The article is last updated on November, 1st, 2024
To our customers,
It’s Damien here, writing on behalf of the entire team. I wanted to take some time to further explain what’s been happening here at Zanda.
We understand how crucial it is for you to have a reliable system to manage your practice efficiently. We also recognize that recent periods of system slowness and occasional login difficulties have been frustrating, and we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.
At the same time, the impact of these issues has varied among our customers. While some of you may have experienced significant disruptions, others may not have noticed any issues at all.
Regardless of the extent to which you’ve been affected, the main thing we want you to know is that we are fully committed to resolving these issues and improving your experience with Zanda.
Understanding the Challenges and Our Progress
Over the past few months, we have been actively investigating these intermittent performance issues. Identifying the root causes has been complex—it’s like finding a few needles in a haystack. Paradoxically, if it were a large problem with the system, it would be easier to identify; instead, we are dealing with a few small issues that can have an outsized adverse impact on performance.
We want you to know that we have a specialized team focused on identifying these performance issues. To date, we have made significant progress and have identified and partially resolved several key culprits contributing to the problems.
While we are still working on it, here’s an update on what we’ve found and done so far:
Email Spam Filtering Enhancements
We’re continuously updating our spam filtering and assessment systems to stay ahead of evolving spam tactics. Recently, we identified that some enhancements within this system were leading to processing delays, impacting system performance. After thorough investigation, we found that the spam filtering mechanism was occasionally causing interruptions across various services, particularly under high load.
To address this, we have implemented optimizations in our spam filtering algorithms to maintain robust security while reducing processing times. These changes are already demonstrating improvements, significantly easing the load on our system without sacrificing security. While we’re pleased with these initial results, we recognize that maintaining optimal performance requires ongoing attention and adjustments, which we are fully committed to.
Inefficient Database Queries
We also identified certain database queries that were less efficient than needed, contributing to delays within our platform. Although each query’s inefficiency might seem minimal on its own, collectively, they created noticeable slowdowns in the system. Pinpointing these inefficiencies required a careful and in-depth analysis, as they were embedded in multiple operational processes.
Our team is systematically reviewing and optimizing these database queries to streamline operations further. These adjustments have already led to a more responsive system overall. However, we view this as an ongoing project, ensuring that as our platform grows, our database performance remains both fast and reliable. We are committed to continually refining these processes to minimize any potential disruptions and maintain a seamless experience for all users.
Summary of Progress and Ongoing Monitoring
Over the past several weeks, our efforts have been focused on resolving key issues that affected system performance, with encouraging results. Addressing these spam filtering and database inefficiencies has greatly improved the system’s responsiveness and stability. While we are pleased with the significant progress, we acknowledge that our system evolves with the needs of our users and the growth of our platform. This means occasional downtimes or slowdowns may still arise as we adapt, but we remain vigilant in monitoring performance and implementing further adjustments as necessary.
Our Development Approach
You might wonder, “Why are new features being released when there are unresolved issues?”.
At Zanda, we have multiple engineering teams focusing on different areas, including system performance, new features, and upgrades. Each team has specialized expertise, and their efforts are coordinated to ensure continuous improvement of our platform.
Concentrating all our engineers on a single issue might seem like it would speed up the resolution, but in reality, it can lead to diminishing returns. Adding more people to the problem doesn’t necessarily help and can sometimes slow down progress due to increased complexity and coordination required.
Continuing to develop new features is essential for advancing the platform and providing you with the tools you need to run your practice effectively. Our goal is to balance immediate needs with future growth, ensuring that while we address current issues, we also keep moving forward to bring you enhancements that add value to your practice.
Other Initiatives We Are Undertaking
While not directly related to the recent system issues, we are making further changes to improve our customers’ overall experience.
Enhanced Quality Assurance Program
We’re reconfiguring our QA processes and have been expanding our QA team over the past several months. They are developing more comprehensive methods of testing new features and releases. This helps us reduce the risk of bugs and ensures that new features and updates are rolled out more smoothly.
Expanding Our Support Team
We have experienced periods of unplanned reduction in our Support Team due to a combination of factors, including personal leave, natural disasters, and internal promotions. While these are normal events for which we have contingencies, the combination of these factors, along with the system issues, has resulted in support response times being outside our target range.
In response, we have recently expanded our Support Team, and this expansion will continue over the next few months. There is a delay in onboarding new team members before they can make a significant impact on response times, but our ongoing investment will provide a more consistent experience in the coming periods.
Customer Relationship Management and Support Tools
Historically, our management of customer relationships was spread across multiple poorly connected systems. Account information, support interactions, feature announcements, and email communications were not easily accessible. Earlier this year, we began migrating our disparate systems to HubSpot. The goal is to provide a cohesive single source of truth to better enable us to provide efficient service.
To be transparent, our migration to HubSpot has been challenging and placed our Support Team under additional pressure. Over the first few months, we experienced decreased efficiency. We have worked through this period and now expect that we’ll start reaping the benefits of this transition, allowing us to provide better support and more tailored, useful communication.
Looking Ahead
Zanda has been proudly supporting health professionals for well over a decade, and we’re excited about the future. We’re committed not only to resolving current issues but also to continually enhancing our platform to better serve you. Our ongoing investments in infrastructure, team growth, and process improvements are all part of our dedication to providing you with the best possible experience.
We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through these challenges. Please know that we’re dedicated to providing you with the reliable, efficient service you expect and deserve.
We’re Here for You
If you have any questions or need assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Support Team. We’re here to help.
Despite these challenges, we thank you for your continued trust in Zanda. We’re confident we’ll get to the bottom of these issues and we’re optimistic about the future. We remain committed to supporting you every step of the way.