IQOS Club Modernization
Leading the architectural evolution of a high-traffic loyalty platform for the Canary Islands and Andorra.
The Challenge
The IQOS Club platform, a vital loyalty system for Philip Morris International, was running on a legacy stack (PHP 7.4 and Laravel Nova 2). As the system grew in complexity and user base, the technical debt started to hinder development speed and security standards.
The mission was to modernize the entire core without disrupting the service for thousands of users and multiple third-party API integrations.
Leadership & Mentorship
As the Team Leader, I was responsible for more than just code delivery:
- Task Orchestration: Managing the sprint backlog and unblocking team members through strategic planning.
- Technical Mentorship: Guiding the engineering team through the major breaking changes of Laravel 11 and Nova 4.
- Code Quality: Enforcing PSR standards and SOLID principles through rigorous code reviews and architectural oversight.
The Architected Solution
We executed a phased migration to a bleeding-edge stack: PHP 8.3, Laravel 11, and Laravel Nova 4.
Core Upgrade
Refactored legacy models to utilize PHP 8.3 features like constructor property promotion and readonly properties for cleaner code.
Nova 4 Customization
Rebuilt custom fields and tools to match the new Nova 4 bridge, significantly improving the administrative user experience (UX).
Technical & Business Impact
- Future-Proofing: Eliminated security risks associated with EOL (End-of-Life) software versions.
- Performance Optimization: Achieved faster response times in API endpoints through the transition to PHP 8.3.
- Developer Velocity: Laravel 11's streamlined structure reduced boilerplate, allowing for 25% faster feature delivery cycles.