The Challenge

Foot Science’s core IT infrastructure had been functioning well with its on-site blade server array for nearly a decade. That was until a sudden major hardware failure brought the business to a halt for several days.

The IT Team managed to get the company back online, but a permanent fix was urgent. The server was too old to be repaired, so another solution had to be found fast.

One of many options considered was a new onsite server. What swayed the decision was the realisation that this disaster presented a silver lining – an opportunity to improve the system and review business processes.

The Solution

Walter Künkel, a senior engineer at The IT Team, architected the winning solution to migrate Foot Science’s existing onsite systems to a fully hosted cloud structure within a datacentre. This included all critical business functions, an ERP system, databases, and everyday file storage. The plan would also have a good level of backups to mitigate any future risks to production.

“The decision to move their server and database to a cloud solution was driven by four factors: good user experience, maximum uptime, flexibility for remote staff, and robust disaster recovery measures,” said Walter.

Process and Development Manager Hamish McIntyre, who was the key IT stakeholder responsible for the project delivery from client side, said: “Changing to the cloud didn’t involve huge disruption to our business, which was great. Instead of simultaneously restructuring our data and systems, we essentially mapped our existing network and structure across. It’s provided the opportunity to tidy things up, including migrating recent data and archiving legacy data.”