Jeongyookgak: Cloud experience with Azure as a technological partner

Jeongyookgak started its service based on Google's Firebase from the very beginning. The startup focused on allowing quick, smooth purchase experience rather than building and managing infrastructure directly, which became the foundation of continued growth. 

Changing infrastructure needs 

But with growth came increased concerns about infrastructure. As the service grew larger, it became more difficult to go beyond the limitations of its existing system due to the nature of managed cloud services. Further growth required a complete change in infrastructure. 

It was necessary to align the infrastructure environments of Jeongyookgak and Chorocmaeul. Their database environments were different since Jeongyookgak had no SQL and Chorocmaeul had a relational database. Data integration was also necessary for the two companies to create a synergy effect in distribution and logistics while engaging in their own businesses. 

For these two major reasons, Jeongyookgak had to change its overall cloud environment. Park Jun-tae, CTO of Jeongyookgak, contemplated whether to scale from the company's existing cloud environment to a new service or transition to a completely new cloud service. 

"There was a preconceived notion that Microsoft's enterprise solutions and clouds are better suited for large enterprises than startups. However, as we continued to communicate with Microsoft, we found that the technical approach is not only user-friendly, but also encompasses large companies and startups through its experiences. We had a genuine connection based on Microsoft's sincere effort for startups, and we immediately undertook the transition." 

What was important to CTO Park was direct and indirect technical support. He believed various experiences should be shared, at least where necessary.  

"The services we previously used had a high level of satisfaction in the basic environment, and we were able to get the necessary tasks done quickly. However, as the number of users increased, resources became overloaded more often. We often solved problems with optimization, but we lacked references and technical support. We had to study all the details, and we had to keep finding solutions." 

Microsoft Azure continued to provide technical support based on a variety of experiences, and Microsoft provided active attention and support for even small issues. A partner, Megazone, also actively helped the company transfer to and operate Azure through regular meetings and meticulously supported the company to address all technical questions.

CTO Park Jun-tae explains that the company was able to reach engineers directly with Azure, as opposed to waiting for responses in the past. 

"With other cloud services, it would have taken years to transfer and operate stably. Microsoft allowed direct communication with engineers and responded directly to our needs, so the transition is in progress within only a few months, and the service continues stably without impacting the business."  

Changing thoughts on real-time data 

Most of Jeongyookgak's virtual machines and containers have now been migrated to Azure. The migration was smooth. Since the introduction of Azure, all new businesses are built and run on Azure. Chorocmaeul's database was also seamlessly migrated to Azure Database for PostgreSQL and Azure Cosmos DB. 

In the process, the company was able to discard decade-old data that is no longer used, and it also plans to transition its existing relational database (RDBMS) to non-relational. 

Services that could not be transferred exactly, such as virtual machines and containers, required a little more consideration. There was a multi-faceted review on real-time data analytics solutions, including Google's BigQuery. However, it was difficult to fully transfer existing services and scenarios. It was time for the company to find a new structure. Jeongyookgak and Microsoft tested several data warehouses and data analysis tools to replace BigQuery with Azure Databricks. The key was being in real-time. 

Jeongyookgak's main product is meat, which cannot be perfectly identical in the production process. Real-time data was critical to avoid overlapping orders because even a 1 gram weight difference is a different product. But as the business grew, the implication of real-time data changed. When the order volume is low, the interval at which the data enters is large, so order information being in real-time by seconds is important. However, if dozens of orders are placed in a second, the data can be kept real-time by reading it at set intervals.

"Rather than continuously collecting data in real time, we have increased efficiency by being able to effectively retrieve data from multiple orders at once, even at slightly longer intervals. It's not just about data collection now; it's about growing into the computing realm of data processing." 

CTO Park says it was difficult to let real-time data processing go because it was the foundation of Jeongyookgak. However, the new processing method allowed efficiency while maintaining real-time data, which was the fundamental goal. That's where it needed to change its way of thinking about data. 

One of Databricks' strengths lies in the data culture at the workplace. It was difficult to manage sensitive data in traditional data analytics systems because employees had access to most information once they were granted access to the systems. Databricks segmented data and masked sensitive information, providing secure and appropriate data access depending on the job. This allowed more members to work with a focus on data. 

The connectivity of the data was also satisfactory. Multicloud is often connected by designated lines for speed and security, while connecting is difficult and costly. Microsoft Azure, however, was seamlessly connected to the existing services of Jeongyookgak and Chorocmaeul.  

Microsoft as a partner that grows together

"After seven years of working at a startup, my personal concerns about technology have grown. The business was growing, but the underlying technology was not being developed. Rather than setting goals for the future, I was more concerned whether I was on the right path or not. Working with Microsoft, we've created an opportunity to discuss new technologies and think about our future direction. We have a partner with whom we can share our concerns." 

CTO Park cited communication as the most satisfying part since migrating to Azure. This is because it provides an opportunity to talk confidently about how new technologies will affect business and the way they work. It can now operate the services with confidence based on technology. 

The role of technology is to ensure that problems being faced in the business are solved as quickly and appropriately as possible, says CTO Park Jun-tae. He explains that many technologies have been implemented since cloud adoption, and the process of finding and adopting such technologies is crucial. The introduction of Azure created flexibility to adopt technology from security to AI and allowed an environment to accept new services for any business concern. 

"I've long thought about achieving business goals through technology, and I'm confident that the scope of business ideas can be presented technologically first. Our current goal is to make good use of well-developed technologies, but we want to gradually share that experience externally and positive impact with society." 

For Jeongyookgak, Microsoft is not just a cloud company, but a partner that grows the business together. Communication and sharing experience provide a solid technical foundation to support Jeongyookgak's continued growth.