How Meiro built a robust customer data platform with DigitalOcean

From e-commerce transactions and web or in-app activity to CRM records and customer service tickets, businesses accumulate vast amounts of customer data. As data volumes grow exponentially, companies need a robust and scalable data infrastructure to collect, manage, and activate customer data. Meiro offers an enterprise customer data platform (CDP) to help businesses consolidate data into unified customer profiles for data analytics and omnichannel marketing. Meiro is operational both on-premise and across various cloud platforms, though a significant portion of its clientele primarily utilizes Digital Ocean for deployment. Since 2016, Meiro has relied on DigitalOcean’s Droplets and other products to provide the flexible and cost-effective cloud infrastructure to power its CDP.

Building a CDP that helps businesses make better decisions

Founded and headquartered in Singapore, Meiro helps businesses better understand and interact with their customers through improved data processing and communication activation. Well before “CDP” became a buzzword, the company began by building a prototype proof-of-concept for a single client looking to consolidate company data. The success of this minimum viable product led to the building of a full-fledged solution. Today, Meiro is used by companies across banking and financial services, retail and e-commerce, and media and publishing.

Using advanced analytics and machine learning, Meiro enables businesses to unify their customer data and derive actionable insights, fostering more effective and personalized marketing strategies. Armed with a 360-degree customer view—from website interactions to financial transactions—the platform helps companies personalize communication, recommend relevant products, and provide proactive customer service. The result is an improved customer journey across touchpoints, lowered acquisition costs, and increased customer lifetime value.

Their global team of 50 has diversity in its DNA, spread across Asia, as well as countries throughout Europe, including the Czech Republic. Borrowed from the culture and language of Japan, Meiro translates to “maze.” “Our customers are in a maze of data management and process management. We are here to guide them through it,” says Jiří Hejl, Head of Product Marketing and Management.

Finding a better cloud solution for scaling their CDP

With customers worldwide, Meiro required a cloud platform that could provide security, transparency, flexibility, and global availability. They needed to be able to deploy customer instances in any region while maintaining high performance and reliability. It was also critical to keep costs low, both for Meiro and its customers.

While the company has used cloud platforms like AWS and GCP, the complicated console UI and complex resource setting made it easier to make mistakes. Today, DigitalOcean is their preferred partner for balancing a rich product offering with affordable pricing. The simple and intuitive interface and the predictable pricing model are key factors in adopting DigitalOcean.

According to Vojtech Kurka, Co-founder and CTO at Meiro, “The user experience of the console, when compared to your competitors, is much easier to operate.” He adds, “It’s not only lower cost, but more importantly, the pricing structure is much easier to navigate and optimize. Egress is included in the cost of the Droplet, which is much more transparent than competitors.”

Using DigitalOcean Droplets across multiple use cases

Meiro relies heavily on DigitalOcean’s Droplets product to host its CDP platform. “We are using almost exclusively Droplets because our offering is a product, not a regular SaaS offering. This means we deploy apps and databases for each client separately, says Kurka. “So we are experimenting with different Droplet types for different workloads.”

They leverage the wide selection of Droplet types, choosing between General Purpose, Memory-Optimized, CPU-Optimized, and Storage-Optimized Droplets based on workload needs. Over time, they have mainly migrated customers away from General Purpose Droplets to specialized configurations that further reduce costs.

“For Meiro Events, Meiro Data Layer, and Business Explorer, we are using one Droplet each. Then, for OS, we are using two Droplets with one Droplet as LB. For OS, we are using one Droplet with two Droplets as LB,” says Kurka, describing their cloud architecture.

Meiro also uses Volumes Block Storage to decouple storage from compute, independently scaling resources while reducing costs. They also utilize Spaces Object Storage for customer backups and archives.

They continue to optimize their cloud approach for efficiency. For instance, over the last 18 months, they’ve used the doctl Command Line Interface (CLI) to automatically create droplets for PRs using Github actions.

Throughout the partnership, Meiro has seen steady growth while maintaining performance and reliability for customers. With DigitalOcean’s simple and predictable pricing, they’ve realized significant cost savings. “Compared to other big cloud providers, the cost savings with DigitalOcean is 30-50%, depending on the region,” says Kurka.

Taking advantage of the SYD1 data center in Sydney, Australia

DigitalOcean operates a global network of 15 data centers spread over 9 distinct regions, including SYD1 in Sydney, Australia, ensuring widespread coverage and reliable service for customers worldwide. The strategic placement of data centers is vital for businesses like Meiro, aiming to optimize service delivery across different geographies.

Recognizing the value of reduced response times and lower latency, Meiro has embraced the Sydney, Australia region to serve its APAC customers with more efficient data processing.

DigitalOcean’s SYD1 data center in Sydney boasts cutting-edge network design and architecture, ensuring scalability and high performance for growing businesses. With features like 400G ethernet-enabled routers and modular network design, SYD1 is equipped to handle high bandwidth demands and offer robust reliability, ideal for startups and SMBs looking to expand. Kurka noted, “As soon as we learned about SYD1, we migrated our clients from AWS to DO in that region. Costs are lower, UI better, and we are used to your offering.”

Developing the CDP of the future

With DigitalOcean’s developer-friendly platform, Meiro has been able to focus on building its CDP rather than managing infrastructure. The flexibility to deploy anywhere, paired with transparent and scalable pricing through products like Droplets, has enabled Meiro’s growth over the past seven years. As Kurka summarized, “We like the simplicity.”

Meiro continues to expand its business, using strategies like direct sales, content marketing, and Ignite events, bringing people in similar verticals to the same table for knowledge-sharing. Their product roadmap is filled with features to improve their platform for customers, from a visualization tool for customer journey mapping to additional channel integrations like SMS and WhatsApp for customer engagement. Moving forward, DigitalOcean will continue to be a core part of Meiro’s cloud strategy as they expand their CDP globally.