Hakuna Matata’s Microservices & PostgreSQL Success Story

Written by

Anand Ethiraj

Published on

June 23, 2025

How Hakuna Matata Transformed a Legacy System into a Modern, High-Performance Platform

Hakuna Matata helped a global standards organization replace a slow, legacy platform with a high-speed, microservices-based system built on PostgreSQL. The results were striking: 200% faster data uploads, 30% lower operational costs, and a scalable architecture ready for future expansion.

Why Legacy Systems Require Modernization

Many enterprises continue to rely on legacy monolithic systems, rigid architectures that slow down innovation. As data volumes grow and performance demands increase, these systems struggle with scalability, high maintenance costs, and limited flexibility. For organizations managing complex supply chain data or millions of transactions, the performance gap becomes a serious business constraint.

To address this, Hakuna Matata partnered with a leading global standards body to modernize its core application, ensuring speed, scalability, and long-term adaptability.

The Client (GS1): A Global Standards Leader with Complex Data Needs

The client manages product identification codes such as GTINs (barcodes) for more than 70,000 organizations worldwide. Their system processes over one million data transactions each month, enabling visibility and traceability across supply chains. However, the existing monolithic platform could not keep pace with this scale and required a complete architectural overhaul.

Key Challenges in the Legacy Platform

The previous system had reached its performance limits:

Slow processing: The platform frequently lagged during peak usage.
Manual setup: Each client instance required extensive configuration.
High licensing costs: Proprietary tools inflated total cost of ownership.
Limited automation: Manual deployment slowed down release cycles.
Poor user experience: The outdated interface reduced productivity.

These challenges collectively hindered performance, scalability, and operational efficiency.

The Solution: A Modern, Microservices-Based Architecture

Hakuna Matata designed and implemented a complete modernization roadmap, transitioning the monolithic system to a microservices architecture. The solution emphasized cost efficiency, automation, and scalability.

Key technology choices:

Open-source stack: Angular for the frontend, Node.js and Express.js for backend services, and PostgreSQL for data management, reducing licensing costs and improving flexibility.
Microservices architecture: The system was decomposed into 25–30 independent services, enabling modular updates and faster deployments.
Automated CI/CD pipelines: Introduced continuous integration and delivery to support zero-downtime deployments.
Reusable API templates: Established standardized APIs for consistent, reliable integration between services.

This architecture leveraged the full benefits of microservices, speed, resilience, and scalability, while minimizing maintenance overhead.

Enhancing Data Performance with PostgreSQL

Database performance was a key bottleneck in the legacy system. Migrating to PostgreSQL enabled advanced data handling capabilities and improved throughput.

Our PostgreSQL migration strategy included:

Optimized schema design: Achieved throughput of up to 80 transactions per second (TPS).
Feature enablement: Introduced efficient bulk uploads, GTIN management, and label generation.
Performance tuning: Reduced bulk upload time by 200%, cutting processing time from hours to minutes.

The result was a robust, high-performance data layer capable of supporting real-time transactions at scale.

Modernization in Three Phases

Hakuna Matata executed the transformation through a structured, three-phase approach:

Technology upgrade: Adoption of open-source tools for improved efficiency and lower costs.
Architecture redesign: Migration from monolithic to microservices for scalability and maintainability.
Performance validation: Rigorous testing to ensure consistent performance at 80 TPS and beyond.

This systematic approach ensured a smooth transition with zero business disruption.

Quantifiable Results

The new platform delivered measurable business impact:

2x faster transactions across core workflows.
200% faster bulk uploads through optimized data processing.
30% cost reduction via open-source technologies and automation.
80 TPS performance under peak loads.

These outcomes established a future-ready foundation for ongoing digital transformation.

Long-Term Strategic Advantages

Beyond immediate performance gains, the modernization initiative delivered lasting business value:

Scalable collaboration: Seamless integration among manufacturers, retailers, and suppliers.
Continuous evolution: Microservices enable rapid feature development and independent service updates.
High availability: Automated pipelines ensure minimal downtime during releases.
Future readiness: Architecture designed to support AI, analytics, and advanced data services.

The result is a digital ecosystem built for agility and growth.

Hakuna Matata: Enabling Enterprise Modernization

Hakuna Matata’s expertise in legacy system modernization, microservices implementation, and database migration has empowered global enterprises to achieve speed, scalability, and cost efficiency.

If your organization faces similar challenges with legacy infrastructure, our team can help you transition to a modern, future-ready architecture that accelerates performance and business growth.

FAQs

Why should enterprises move from monolithic systems to microservices?

Monolithic systems often limit scalability and make it difficult to introduce new features or updates without downtime. Microservices architecture allows independent deployment, faster development cycles, and improved fault isolation, making it ideal for organizations managing large-scale data or user transactions.

How does PostgreSQL improve performance compared to legacy databases?

PostgreSQL supports advanced indexing, parallel query execution, and efficient data caching. When properly tuned, it can handle high transaction volumes while reducing query latency—resulting in faster processing and more stable performance under heavy loads.

What are the key benefits of using open-source technologies in modernization projects?

Open-source stacks reduce licensing costs, provide flexibility for customization, and ensure vendor independence. They also have active developer communities, which means continuous improvements, better security updates, and long-term sustainability.

How does automation through CI/CD contribute to modernization success?

CI/CD pipelines enable continuous integration and deployment with minimal human intervention. This ensures that code updates are tested, validated, and released automatically, improving reliability, reducing downtime, and accelerating release frequency.

What measurable outcomes can organizations expect from modernization initiatives?

Typical outcomes include 2–3x performance improvements, 20–40% cost savings through open-source adoption, and significantly faster feature rollout. Additionally, the modular architecture supports easier scaling and future integration with AI and analytics tools.