“We are an industry leader because we apply best practice software development processes, employ elite developers, and differentiate our business by offering a complete end-to-end solution based on the Windows Azure platform.“

Mitch Denny, Platform Technical Specialist, Readify

Readify is an Australian provider of software applications and IT services. The company needed to better support its customers’ scalability, security, and cost-savings requirements. To do that, Readify moved to the Windows Azure cloud platform to support internal and customer applications. As a result, the company can more easily increase its business while meeting customer demands. Readify can also take advantage of the solution’s strong identity-management and security capabilities.

Business NeedsReadify is an IT software and services company that develops and deploys applications and offers software services for customers across Australia. A longtime Microsoft partner, Readify has gold competencies in application development, lifecycle management, collaboration and content, application integration, business intelligence, and mobility.

The company continually searches for new ways to meet its customers’ needs. Specifically, Readify wanted to address customer demands for application scalability, reliability, redundancy, security,

and cost savings. In addition, its business model has been changing.

To respond to these developments, Readify wanted to base its business on cloud technology. “We were more and more interested in providing solutions to our customers without them having to go through a large hardware acquisition process,” says Mitch Denny, Platform Technical Specialist, Readify. “We thought that moving to the cloud might meet our customers’ needs while also helping us to increase our business.” Once it made the decision to move to the cloud, Readify began the process of choosing the cloud

Customer: ReadifyWebsite: www.readify.netCustomer Size: 190 employees Country or Region: AustraliaIndustry: Professional services—IT services

Customer ProfileFounded in 2001, Readify has developed a global reputation for building and supporting innovative software applications across the corporate, government, and not-for-profit sectors. The organization was named 2013 Microsoft Country Partner of the Year in Australia.

Software and Services Windows Azure platform− Windows Azure− Windows Azure Cloud Services− Windows Azure SQL Database− Windows Azure Storage

Technologies− Microsoft Hyper-V Server

For more information about other Microsoft customer successes, please visit:

IT Services Company Boosts Competitiveness with Cloud Solution

technology infrastructure that best fit its needs.

SolutionReadify initially looked at the Windows Azure cloud platform, but the company wasn’t ready to commit right away. “There was a time when Azure wasn’t as mature as it is today, so we looked at other options,” Denny says. “Even though we are a Microsoft partner, we’re constantly looking at other technologies. For example, we evaluated Amazon Web Services as a cloud solution.” However, Readify ultimately chose Windows Azure as its back-end technology solution. “As the Azure platform matured and rapidly released new features, it became apparent that it was on a trajectory that would take us where we needed to go,” says Denny.

The company moved most of its critical business applications to Azure. “We set up an internal application support team, and that team actually has Readify as its biggest customer,” says Denny. The company has also deployed business-critical applications in Azure for more than 20 customers.

Currently, Readify uses Windows Azure Cloud Services to host applications internally and for customers, with Windows Azure SQL Database used to store critical business data. The company is also helping some customers set up Azure test labs, using Windows Azure Storage as the back-end storage solution for virtual machines.

Readify has a hybrid infrastructure, with its Azure deployment in place in addition to applications running in a Microsoft Hyper-V Server deployment in a data center in Texas. “Eventually, we’ll move those applications to Azure as well,” says Denny.

The company is also taking advantage of some of the security and identity management features in Windows Azure. For instance, some of the company’s internal Azure-based applications need to access data from an on-premises customer relationship management (CRM) application. When Readify consultants use the Azure applications, an on-premises version of Active Directory Federation Services is used for authentication, and then bounces back to Azure and pulls in data from the CRM system.

BenefitsWith Windows Azure, Readify has the right technology to help boost business and respond to customer needs. Readify can also easily build applications using the solution’s strong identity management.

Helps Readify Change Its Business Model to Facilitate New Growth By moving its applications to Azure, Readify is capitalizing on the technology’s flexibility to transform its business approach. “The elasticity of Windows Azure is a perfect fit for our fast-growing business, which prides itself on the velocity of our software projects,” says Denny. “For instance, when we’re bidding on a customer project now, we don’t have to worry about lead times for hardware provisioning, so we can do things faster.”

The company’s growth is accelerating as a result of working in the cloud. “More customers are willing to move to the cloud today,” says Denny. “We are an industry leader because we apply the best- practices software development processes, employ elite developers, and differentiate our business by offering a complete end-to-end solution based on the Windows Azure platform.“

Meets Customer Demands for Cost Savings, Scalability, and ReliabilityBy moving to the cloud, Readify is better able to respond to customers looking to reduce operational expenses. “We have already helped customers save money by avoiding expensive hardware purchases,” says Denny. “Some of those companies had previously bought equipment and provisioned it using private clouds. But now, if they want a virtual machine running the cloud, it’s all done on a per-hour charge, as they need it. And our benefits are similar. With Windows Azure, we can continue doing business as a small, relatively nimble organization. We don't have to buy new hardware or worry about maintaining server licenses.”

Readify can also use Azure to support customers’ scalability needs. “Many of our customers have scalability needs, such as seasonal workloads or just typical application usage peaks and troughs throughout the day,” Denny says. “By

moving the application back ends onto Windows Azure, we can make it faster and easier for those customers to dynamically scale in response to demands.”

The company is also helping its customers meet requirements for availability and redundancy. “Windows Azure SQL Database is very reliable, with database failover and redundancy taken care of behind the scenes,” says Denny. “So there’s a high level of availability and resiliency for our customers.”

Offers Strong Identity Management and SecurityWindows Azure also provides strong identity management, which assists Readify in building applications. “Because we can link our on-premises Active Directory deployment into Windows Azure and then connect applications to Windows Azure Active Directory Federation Services, it’s easier for us to build and deploy those applications,” says Denny.

The solution’s strong security is another advantage. “Some people question cloud security, but we feel that the security policies that are applied to your infrastructure when it’s running in the cloud are far better than what we could provide locally in on-premises applications,” says Denny. “That’s a massive win for Azure. There’s just nothing else like it in the marketplace, and we’re excited to base our business on it.”

This case study is for informational purposes only.MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published December 2013