In one of the largest data migrations across Australia and New Zealand, Xero recently completed its transition to Amazon Web Services (AWS).
With more than 862,000 subscribers globally, Xero recorded more than $1 trillion over 450 million ingoing and outgoing transactions in 12 months, signifying just how large the Xero data set has become. The migration, which took a little over two years to be architected and executed, saw more than 59 billion records, 3,000 apps and 120 databases securely transitioned to the AWS platform. Over that time, Xero added nearly half a million new customers.
As Xero scales to serve millions of customers, rebuilding the infrastructure behind the platform will enable the company to leverage machine learning technology, and deliver fast-paced innovation, improved margins and increased uptime. While completing the move to AWS, Xero shipped thousands of product features and updates and continued to drive the innovation agenda in the accounting industry and small business sector.
The AWS migration sets Xero up to accelerate innovation and capitalize on machine learning, which Xero believes will redefine accounting in future years.
The AWS migration sets Xero up to accelerate innovation and capitalize on machine learning, which Xero believes will redefine accounting in future years. The smart application of machine learning technology enables Xero to leverage the more than 1.4 petabytes of data – the equivalent of about 60,000 Blu-Ray movies – being stored and do something powerful: automate core accounting functionalities and enable business owners to work more efficiently.
Xero can leverage the considerable investment AWS has made in platform services to build and deploy software with shorter delivery timeframes. By using the on-demand computing power of AWS, Xero can release new software more rapidly, and experiment with these features in ways that were not possible on its older platform.
As Xero works toward its goal of reaching a million customers, we needed to scale our platform globally to provide customers with a fast, secure and easily accessible cloud platform they can access anytime, from any device connected to the internet. AWS provided us with significant potential to continually improve the underlying technologies that help Xero function.
The evolution and expansion of cloud computing globally has enabled companies like Xero to grow and go global from any part of the world. There’s no mass infrastructure required and Xero has proven its ability to grow in key markets, while having a product that’s used in 180 countries around the world.
Without legacy systems, and enabled by a comprehensive migration to the public cloud via AWS, the Xero platform will be able to capitalize on global scale and incremental product growth to deliver innovative services.
“We know that the faster we can deliver true innovation to our community of small businesses, accountants and bookkeepers, the more deeply they can feel the impact as it grows and integrates itself into everyday life," says Duncan Ritchie, Xero's Chief Platform and Product Officer. "This ability has been supercharged with the move to AWS, and we can’t wait for the year ahead."