Overview
The Heidenheim-based software company DotNetFabrik, which also develops FLOWWER, has been known for lean and efficient software at fair conditions for 20 years.
Branche
Software-as-a-Service
Employees
<15
Customers
2.000+
gridscale products in use
• Cloud Server
• Storage
• RESTful API
The goal
In order to fully concentrate again on what DotNetFabrik does best – namely its own software development – the company was looking for a reliable German cloud provider that could fully take care of FLOWWER’s secure IT operations and at the same time convince with a high level of service. Added to this: As a comprehensive archiving solution for the business data of its users, FLOWWER is imperatively dependent on storage capacities that are always immediately and unlimitedly available.
Challenges
Since FLOWWER works with very sensitive company information, the strictest data protection and confidentiality requirements apply – of course also for the operation of the IT infrastructure. At the same time, the complete migration of both the system and the entire archive inventory was to take place over a single weekend – the concern was too big that many customers would be lost in the event of a prolonged maintenance window or even a temporary system failure. Very fast availability and high reliability were therefore among the most important criteria when selecting a provider.
The solution
The DSGVO-compliant and flexibly scalable cloud server and storage solutions from gridscale. Thanks to the ease of use and uncomplicated handling of the technology, all FLOWWER components could be transferred and put back into operation in just a few days. As a result, DotNetFabrik now benefits from computing and storage capacities that can be scaled as required, stable performance and consumption-based costs for the use of the necessary resources.
Key Results
Complete cloud migration in just 3 days
Time regained for own core business
100% DSGVO compliant data storage
We liked the fact that, unlike the large hyperscalers, gridscale is based in Germany and focuses entirely on medium-sized businesses. In addition, of course, there was the intuitive cloud panel. It is an advantage to work with a cloud platform where components can be set up and configured so quickly. And the fact that storage can be booked on an extremely flexible basis was really a big step forward for us.
Sascha Schwegelbauer, CEO DotNetFabrik GmbH
Interview with Sascha Schwegelbauer
CEO DotNetFabrik GmbH
Sascha, you have been using gridscale for several years now. What prompted you to look for a new provider back then?
We wanted to finally focus on what we do best: our software. Unfortunately, this was not possible with our previous provider, because we were also responsible for the hardware and monitoring. For us, it was an important goal to hand over these aspects to a reliable partner. In our search, we finally landed at gridscale. And we have not regretted the decision to this day. It was an important step for our company.
What were the arguments for gridscale?
First of all the service offer itself. We process important invoice data. A cloud solution offers us a high level of security. Even if the hardware should fail for some reason, everything is securely protected in the gridscale cloud and quickly available to the user at all times.
We also liked the fact that, unlike the large hyperscalers, gridscale is based in Germany and focuses entirely on medium-sized businesses. In addition, of course, there was the intuitive gridscale interface, the Cloud Panel. It is an advantage to work with a cloud platform where components can be set up and configured so quickly. And the fact that storage can be booked on an extremely flexible basis was really a big step forward for us.
Considering your business model, DSGVO compliance certainly played a big role as well.
This was a decisive factor. Our SaaS solution processes invoices and data from companies where high data protection and confidentiality guidelines must be observed. A purely German provider with no legal ties to US corporations was therefore an important criterion for us right from the start.
We must ensure at all times that the data remains with us. In addition to data protection, this is also important for our customer service. After all, we need to be able to act quickly in the event of problems due to the sensitivity of the data.
How does gridscale differ from your previous provider in these aspects?
The customer service there was more like that of a government agency. We had to take a number, wait, and if the first contact person couldn’t offer a solution, the game started all over again. We no longer wanted to feel like we were talking to a chatbot, but to an experienced technician to whom we could describe our problems. That’s exactly what gridscale offers us. You are immediately on the spot in case of problems or questions. The cooperation is uncomplicated and at the highest technical level. That is impressive.
Besides data protection and customer service, were there any other requirements for your move to the gridscale cloud?
Important technical prerequisites were that we could migrate our existing data to the gridscale cloud in a very simple way. It was our goal from the very beginning to run our entire infrastructure at gridscale. Especially in the migration process, you can’t afford to lose data or have our service barely usable or not usable at all during the changeover. By the time everything was up and running again, we would probably have lost half of our customers. For us, there was therefore no alternative to rapid implementation.
How long did it take to complete the migration?
That was pretty straightforward and only took three to four days. We took the time over the weekend to shut everything down once and were ready to go again for our customers from the restart on Sunday evening. So that really worked flawlessly. It is very easy to switch to the gridscale cloud.
SaaS solutions in the gridscale cloud
gridscale offers SaaS providers a secure and fast cloud with a perfect user experience. The gridscale cloud guarantees 24/7 reliability, stable performance and German data protection – with attractive prices thanks to minute-by-minute pay-as-you-go billing.
Developer friendly – All the freedom for cloud-native and DevOps concepts thanks to open source philosophy, open API and managed Kubernetes.
Audit-proof – compliance with all regulatory requirements for data protection according to ISO 27001. Secure data storage in German TIER 3 data centers.
Scalable – Required resources can be seamlessly adapted at any time. Storage and CPU scale automatically and reliably during operation.
Service-friendly – The gridscale cloud experts are always available for uncomplicated problem solving and advice when needed.
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