The Challenge: Implementing complex search technology without the burden of managing infrastructure.
As a lean startup, Pingboard’s initial focus was on shipping a minimum viable product. That early product included a simple plain-text search where users could type in a few letters and, if it matched that person’s name or job title, a result would come up.
As Pingboard grew, their Chief Technology Officer, Robert Eanes, knew one of the most valuable ways to improve their end-user experience was to use Elasticsearch’s sophisticated, scalable, and lightning-fast search functionality. The problem was that Robert had a small team with limited time to manage all areas of product development. Managing an Elasticsearch cluster was an obstacle he didn’t have the resources tackle.
Making things even more complicated, Pingboard had resolved to comply with EU data privacy laws but couldn’t find a vendor willing to spend time on legal matters.
“I highly recommend Bonsai. They know exactly what they’re doing and they’re so good that we don’t even have to think about it. It’s hard to find people good at helping other people build successful products.”
The Solution: An adaptable, reliable partner with a hosted Elasticsearch service.
A true partnership. With detailed answers, the Bonsai team helped Robert understand the different options available in the marketplace and aided them in the selection process, then provided a free entry-level plan that let Pingboard confirm the service would fit their needs.
The simple setup process helped Robert’s team get up and running right away, and allowed his team to focus on improving their product. Later, as Pingboard grew, Bonsai’s service grew seamlessly right alongside them.
“Bonsai was very responsive to use. They seemed very interested in us as a customer and in providing good support for people who are just starting on the platform. As we grew, that continued.”
The Results: Extremely fast search and secure data at scale.
Not only were Pingboard’s customers able to search more complex types of employee and organizational data, but the results were faster, and their customer’s noticed. “We consistently got praise from customers on the new search,” Robert said. In fact, the search service was so speedy, Pingboard rolled it out on their mobile platform too, saving them the time and expense of developing a mobile-only search solution.
The Bonsai team also worked with Pingboard to ensure their customer’s data was safe, secure, and fully compliant with EU’s privacy laws.
Data security, speedy search, easy implementation, and a responsive team. Ultimately, what Bonsai delivered is peace of mind.
The best thing I can say is that I don’t have to think about it. I don’t have to spend time on it. As we continue to grow, the fact that we’ve had so few problems is a huge indicator that Bonsai is the right solution.
— Robert Eanes, Chief Technology Officer, Pingboard
