Case Study
Financial Services Enterprise Organization Saves Over $10,000 a Month with Nerdio Manager for Enterprise
About Oportun
Since 2005, Oportun has offered financial services assistance aimed at the approximately 100 million people in the United States who are typically shut out of the financial mainstream because they don’t have a credit score or have a limited credit history.
Their mission-based, technology-powered approach is designed to be inclusive, affordable, and empowering. By lending money to hardworking, low-to-moderate-income individuals, they help their customers move forward in their lives, demonstrate their creditworthiness, and establish the credit history they need to access new opportunities.
Oportun has provided more than 3.8 million affordable small-dollar loans that have saved customers an estimated $1.7 billion in interest and fees compared to alternative lenders, according to a study commissioned by Oportun and conducted by the Financial Health Network, a leading nonprofit authority on consumer financial health.
The Situation
Distributed Workforce in Need of Cost Optimization
Oportun developed proprietary technology around the loan process and essential analytics programs that are keys to their success. “The analytics are really required to understand our customer base and perform the financial calculations required. Our IT team is a crucial part of our business,” said Erin Hasani, Microsoft Associate Architect at Oportun.
The company needed to support a widely distributed team. With workers overseas in India, the IT leaders at Oportun chose Microsoft Azure and Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD). Following a proof of concept implementation of AVD, Oportun identified gaps and areas where performance needed improvement. “Managing costs was the biggest thing we wanted to address,” said Hasani. “We didn’t want to run machines 24/7 due to cost considerations and we were also focused on giving end-users more visibility into their machines.”
The Solution
Easily & Quickly Implement Advanced AutoScaling to Lower Costs
Microsoft recommended Nerdio Manager for Enterprise as a perfect solution to the challenges Oportun had encountered. Nerdio is a Microsoft partner and the definitive Azure deployment, management, and optimization solution for AVD environments.
“We wanted something that was more robust, supported, and ready to go than native AVD alone, and that’s where Nerdio came in,”
– Erin Hasani, Microsoft Associate Architect at Oportun
Nerdio’s advanced AutoScaling technology allows a customer to easily adjust their Azure usage based on their needs. This can save a company up to 70% on Azure compute and storage costs. After a single week in the proof-of-concept stage, Oportun moved Nerdio Manager for Enterprise into production. “We had targets to start around efficiency, especially regarding personal desktops, and Nerdio was able to fill that gap incredibly quickly. “The automation features with Nerdio are ‘set and forget’ for the most part, and as users, we just reap the benefits,” said Hasani.
The Nerdio team worked with their counterparts at Oportun to make the process fast and efficient. As Hasani noted, “Nerdio’s features and the ease of use stood out to us. It was especially notable compared to the other solutions we researched.”
Designed to extend the native AVD experience, Nerdio helps users manage and optimize Microsoft’s powerful tools. “Nerdio integrates with AVD very smoothly. Deployment was a breeze,” Hasani said.
The Results
Major Time & Cost Savings Achieved
Once Nerdio’s solution was up and running. The results were clear and compelling. According to Hasani, “There were no crazy requirements. Integration was very straightforward with what we had on-premises. If it sounds easy, it’s because it was!”
The benefits came in several forms, most noticeably in time savings for the Oportun IT team and the direct costs associated with Azure. With Nerdio’s capabilities, there was no need to run the machines around the clock. The AutoScaling capabilities and shared desktop features allow Oportun to scale up and down more efficiently. “Without a tool like Nerdio, we couldn’t achieve that,” said Hasani.
“We deal with lots of images. Managing all of them can be a painful process. Nerdio makes it a breeze – much easier than what Microsoft’s native tools can provide.” – Erin Hasani, Microsoft Associate Architect at Oportun
Major cost savings have also been realized: “Auto-Scaling with Nerdio is saving us $10,000 a month. The added cost of the solution is nothing compared to what we save,” according to Hasani.
“Nerdio is really scalable. We’re not deploying thousands of desktops, but we’re seeing savings even with one or two hundred desktops.”
Simply put, Nerdio’s capabilities make life easier for the Oportun team. “The Nerdio solution is great at automating and being as ‘hands-off’ as possible, which frees up time for our engineers,” Hasani said. “The portal is very user-friendly for them, enabling them to spin up host pools and deploy machines easily. Choosing Nerdio was a no-brainer. Once you see something this good you don’t have to look somewhere else.”
