Information Technology | Database Performance Consulting Services

Pythian optimizes performance for Fergus' MySQL database to enhance user experience

Fergus, a cloud software company for trades businesses, had a critical problem: their customer dashboard slowed to a crawl. With their internal team focused on developing new features, they needed a partner to quickly solve the urgent performance issue.

Our database performance consultants pinpointed the root cause with a health check. We then optimized indexes and rewrote key queries, delivering a 152% boost in dashboard load speed and a dramatically better experience for their customers.

152%

Increase in dashboard load speed

Fergus achieved this by partnering with Pythian's database performance consultants to implement optimized indexes, rewrite queries and adjust schema structures.

20,000+

Trades customers benefit from optimizations

Over 20K trades customers now enjoy an improved experience interacting with Fergus because of their database performance enhancement.

100+

Trades suppliers with improved access

Over 100 trades suppliers are featured on Fergus’ platform. With the dashboard’s improved performance, trades customers now have more streamlined access to their services.

“Pythian has a collaborative approach. They really felt like a partner. They met with us twice a week, working with our teams to test recommended indexes and query rewrites before our development team moved these over to production.”

Katrina Clokie

Chief Technology Officer, Fergus

Customer
Overview
The challenge
The solution
Technologies used
Key outcomes

Customer

Fergus is a software platform designed to give trades business owners more control over how they run their businesses. To improve the user experience of their customer-facing dashboards, Fergus sought to improve the performance of their MySQL databases on Amazon Web Services (AWS). With Fergus’ development teams focused on delivering new features and enhancements, they needed an experienced partner to identify optimizations, test and implement them, and share insights with their team.

Slow dashboards and over-extended team resources

Fergus inherited an application that helped trades business owners to quote, invoice, and schedule jobs. Running MySQL 8.0 on Amazon Web Services (AWS) Relational Database Service (RDS), the application experienced several database performance issues, with the most significant issue surfacing on the customer-facing dashboard.

To maintain Fergus’ long-delivered promise of providing an efficient tool for trades businesses to utilize, for increased clarity and control, they recognized the immediate need to improve the load time of their customer dashboard.

With Fergus’ internal teams concentrating on software development, they turned to Pythian’s team of experts to identify the source of their MySQL performance issues, upon recommendation from their AWS team.

Application performance woes

Fergus inherited an application running MySQL 8.0 on AWS RDS that suffered from multiple database performance issues.

Load time challenges

The lagging dashboard directly threatened Fergus' promise of clarity and control for small businesses, creating an urgent need to improve load speeds to maintain customer satisfaction and brand reputation.

Critical dashboard slowdowns

The slow load time of Fergus' customer-facing dashboard was their most critical performance problem, directly impacting user experience and jeopardizing their promise of an efficient tool.

Strain on team capacity

With internal teams focused on software development, Fergus sought specialized external support for complex MySQL performance issues, turning to Pythian.

A comprehensive database health check and collaborative MySQL optimization

Our database health check quickly pinpointed the problem. While investigating the slowdowns, we discovered that newly added indexes and rewritten queries were ironically slowing down the most critical component: the price book data that directly impacted customers.

We worked closely with the Fergus team to implement fixes, meeting twice a week to apply and test optimizations in their production environment. Throughout the process, we explained the "why" behind our recommendations—sharing detailed context in their task management tool to build their team's skills for the long term.

Our database performance consulting service delivery included:

Configuration review of AWS RDS instances, including parameter group settings and instance class.
Review of slow queries and recommendations for improvement, including indexing, query rewrites, and schema changes.
Review of tables in need of archiving with a recommendation for an archival process.
Working with Fergus to test and implement performance optimizations.

Root cause identification

Pythian's senior database engineers collaborated with Fergus's internal team, conducting a thorough database health check. This deep dive pinpointed the root cause of Fergus' performance issues.

Implementation and testing

We met with Fergus twice weekly to review and recommend fixes. Solutions were rigorously tested in a controlled environment before being successfully applied to production, ensuring stability.

Database optimization

Our team implemented comprehensive database performance optimizations for Fergus, including AWS RDS configuration reviews, slow query enhancements, and archiving recommendations.

Infrastructure knowledge transfer

Our experts provided valuable insights and detailed context directly in Fergus' task tool, enabling their team to better understand and maintain the optimized database infrastructure.

Improved load times, enhanced customer experience and empowered teams

By partnering with Pythian, Fergus identified the root cause of their database performance issues, leading to quicker implementation of performance optimizations. As a result, Fergus’ customer dashboard now loads significantly faster—a 152% improvement—making it easier for customers to review active jobs, schedule work, and submit invoices.

After working with Pythian, Fergus’ technical team is now able to optimize their databases using MySQL 8.0 on AWS RDS. With Pythian as a technical partner and resource, Fergus’ teams can focus on delighting their customers with new platform features and enhancements.

Sustained customer satisfaction and growth

Fergus’ customer dashboard now loads significantly faster—a 152% improvement. This enhanced performance better equips Fergus to nurture its existing customers and attract new ones.

Optimized database—optimized dashboard

By engaging with Pythian’s database performance tuning and optimization services, Fergus optimized their dashboard—making it easier for customers to review their active jobs, schedule work, and submit invoices.

Self-sufficient technical team

Fergus’ technical team is now able to optimize their databases using MySQL 8.0 on AWS RDS. With Pythian’s database consultants at the ready to provide support when necessary, Fergus’ team is emboldened to overcome any database challenge.

Renewed focus on product innovation

With Fergus' internal teams now freed from time-consuming reactive database troubleshooting, they can now concentrate more intently on developing new platform features and enhancements—further enhancing the experience for their trades customers and suppliers.

“The performance improvements we have seen through implementing just a handful of Pythian’s suggestions have been phenomenal. Our loading speed was improved by 152%! The teams at Pythian are stars; we highly recommend partnering with them for your database needs.”

Katrina Clokie

Chief Technology Officer, Fergus

What We Do

Pythian optimizes performance for Fergus' MySQL database to enhance user experience

Increase in dashboard load speed

Trades customers benefit from optimizations

Trades suppliers with improved access

Fergus turned to Pythian to optimize database performance

Customer

Industry

Location

Solution

Platform

Overview

The challenge