So, what does a cloud consultation actually involve, and why is it critical? To explain further, we are exploring three case studies of consultations we have had with our customers, and how the process allowed us to solve their challenges.
Bespoke resource requirements – Stickley on Security
Stickley on Security provides cybersecurity education and testing solutions, often integrated directly into financial institutions’ websites.
In the consultation phase with Stickley on Security, it was essential for our cloud consultants to quickly understand their needs and design a solution, as, due to issues with their previous provider, they needed to migrate their entire environment in less than 2 weeks. The primary concern for Stickley on Security was that they needed the flexibility and scalability to allocate resources quickly and easily. Their further challenges were requiring a robust hosting solution which ensured continual uptime, and finding a provider who met their high security standards.
Based on this consultation, we designed a bespoke solution, creating a resource pool that runs on our Enterprise Cloud platform. With this solution, Stickley on Security can manage the allocation of their resources through a web portal, allowing them to spin up and decommission virtual machines and adjust resources as needed. Our VMware-based Enterprise Cloud platform is highly available and reliable, with redundancies in place to ensure continual uptime. As with all of our customers, Stickley on Security benefit from the highest security standards, and they additionally have access to adjust their platform-level firewall to support their requirements.
For more details, read the full Stickley on Security case study.
Cost savings – Persimmon Homes
Persimmon Homes build around 15,000 new homes every year across 400 locations.
We held an initial consultation with Persimmon Homes, where we discussed their goal to virtualize 100% of their infrastructure. The primary challenge they were facing was around outages on their public-facing platform, as well as poor response times from their previous provider when things went wrong. This downtime was causing them unnecessary costs, as well as risking damage to their business reputation.
To address their concerns, we proposed our Enterprise Cloud as a solution, delivering the high availability and 24/7/365 support Persimmon Homes required, with the cost-effectiveness of a multi-tenant solution. After receiving this proposal, they were keen to begin the process of virtualization, and we were able to migrate all of their public-facing sites with zero downtime.
Six months on from migration, Persimmon Homes saw £8000 in cost savings, with no outages.
For more details, read the full Persimmon Homes case study.
Handling traffic spikes – Remarkable
Remarkable Commerce creates bespoke, high-performance eCommerce platforms for retail customers, including Ben Sherman, Moss Bros and M&Co.
During our consultation with Remarkable, they raised several main challenges. With their previous solution, they needed to add new dedicated servers to handle traffic spikes around Black Friday, incurring significant costs, and taking several weeks to implement. Secondly, they frequently experienced downtime, with no input from their provider on how to improve this. Their other main concern was around support – whenever they experienced downtime, they were unable to access support from engineers quickly, which had a negative impact on their customers.
To resolve Remarkable’s issues with their previous solution, our architects designed a bespoke Private Cloud environment. To allow for dynamic scaling, we virtualized their infrastructure, allowing for resources to be added and removed as needed around planned periods of high traffic. To avoid any risk of downtime, we actively monitor their servers around the clock, allocating additional resources in case of unexpected traffic surges. Finally, to solve their challenges around support, we provide them with 24/7/365 direct-to-engineer support, allowing them to immediately speak to one of our experts any time they need.
For more details, read the full Remarkable case study.
Could you benefit from a cloud consultation?
To experience the benefits of our cloud consultation process, you can fill out our contact form. One of our team of experts will get back to you to arrange an initial consultation to discuss your needs and challenges, and advise on the ideal solution for you.
