About the customer
Single Digits Co-Founder Steve Singlar describes Single Digits as purveyor of “post-industrial age” wireless communication. The “industrial age” was building out connectivity capacity. But who does not now expect Wi-Fi availability in every hotel, dorm room, community center and gathering place? Wi-Fi capacity is a given. The question Single Digits asks is, how can a business use providing Wi-Fi to its customers in a way that increases profits? Singlar said, “When Single Digits started, our idea was to create a platform that would bridge the gap between the goals of our business owners as well as the technology they’re trying to utilize.”
There is a very viable market for such technology. Single Digits is a leading provider. Single Digits solutions are in hotels, student housing, multi-family facilities, casinos, convention centers, senior living centers, transportation hubs and more. It has more than 5,700 clients globally.
More than 600,000 hotel rooms leverage its solutions. More than 2 billion portals are served annually. Single Digits has more than 400 employees (approximately 70 in software engineering) supporting and managing network connectivity for its customers and its customers’ end users.
However, (there’s always a “however”), providing and leveraging Wi-Fi is a fast-moving and evermore demanding challenge. As Single Digits CEO Mike Sargent said, “The managed Wi-Fi industry is at an inflection point. End users have become more demanding than ever, and owner/operators have the opportunity to drive significant operating efficiencies, revenues and customer/resident experiences through the adoption of new technologies. Both require unparalleled execution in connectivity management.”
Challenges
Single Digits provides intelligent managed networks, next generation Wi-Fi solutions, high-speed internet access management and global support solutions. This includes managed services platform, IP network design, professional services, maintenance, network monitoring and analytics, multi-lingual support, revenue reporting and authentication tracking.
The company’s Connected Life Experience™ offers complete guest and resident internet and connectivity solutions. End users expect seamless, secure and on-demand access. Platform One™ is Single Digits’ solution. It promises to make Wi-Fi a more usable tool for businesses.
A company can create custom experiences for customers. Provide easy onboarding. Differentiate itself with end-users. Provide loyalty programs. Even monetize its Wi-Fi and sell advertising. It takes a lot of coding and expertise to stay ahead of this technology curve. Single Digits turned to e-Core for help with the required expertise and assistance.
Single Digits SVP of Engineering John Nelson was introduced to e-Core by Accelerance. Accelerance is the number one outsourcing advisory firm in the world. It is also an e-Core customer. Accelerance certifies the top 3% of software engineering companies in more than 30 countries.
Solution
CODING A NEW UI
Initially, Single Digits engaged e-Core to help update and upgrade the UI using React. Enabling new features and site-by-site customization was part of a large-scale, phased modernization project. Those “more demanding” end-users were pushing Single Digits to rapidly upgrade.
In the midst of a worldwide shortage of qualified IT people, e-Core delivered. Within weeks, e-Core posted a combination of people with the expertise needed, led by an experienced service manager.
Within three months of getting the project e-Core and Single Digits working together launched a new UI delivering easy customization, smooth authentication and on-demand access for end-users.
In modernizing 15-year-old JS frameworks, e-Core provided expert assistance in rewriting the code to make future changes much easier for Single Digits. Taking on a monolithic Java Application with JS in the front end, e-Core applied a microservices architecture. Rewriting code and breaking down old modules supports faster and more flexible development.
It’s amazing what can happen when you put the right people in the right place. With a small team, e-Core provided experience and expertise in fullstack coding, infrastructure architecture and data analysis. As a result, Single Digits rolled out Connection Assist seamless authentication. It provides a simple, secure and connected authentication experience to anyone who steps foot on a Single Digits’ customers’ property. The ConnectionAssist first-time provisioning puts a Passpoint® credential on the user’s device. Whenever that device sees that network again, it automatically provides those credentials for authentication.
Results
The new interface became a selling point for Single Digits in delighting its business customers. The result is exactly the seamless onboarding experience Wi-Fi end users now expect: a more modern and user-friendly digital interaction with the service and the brand.
Single Digits SVP of Engineering Nelson concludes, “The e-Core team members are a good fit for our ConnectionAssist team. They have the required skills, are proactive and are making a positive contribution to the apps and services. Our e-Core team members are ably assisted by the e-Core business in terms of people management and tech support.”
But Wait, There’s More: Next Steps!
As e-Core and Single Digits IT teams worked together, it quickly became clear that the modernization challenge ran much deeper into the code. Impressed by e-Core’s performance on the UI build, Single Digits next engaged e-Core to help with the overall modernization project. As any coder can tell you, upgrading a legacy system and migrating it to cloud is like rebuilding an airplane as you’re flying it.
Single Digits wanted to modernize its backend and migrate it all to AWS Cloud. As e-Core engaged, they pushed toward DevOps, implementing an API-first and test-first approach. Rewriting the old code, e-Core helped to break down old modules and translated them into microservices. e-Core brought in expert-level FE developers.
Protecting data is always a key to successful migration. The e-Core team’s plan was to grab all data and store it in a data warehouse designed and controlled by e-Core. AWS Data Pipelines were created with a terraform project controlled by e-Core. It was also critical to grab data from Legacy Bap databases not currently published on AWS EventBridge. That data is fetched by scheduled queries and stored on temporary S3 files on e-Core’s reporting account. e-Core then employed Snowflake tools to grab the data in the S3 bucket and streamline it.
Work continues. Backend code is still heavy with Java and adding Node and Python. The e-Core team is using docker and containerization over AWS ECR and AWS EC2 servers. They’re using Jenkins and GitHub for sour. As part of the modernization, e-Core coders are helping to build an application management console for Single Digits to use.
Why e-Core?
For any service provider, from software writing to fixing cars, there’s no greater measure of satisfaction than a repeat customer offering you even more work. After e-Core’s success helping to modernize Single Digits’ front end application, the two companies have enjoyed an ever-expanding business relationship.
Based in Brazil with offices in the U.S., e-Core has the advantage of being in similar time zones as its U.S. customers. There’s also a cultural advantage. For years e-Core has built a reputation that attracts and keeps the best talent. As recently as October 2021, e-Core was awarded a Great Place to Work ranking of the Top 150 Companies in Brazil This is the 14th year in a row e-Core received this accolade.
“I have found them all to be personable, motivated and easy to work with. They have been knowledgeable in their skill areas. They are not shy or hesitant in communicating with Single Digits personnel to get information related to their assignments.”
John Nelson
Single Digits SVP of Engineering
Hiring e-Core to bolster its tech initiatives frees up Single Digits resources to pursue its market. In a rapidly-changing Wi-Fi and connectivity world, easiest access wins. Single Digits delivers for its customers by making Wi-Fi a super seamless service their customers can provide to their customers, the thousands of hotel guests, students, senior citizens, tourists, casino players, convention goers, and so on. Single Digits can focus on innovation, secure in the knowledge that e-Core can help deliver the tech skills to make it happen.
