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    All case studies

    Zitec scaled the donations infrastructure for Romania's first new pediatric oncology hospital in 30 years

    Google Cloud Partner

    of the Year 2024 for Social Impact, EMEA

    Online infrastructure

    unified onto a single cloud-based platform

    The Overview

    Dăruiește Viață set out to build the first pediatric cancer hospital in Romania, the first new hospital constructed in the country in 30 years.

    The project was funded entirely from donations and corporate sponsorships, which meant the organization's online donations infrastructure had to handle fundraising campaign peaks reliably, protect donor data, and operate with maximum cost-efficiency.

    Together with Dăruiește Viață, and supported by our partnership with Google Cloud, we redesigned the infrastructure behind the organization's online operations. The new setup unified Dăruiește Viață's services onto a single cloud-based platform, scaled during high-traffic donation periods, and reduced the maintenance effort the team had to invest in keeping it running.

    The work was recognized at Google Cloud Next 2024, where Zitec received the Google Cloud Partner of the Year for Social Impact, EMEA, a recognition for measurable outcomes in projects with social impact.

    The Challenges

    The challenges Dăruiește Viață faced were both technical and operational, and each one had a direct impact on the organization's capacity to focus on its core mission.

    • Traffic surges during peak donation times. Fundraising campaigns generate concentrated bursts of donor activity that the existing infrastructure was not built to absorb predictably.
    • Data accuracy. Handling donor information and transaction data required a foundation that supported reliable, accurate processing across the organization's online operations.
    • Cost-effectiveness. Every euro spent on infrastructure was a euro not flowing toward the cause. The organization needed an environment that delivered scale and reliability without disproportionate cost.
    • Operational fragmentation. Dispersed services and tooling created additional maintenance work for a lean NGO team whose attention was needed on the mission, not on managing systems.

    “We are glad we opted for these GCP solutions. Our entire online infrastructure is now better, more cost-efficient, and requires less maintenance, which in turn allows us to focus more of our resources on what matters the most: the reform of the Romanian health system.”

    Mihaela Pintilie

    Project Manager, Dăruiește Viață

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    The Solution

    Together with Dăruiește Viață, we designed a Google Cloud-based infrastructure that addressed each of these challenges through a coordinated set of changes rather than a sequence of isolated fixes.

    • Unified cloud platform. We consolidated Dăruiește Viață's online operations onto a single cloud-based environment. This simplified the day-to-day management of services and reduced the number of moving parts the team had to oversee.
    • Dedicated, scalable infrastructure. Using Cloud Run and Cloud SQL, we built an infrastructure layer designed to scale during high-traffic donation periods and to support the data security needs of an organization handling personal donor information.
    • Donations platform redevelopment. We rebuilt the donations platform to be more user-friendly and cost-effective.

    Beyond the technical work, our colleagues at Zitec contributed directly to Dăruiește Viață's mission through volunteer work and fundraising efforts within the company.

    “We are deeply honoured and thank Google for their recognition of Zitec's social commitments with this award. Initiatives such as Dăruiește Viață are very dear to our hearts as they truly reflect Zitec's belief in using technology for impact across all initiatives we take on.”

    Alex Lăpușan

    Co-CEO & Co-Founder, Zitec

    The Results

    The redesigned infrastructure delivered the outcomes Dăruiește Viață needed at the right moment in their journey. The platform now handles donation traffic peaks on a foundation built for scale, stores donor data on a secure cloud environment, and runs at a fraction of the maintenance effort the previous setup required.

    For the Dăruiește Viață team, the most direct impact was operational. Less time spent on infrastructure means more time spent on programs and partnerships. Less budget allocated to maintenance means more funding available for the cause itself.

    The first pediatric cancer hospital in Romania (and the first new hospital constructed in the country in 30 years) was successfully built entirely from donations and corporate sponsorships.

    In April 2024, our work together was recognized when Zitec received the Google Cloud Partner of the Year for Social Impact, EMEA at Google Cloud Next 2024. The recognition reflects what we believe is one of the strongest cases for cloud technology in the non-profit sector.

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    "In our quest to find the right technological partner for our needs, we had several exchanges with different other companies in the market. We were immediately attracted by the technological architecture proposed by Zitec, as well as by the team brought forward."

     

    The Process

    In hindsight, it’s clear that they weren’t only looking for a new eCommerce platform. They were seeking a strategic partner who could help them rethink their digital operations while maximizing ROI.

    “Digitalization has always been seen as a fundamental part of our strategy, not a response to a specific challenge. From the beginning, we set up a strong infrastructure to support both our back-end systems and customer-facing technologies. Partnering with Zitec and adopting the VTEX platform has positioned us to scale efficiently while keeping operations smooth. The success of this project came down to the close collaboration between our teams and Zitec’s capacity to understand our brand core and communicate openly and professionally, focusing on results. The results have been outstanding, positioning us as leaders in digital service in Romania.”

    The company’s Senior eCommerce Manager

    This transformation was part of a broader initiative to modernize operations in response to new consumer demands, amplified by the pandemic and informed by successful strategies from similar markets. Here’s what followed:

    1. At first, we listened.
    2. Then, we took on a consultative approach to audit the operations.
    3. We engaged with key stakeholders, from external and internal tech teams from Zitec and VTEX, to the business teams and their vendors, for a smooth and efficient transition that met the retailer’s goals.
    4. We rolled out a plan that addresses the essentials: immediate needs, scaling capabilities, cost efficiency, and future feature enhancements.
    5. Transparency was non-negotiable. We worked closely with the retailer to evaluate the total cost of ownership for a set of solutions so that no hidden costs or surprises would arise down the line.
    6. Instead of jumping straight into a major overhaul, we assessed other options, including upgrading the existing system.

    The decision to move to VTEX was grounded in real-world analysis that showed it to be the most flexible, cost-efficient, and scalable option for the retailer.

    Thanks to our agile, iterative approach, we launched an MVP in just four months (half the projected time) without compromising quality. This allowed for real-time market feedback, customer testing, and continuous platform refinement.