized and moved to Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) in a serverless environment. Azure DevOps was implemented to support automation deployment.

Business outcomes

Our assessment and analysis first enabled the client to understand the cost, effort, and ROI of moving to the cloud and the run rate necessary to operate in the cloud following migration. Now that the modernized, cloud-based applications have been implemented and deployed, the client has the necessary scalability to support significant market growth. Furthermore, the applications are easy to enhance, allowing additional features to be added and changes to be made, ensuring the client can adapt to and lead market evolution.