Case Study Ctrl

Ctrl is an online platform for the financial sector. Administration and accounting firms use the platform for communication and cooperation with clients and for submitting declarations and annual accounts.

Until recently Ctrl was part of Deloitte, but now has continued independently. For this independence, a new Cloud environment was needed with its own subscriptions. Ctrl called in our help. Curious how we handled this? Then read on.

The situation

Ctrl is an online communication, integration and collaboration platform for administration and accounting firms. Offices can handle all communication with their customers and the exchange of documents via the platform. Declarations and annual accounts can also be submitted automatically via the system.

Ctrl started as part of Deloitte. The developed software could be used more widely, therefore Ctrl chose to go independently. At this moment there are around 20 accountancy firms, including Deloitte, who make use of this platform.

The Challenge

As part of Deloitte, CTRL already used Azure. As an independent organization, the cloud environment from CTRL had to be migrated to its own Cloud environment. Because Ctrl exists of a team of 20 employees, the enterprise subscriptions they used to work with were no longer applicable. Due to the use of a different licensing model, the platform had to be partially rebuilt.

Ctrl went looking for a company that could help in the transition to its own environment with its own subscriptions. Martijn van Eeten, CTO of Ctrl, explains; ‘’The migration gave us immediately the opportunity to see how we could raise our performance and security application to a higher level. We were looking for a partner that could handle the migration process entirely. We found the ideal partner in Intercept.’’

The solution

At first we organized a workshop to verify with Ctrl how we could perform the migration as quickly as possible. We also showed Ctrl how they could optimally use Azure in terms of user-friendliness, performance and security.

For development, Ctrl used Github and automatic deployments within Azure. We have transferred the development environment one to one. The infrastructure of the staging and production environment had to be completely rebuilt. We supported Ctrl with this. The application could easily be installed on the new production environment using automatic deployments.

We implemented the migration overnight, so that administration and accounting firms were not affected by downtime.

Ctrl now purchases Managed Services from us. This means that we are responsible for keeping the platform up and running. We update machines, monitor the security and health of the environment, guarantee accessibility and make backups. For Ctrl, 2020 is all about leveraging the power of the Cloud, and we are happy to help them with that.

The results

• Ctrl now has an independent environment with its own subscriptions. During the migration, Ctrl has discovered new potential improvements regarding security and performance. These were implemented after the migration.
  
  
• The migration to the new environment took place at night with limited downtime. Customers have not noticed anything at the front.
  
  
• Ctrl has retained its own development environment. The responsibility for the health and safety of the new environment lies with us. Ctrl can fully focus on the continued development of the platform.