Making Health Tech Affordable: Why Migrating from AWS RDS to Docker was a Game-Changer for Us
In a fast-growing health tech startup like Atom360, every step we take is designed to make quality healthcare more accessible and affordable. When we realized that our AWS RDS costs were adding up quickly, we began looking for alternatives that would not only save on expenses but also give us more control over our infrastructure. This led us to migrate our PostgreSQL database from AWS RDS to a Docker container, a move that’s allowed us to keep costs low and focus resources on what matters most—improving patient care.
For those looking for a detailed, step-by-step guide on the technical process of this migration, check out our Technical Guide to Migrating PostgreSQL from AWS RDS to Docker. This blog will focus on why we chose to make this shift and the broader benefits that come with a local containerized database setup, especially for startups working in resource-constrained environments.
Why We Made the Shift: More Than Just Cost Savings
When we began offering AI-powered oral cancer screenings through our Berry.Care app, one of our core missions was to make it affordable for everyone, including rural communities where healthcare options are limited. However, as our database usage grew, so did our costs. While AWS RDS provided a stable cloud infrastructure, it wasn’t cost-effective for our long-term goals.
By migrating our database to a Docker container, we were able to:
Lower Operational Costs: With Docker, we minimized cloud fees, enabling us to invest more in our technology development and outreach efforts.
Gain Full Control: With a containerized local database, our team could customize configurations, speed up testing, and troubleshoot issues without cloud limitations.
Improve Development Speed: Working locally reduced network latency, which sped up our development cycles and testing—essential for a fast-moving startup.
How Docker Fits Into Our Mission to Deliver Affordable Health Tech
Docker allowed us to streamline our tech infrastructure to better serve rural populations. Here’s how:
Adaptability: Docker containers are portable, meaning we can deploy our solution flexibly and quickly across different environments. This adaptability is key for us to eventually reach remote areas and keep screening costs low.
Resource Optimization: In a small startup, every rupee counts. By reducing cloud dependency, we can use those savings to make our AI model even more accessible to rural communities, where high screening costs could be a barrier to regular preventive care.
Getting Started with Your Own Migration
If you’re a developer or a startup team looking to follow in our footsteps, we recommend checking out our Technical Guide for a deep dive into the migration process. Our guide includes everything from backing up your AWS RDS data to configuring a PostgreSQL Docker container, and restoring your data securely. This is particularly helpful for any startup looking to optimize costs and have full control over its database environment.
Final Thoughts: Optimizing Health Tech for the Greater Good
Our goal at Atom360 isn’t just to innovate for innovation’s sake. By making this migration to Docker, we’re able to bring down the cost of delivering life-saving screenings to rural communities and ensure our platform remains accessible to all. Cost-cutting on the backend can mean life-changing access to healthcare on the frontend. We hope that by sharing our approach, we can inspire other startups in the health tech space to explore cost-saving measures that help make healthcare more affordable and accessible.
Let’s make healthcare affordable—together.
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