Scaling Operations and User Experience for a Construction Platform
Enabling scalable architecture, automation, and improved user experience through cloud native transformation
5x Performance Improvement
by migrating from monolithic to microservices architecture
Faster and more reliable user onboarding
with automated workflows and UX redesign
About the Client
A construction technology company providing a contractor success platform for owners, general contractors, and facilities managers. The platform enables stakeholder collaboration to manage safety, financial, quality, and sustainability risks, helping deliver projects on time, within budget, and to required standards.
Industry
Construction Tech
Years in business
15+ years
Employee count
100+
Presence
United States
“Forgeahead helped us modernize our cloud infrastructure in a way that improved scalability, reliability, and overall efficiency for our research platform.”
Dr. Michael Harrington
Chief Information Officer
the need
The SaaS platform serving owners, general contractors, and developers in the construction industry was constrained by a monolithic and outdated architecture that limited scalability, flexibility, and system performance.
As the number of contractors and customers increased, the platform struggled to support efficient onboarding, which impacted time to activation and overall user experience.
Tight coupling across components reduced adaptability to evolving business requirements, leading to lower engagement, reduced conversions, and missed business opportunities.
the solution
Forgeahead partnered as the product engineering team to modernize the platform through a structured approach focused on scalability, automation, and enhanced user experience.
The transformation began with a shift from a monolithic architecture to a microservices-based model. This enabled modular scalability, simplified the integration of new features, and significantly improved system maintainability. To ensure a smooth transition, a phased migration strategy was implemented, prioritizing key enterprise clients. This approach minimized disruption while allowing incremental validation, feedback collection, and issue resolution throughout the migration process.
Customer onboarding workflows were automated to reduce manual setup efforts, accelerate user activation, and improve onboarding efficiency at scale. At the same time, the user interface was redesigned to reduce friction, enhance usability, and drive higher feature adoption and engagement. The initiative also addressed legacy dependencies and accumulated technical debt through architectural restructuring, resulting in improved long-term stability and maintainability.
The Impact
Microservices Based Architecture Adoption
Enabled modular scalability and simplified integration of new capabilities
5x Performance Improvement
Delivered significantly faster system response compared to the legacy platform
Automated Onboarding Process
Reduced setup time and improved user activation efficiency
Modernized User Experience
Improved interface usability and increased feature adoption
Role of AWS
AWS services played a crucial role in enabling scalability, security, and operational efficiency. Services such as AWS Auto Scaling, Lambda, and ECS Fargate allowed dynamic resource allocation, ensuring high availability and consistent performance under varying workloads. Security and compliance were strengthened using AWS KMS, IAM, and VPC isolation, which protected sensitive data and enforced controlled access across system components.
Cost optimization was achieved through AWS Compute Savings Plans and reserved instances, ensuring efficient resource utilization while reducing operational expenses. For data management, Amazon OpenSearch and DynamoDB supported efficient data retrieval, indexing, and version management. Additionally, AWS CloudWatch provided real-time monitoring, performance insights, and operational visibility, enabling faster issue detection
Tech Stack
The platform leveraged a comprehensive suite of AWS services, including EC2, S3, Aurora PostgreSQL, SNS, SES, SQS, CloudFront, CloudWatch, and EKS. These services collectively supported scalable infrastructure, reliable data management, efficient communication, and robust monitoring capabilities.