Break Glass in Case of Emergency: Responding to Increased Demand

Break Glass in Case of Emergency: Responding to Increased Demand

By Q2

25 Aug, 2020

Q2 regularly sees user activity around deposits jump by nearly 15 percent as we approach account holder paydays. But when the first round of U.S. government stimulus checks triggered an increase of more than 700 percent, it quickly emphasized the importance of digital solutions that scale to meet unexpected pressures.

Responding to sudden demand

Q2 is dedicated to building stronger communities by strengthening the FIs that serve them. In this case, it was imperative to adapt quickly, ensuring that FIs could continue to provide seamless customer service in the face of this sudden strain on digital resources. To do so, Q2 Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer Lou Senko and the hosting team sprang into action.

“I essentially broke the ‘in case of emergency’ glass.”

Breaking the glass

To meet the tremendous uptick in need, the team made a quick decision to add Q2’s reserve hosting solutions and reserve servers (which had been purchased earlier in the year to accommodate upcoming implementations) to the equation. “I essentially broke the ‘in case of emergency’ glass,” he said. Technology provided only part of the response, however. It was clear that a significant number of Q2's FI customers would require individual attention; this effort would take all hands on deck. With the equipment deployed, the hosting infrastructure team provisioned capacity to each FI’s tech stack. Adding a layer of complexity, this overnight job had to be carried out entirely remotely – something the team had never done before.

Preparation for continued success

With a lot of collaboration and coaching, the overnight response resulted in less reported issues and positioned Q2 FIs to continue meeting their enormous capacity demands. In learning from unexpected events like these and translating those lessons into strategy, Q2 continues to strengthen FIs. Take a closer look at how the Q2 team countered the rapid increase in pressure in the Built In ATX insider spotlight article, Stimulus Checks Caused a 700% Uptick on This Company’s Platform. Here’s How They Kept Up.


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Written by Q2