Project Overview
LendingTree (TREE), one of the largest online loan marketplaces in the U.S., has grown significantly since its founding in 1996. Its mission is to help customers make smarter financial decisions by connecting potential borrowers with multiple loan providers to find optimal terms for loans, credit cards, deposit accounts, and insurance—while also creating more opportunities for lenders to reach qualified leads.
At the heart of LendingTree’s approach is data. By gathering information from multiple sources and delivering highly personalized interactions, while tracking lender outcomes, LendingTree uncovers patterns that make connections between borrowers and lenders easier and more successful.
To support this mission, the company recognized the need for a single, robust, and scalable data platform to improve accessibility and analytics across the business—and partnered with BlueCloud to achieve that goal.
Challenge: Streamlining the Loan Application Process with Data Platform
LendingTree's expansion through multiple acquisitions introduced challenges in data integration, consolidation, and scale.
The High Cost of Data Silos and Fragmentation
Each business unit operated with its data and terminology, resulting in more complex daily data management, additional costs, data silos, and operational inefficiencies. Also, business analysts needed to duplicate data into secondary storage to be able to perform queries and ad hoc analysis efficiently. This led to data inconsistencies and overall inefficient data analysis.
Balancing Borrower Needs with Lender Capacity Constraints
To provide exceptional service, LendingTree must match their customers (borrowers) with the best lenders based on their unique financial profiles while ensuring lenders can handle these customers. This core mission faced a challenge - smaller lenders were able to handle only a limited number of leads at a time. To maintain a steady flow of leads throughout the day for lenders of all sizes, LendingTree had to navigate each lender’s unique constraints while ensuring the best match between the two.
Breaking Barriers with a Single Source of Truth
LendingTree needed ongoing support in streamlining data processes.
Solution: Transforming Endless Silos into Unified Data with the Snowflake Platform
BlueCloud worked closely with LendingTree and their technology partners to identify opportunities for creating business value.
Enabling Seamless Migration to Snowflake AI Data Cloud
BlueCloud helped LendingTree seamlessly migrate to the Snowflake AI Data Cloud enabling them to optimize their data infrastructure and maximize the value provided by Snowflake Platform.
The Snowflake Data Cloud Platform, built on Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Azure, emerged as the ideal solution - it enables seamless data integration, turns endless silos into unified data, and enhances collaboration between different business units, driving continuous innovation.
"To achieve our goals, we sought a partner with deep expertise in navigating the Snowflake platform who could agilely help us develop our internal knowledge base and identify cost-effective opportunities for growth and improvement. BlueCloud's extensive experience in the latest cloud technologies inspired our confidence in their ability to provide clear guidance and a path to value. Their alignment with our operational model and long-term goals made them an ideal choice."
- Scott Totman, Chief Product and Technology Officer at LendingTree
By utilizing BlueCloud’s scalable, high-performing, and on-demand global workforce, LendingTree successfully migrated to Snowflake, building a foundation for long-term innovation. This partnership not only ensured high-quality migration to Snowflake, but it also initiated a robust data-driven revenue growth strategy.
“LendingTree saw a 40% reduction in relational database costs, and a remarkable 97% improvement in report runtime, reducing it from 5 hours to just 10 minutes. On top of this, it achieved overall account-level cost tracking, a single source of truth with trusted data, and clear data lineage.”
- Bill Tennant, Chief Revenue Officer at BlueCloud
Providing Superior Experience for Lenders and Borrowers with Snowpark ML Models
Together with BlueCloud, LendingTree created Snowpark ML models that have dramatically improved matching algorithm capabilities, ensuring customers get the best match and that lenders of all sizes can be successful in the LendingTree network. This approach prevents fluctuations in applicant volume and ensures consumers receive prompt, personalized attention from lenders.
Delivering Continuous Support for Effective Data Management
BlueCloud further supports LendingTree in managing their ongoing data needs. This involves migrating outdated databases to either Snowflake or Amazon RDS, depending on LendingTree’s data usage, and performing intricate data reconciliation and validation—a complex and time-consuming process. As a result, LendingTree teams can now focus on strategic initiatives and adopt cutting-edge technologies like Snowpipe Streaming.
Impact: Driving Continuous Innovation for Online Loan Marketplace with Robust and Scalable Data Platform
BlueCloud has partnered with LendingTree to optimize their data management and analytics capabilities, enabling continuous innovation and enhanced financial services:
- Enhanced Data Analytics: Leveraged Snowflake migration to improve data accessibility, accuracy, and insights.
- Advanced Machine Learning: Developed Snowpark ML models that enhanced matching algorithms, ensuring customers are paired with the best lenders while maintaining consistent lead distribution and personalized attention across lenders of all sizes.
- Ongoing Innovation: Enabled continuous development of new services and data-driven strategies.
- Strengthened Market Leadership: Positioned LendingTree to maintain its reputation as a trusted and respected leader in the financial industry.
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