Stabilzing and Rebuilding a Subscription-Based Digital Health Platform Without Revenue Disruption

Customer Snapshot

Industry: Healthcare & FinTech

Region: South Africa

Platform: Subscription-based digital health & nutrition mobile application

Engagement Model:

• Scrums.com Plan: Recommended
• Mobile App Development
• Platform Maintenance
• Product Management
• Ongoing Maintenance + Backend Rebuild

The Challenge

Health-e Simplified operates a live, subscription-driven consumer platform where reliability directly impacts revenue, user trust, and growth. As the platform scaled, operational issues and technical debt began to threaten stability.

Key challenges included:

Subscription reliability & revenue risk

• Users completed payments but did not consistently receive access
• Subscription state not reliably updated after payment events
• Manual support interventions required to resolve access issues
• Risk of revenue leakage and customer churn

Marketing attribution gaps

• Meta SDK tracking broke following a major update
• Limited visibility into campaign performance and ROI
• Interim analytics tools lacked sufficient attribution depth

Technical debt & platform maturity

• Growing CI/CD and infrastructure debt
• Reactive fixes rather than preventative maintenance
• Limited visibility into progress and rebuild sequencing

Rebuild while live

• Backend required a structured rebuild
• Platform needed to remain fully operational during the rebuild
• Required clear communication, sequencing, and stakeholder alignment

The Goal

• Stabilize subscriptions and protect recurring revenue
• Restore confidence in marketing analytics and attribution
• Reduce operational risk through preventative maintenance
• Rebuild backend foundations without disrupting live users
• Improve delivery transparency and stakeholder confidence

Scrums.com Solution

Scrums.com implemented a two-track delivery approach: stabilize first, then rebuild - ensuring continuity while improving long-term foundations.

Key components included:

Subscription & payment stabilisation

Investigated and resolved issues across:

• Paystack payment flows
• RevenueCat subscription management
• Webhook handling and backend state updates

Improved backend logic to ensure:

• Accurate subscription state after payment
• Reliable access control for monthly and annual plans

Eliminated recurring access failures and reduced manual support load

Marketing analytics & attribution recovery

Restored and updated Meta SDK after tracking failures

Re-enabled accurate campaign attribution and performance measurement

Maintained interim tracking via Google Analytics and Firebase during remediation

Enabled data-driven optimisation of marketing spend again

Preventative maintenance & technical discipline

Introduced structured preventative initiatives:

• CI/CD health checks and build caching
• Automated deployment validation
• Regular Rubber Ducking Sessions (RDS)

Ensured:

• At least one actionable technical debt item per sprint
• Clear documentation of incidents, decisions, and risks

Backend rebuild & product reset

Assembled a dedicated rebuild team

Focused on:

• Stability
• Clear sequencing of work
• Transparency of delivery progress

Established:

• Bi-weekly strategy and update sessions
• Clear reporting on completed, in-progress, and upcoming work

Design & quality

Preserved user experience continuity throughout stabilisation and rebuild

Improved operational visibility through:

• Incident reports
• Client reports
• Decision logs
• Product roadmap tracking

Agile delivery with daily standups and structured escalation for P1 issues

Results

• Subscription reliability significantly improved
• Reduced manual support and fewer user complaints
• Restored confidence in marketing data and campaign ROI
• Improved delivery transparency and stakeholder alignment
• Stable platform foundation ready for post-rebuild feature expansion

Health-e transitioned from reactive issue management to a structured, forward-looking delivery model.

Why This Matters

For subscription-based digital products, reliability is inseparable from growth.

Health-e achieved:

• Protected recurring revenue during platform change
• Improved trust with users and internal stakeholders
• Reduced operational and technical risk
• A disciplined rebuild path without disrupting live customers
• A foundation ready for future feature expansion

Scaling a subscription-based digital product requires more than features

It requires reliability, trust, and strong foundations.

Scrums.com helps digital health and consumer platforms stabilize, rebuild, and scale - without disrupting the users who rely on them.

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