Introduction

Scribendi is a world leader in the online professional copy editing and proofreading sector. Founded in 1997, its platform connects approximately 400 active freelancers with 28,000 clients annually, including the global academic community, students, researchers, authors, and businesses. These high-quality services have enabled Scribendi to grow fast, editing nearly three billion words and processing 900,000 orders since its launch.

The business has also embraced technology, developing its own natural language processing (NLP) AI technologies to correct grammar and spelling, and to assign projects to its editors in accordance with deadlines and complexity. Bill Johnson, Head of IT, AI, and Software Engineering, Scribendi, says, "Our mission is to help people around the world reach their goals through the written word. We do this thanks to the quality and accuracy of our services, as well as advanced technology that enables us to adapt quickly in a fast-changing industry." Scribendi relies on a highly secure, low-latency Google Cloud infrastructure to power its end-to-end platform while supporting and enhancing its AI-based services. Scribendi also partners with Managed Service Provider Searce to fine-tune the performance of key Google Cloud solutions that support service delivery.

Challenges

Prior to using Google Cloud, the Scribendi IT team was responsible for infrastructure management across three sites. "There was a significant opportunity cost associated with infrastructure management," says Johnson. "We also lacked the technological flexibility to keep up with our growth." At some points, Scribendi was expanding so fast that it had to turn off some services to free up capacity.

For Johnson the goal was clear. "We needed to become more agile and have more time to focus on improving our technology. This meant moving from being an editing and proofreading company to a tech company that offers these services."

The IT team decided to consolidate its infrastructure in the cloud and performed a 10-year TCO simulation between collocation, Google Cloud, and two other cloud platforms. "Google Cloud checked all the functionality and scalability boxes for us and was the most cost-effective solution over 10 years. It was an easy decision to make," says Johnson.

Searce Solution

Scribendi turned to Google Cloud Managed Service Provider - Searce to migrate its infrastructure to the cloud and make the most of Google Cloud solutions that supported its strategic goals. "Initially, we were working with another company that was struggling to solve some of the technical challenges associated with the lift-and-shift migration," says Johnson.

Searce also helps Scribendi take advantage of Google Cloud features supporting enhanced security. "Google Cloud is much easier to use than other cloud providers. The protection of client data is a priority. In our opinion, Google Cloud is the market leader in cloud computing security thanks to tools such as Google Cloud Armor, which protect us against distributed denial-of-service and other web attacks."

Results

Quadrupling the value of the business

Johnson was keen to deliver lightning-fast services to the company's global clients. "We need to be fast and reliable no matter where our clients are. With Google Cloud, we have been able to achieve record speeds and maintain high availability on a global scale using Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) and autoscaling."

Scribendi uses Google Cloud industry-leading AI tools, including Tensorflow, to innovate and enhance its existing services. It also accelerated its deployment velocity by implementing CI/CD pipelines using Cloud Build and Artifact Registry alongside GKE. "With Google Cloud, we can continue to innovate and enhance our industry-leading NLP grammar correction technology for academics, and our project allocation system which uses AI to match jobs to editors with the right skill set. This has reduced our late order percentage by a few hundred percent, which meant fewer refunds and happier clients overall."

The partnership with Searce and Google Cloud has had a massive impact on the transformation of Scribendi's business. "With the support of Google Cloud and Searce, we have grown our company extremely fast in the last five years. We have quadrupled in value and been acquired twice," says Johnson.

Focusing on AI innovation and customer service

An important contributing factor is the ability to eliminate opportunity costs and focus on strategic objectives. "Our IT and development teams can focus on innovation instead of maintaining and expanding our infrastructure. We are able to concentrate on new and better services for our clients because Google Cloud and Searce provide the infrastructure and support that free up our time," says Johnson.

Looking to the future, Scribendi can expand its services and client base secure in the knowledge that it has comprehensive support from both Searce and Google Cloud. "Searce is always current on the latest Google Cloud offerings. They also alert us to workshops, new features, and Google Cloud credits when they become available. When we bring a business challenge to Searce, they not only recommend a solution but can also execute it for us as well."

Less time on menial tasks, more focus on innovation, and strong backend support translate to a positive working experience for Scribendi's teams. "It's inspiring for my team and helps them think outside the box because they know they're not going to have to do everything on their own," says Johnson.

Above all, the relationship with Google Cloud and Searce give Johnson confidence that Scribendi will remain at the forefront of the editing and proofreading sector. "We will achieve this through AI and the technology innovations we deliver. At the same time, we can create more value for our clients by reducing costs through automation with Google Cloud and Searce."