When specialist ICT services company Tecovation sought a partner to assist it with a cloud services based project for a customer, it turned to South African cloud vendor and hybrid cloud enablement partner Cloud on Demand to assist it with the process.
The business requirement
The company’s journey with Cloud on Demand started while it was working on the delivery of an automated access control and membership solution for a one-on-one gym franchise. The team required a solution made up of a cloud hosted database management system and application software that linked to a wristband encoder, access control reader and turnstile.
The database, that was required to be hosted in the cloud, is “fed” information via RFID wristbands.
“When we first installed the system everything worked perfectly with the exception of the turnstile which wouldn’t activate when a valid wristband was scanned. After significant troubleshooting we identified that the problem existed in the communication between the application and the database, which at that stage was being hosted in the Netherlands,” states Penprase.
This prompted the Tecovation team to investigate the potential of hosting the database locally. According to Penprase this then started its search for a local cloud vendor or supplier.
The challenge
“We started approaching everyone in the industry, all of the big ISPs and even networking suppliers; no one could provide us with what we were looking for. It was almost as if they simply didn’t know what a cloud service was as they kept trying to sell us hosting services,” states Penprase.
“It was almost as if we needed to educate the market ourselves and painstakingly explain to them that a cloud service is not a web hosting service.”
The partnership
“After contacting Cloud on Demand the team came to visit us and took the time to sit down, map our business requirements and discuss if they could in fact assist us. They were the first business to not only understand what a cloud service was, but also began the process by looking at what our physical requirement was,” mentions Penprase.
The Cloud on Demand team quickly proposed that Tecovation trial its services over a “test period”. According to Penprase the database was moved the very next day, the result of which was that the system was up immediately and began seamlessly communicating with the application software.
“It was the answer to all of our needs. A company that not only knew what we needed, but we were able to provide a great service that worked,” he says.
Building for the future
Based on the success of the project, Penprase says that its relationship with Cloud on Demand is enabling Tecovation to explore new services and solutions that can be delivered via the cloud. As a provider of cloud based applications, it will now use Cloud on Demand as its primary cloud supplier.
“What the partnership means to us is that we can now host our solutions locally, which equates to us having better control of the relationship with our supplier, as well as enables us to concentrate on the application delivery side of our solutions,” he says.
The benefits of partnering with Cloud on Demand are according to Penprase and the Tecovation team, the fact that they are working with a partner who (finally) understands its business requirements, knows the cloud, has staff who are knowledgeable, all of which is supported by a solid product that meets its express needs.
“I think this entire project highlights not only Cloud on Demand’s ability to deliver superior cloud based solutions, but more importantly what the cloud can do for businesses no matter their requirement, no matter their location, and no matter their budget.
