Customer Story: SuperConcepts

Objective

To merge a disparate mix of platforms, hypervisors and servers from multiple entities into a single enterprise-grade infrastructure solution that supports SuperConcepts’ growth targets.

Approach

Relocate SuperConcepts’ technology environment to a single data centre in Sydney with increased availability, scalability, data backup, and replication capabilities.

IT Outcome

Faster, more reliable backups and increased storage capacity, plus each entity operating off the same network and using common systems.

Business Outcome

Improved speed and performance across the organisation and better access to data for users, resulting in a more efficient and productive workforce.

“We couldn’t be more impressed by the way Data^#3 handled this complex and time critical project. Nothing was too much trouble and they were always on hand to support our teams and provide expertise throughout the journey. I would highly recommend Data^#3 for their professional services capabilities and look forward to continuing the partnership well into the future.”

Jim Robinson, Manager IT and Security, SuperConcepts

The Background
SuperConcepts delivers Self Managed Super Fund (SMSF) services across administration, education and software to thousands of accountants, advisors and trustees in Australia. These services are deployed using Cloud-based technologies and automated solutions to help drive efficiency, eliminate manual processing and reduce errors.

SuperConcepts was formed by merging five existing SMSF services companies, and has offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide, plus an international office in South East Asia.

The Technology Story
From a technology perspective, SuperConcepts needed to overcome two key challenges:

1. Upgrading their technology environment to support the company’s growth targets; and
2. Merging a disparate mix of platforms, hypervisors (Hyper-V and vSphere) and servers from the five individual entities into a single, high performance data centre located in Sydney.

The challenge was to strengthen security and control, provision IT services faster, and lower operational costs.

In other words, SuperConcepts sought a powerful new enterprise-grade infrastructure platform, with identical stacks built in Sydney and Brisbane and replication between the two sites to ensure data security and business continuity.

SuperConcepts chose Data^#3 to overcome these challenges based on Data^#3’s technical expertise and proven experience in implementing complex technology solutions. A consultative approach was adopted, where we took an in-depth look at SuperConcepts existing environment, where they needed to be, and what the best solutions were to address their challenges and position the business for future growth.

After extensive consultation, Data^#3 presented several solutions to SuperConcepts, including a demonstration of the Veeam Backup and Replication product. This product leveraged the underlying SAN (NetApp) storage to take advantage of faster backups, thus improving data availability across the business.

In the end, SuperConcepts chose VMware as their new hypervisor and Veeam for backup. Veeam’s ability to backup and manage the complex mix of Microsoft and VMware hypervisors from one central console was critical to the success of the project.

Data^#3 provided licensing and professional services on the backup component of the solution, which included making sure the integration between Veeam and NetApp was seamless.

“After an extensive PoC, we saw that Data^#3 clearly possessed the technical skills to integrate Veeam with our NetApp storage,” says Jim Robinson, Manager IT and Security, SuperConcepts.

The end result was one network for all five entities, operating off the same platform and using the same systems.

A significant advantage of the solution is the reduced backup window for critical applications from one day down to every 15 minutes. This means critical data is constantly being backed up, helping to ensure business continuity for SuperConcepts.

The ability to recover files and virtual hard disks from a host-level backup of Hyper-V virtual machines has also improved with Veeam Explorer tools. These tools have enabled SuperConcepts to recover application items more quickly and easily than with the previous backup solution.

Additionally, SuperConcepts now enjoys enhanced reporting and monitoring capabilities with the new Veeam backup and replication solution. This increases visibility across the network and enables the team to identify any issues and rectify them before they become a major problem.

The Business Story
SuperConcepts’ technology investment was primarily driven by the company’s aggressive growth objectives. SuperConcepts currently provides SMSF services to thousands of accountants, advisors and trustees across Australia and are currently achieving significant growth.

This is only possible with a powerful, robust and scalable enterprise-grade infrastructure platform. Without it, SuperConcepts would struggle to meet their growth objectives and continue to experience inefficiencies across the business.

What’s more, the business needed to address the ongoing challenge of data protection. With enormous amounts of sensitive customer and business information to manage, having the right backup, recovery and storage capability was an essential requirement.

From an overall business outcome perspective, the new solution delivered by Data^#3 positions SuperConcepts to achieve its ambitious growth targets, as well as create real efficiencies across the business.

End users now enjoy faster, more seamless access to data, tools and applications 24/7, plus business continuity is assured thanks to a reduced risk of downtime and data loss.

This has resulted in more efficient and productive employees, which is particularly important in the context of an increasingly mobile workforce.

Conclusion
SuperConcepts now has the right technology to support its business objectives. Merging five entities into one company was always going to be challenging, particularly when it came to migrating and consolidating a varied mix of platforms, hypervisors and servers.

With Data^#3 and Veeam working seamlessly together, the new infrastructure platform delivers the speed, performance, scalability and availability the company needs to grow and prosper into the future.

“We couldn’t be more impressed by the way Data^#3 handled this complex and time critical project,” notes Robinson.

“Nothing was too much trouble and they were always on hand to support our teams and provide expertise throughout the journey. I would highly recommend Data^#3 for their professional services capabilities and look forward to continuing the partnership well into the future.”

Download the SuperConcepts Customer Story.

To learn more about how Data^#3 can assist your organisation, call 1300 23 28 23 or enquire online.