Ecare is an innovative IT company from Enschede, the Netherlands. That was founded in 2007, with the development of a software solution for healthcare companies. A system that empowered the caregivers to fully focus on providing care. Since then Ecare has grown to become a serious player in the market, with their smart en simple SaaS-solutions for all kinds of care institutions.
PUUR.
One of their SaaS-applications is ‘PUUR.’. This is a simple, clear and user-friendly filing system for healthcare organizations. In which the caregiver has an overview of his or her daily work. In addition, it offers features to do assessments, write reports and safely share information with clients and other caregivers.
Technical Lead Leon van der Riet explains: “This filing system was originally built on a monolithic architecture. In which the user interface, the functionality, the processing and storage of the data, were combined in one data model.”
Challenges
At first this data model functioned properly. But as the number of customers started to grow rapidly, the first challenges arose. The monolith was not as scalable, as was desired by the performance. At the same time, new customers arrived, with specific functional requirements. These requests were often added to the application, without having a functional assurance.
“It became harder to manage”, explains Leon. “Pieces of the code were not cleaned up. And the names were not always unambiguous. That caused various processes to overperform. With double costs, performance challenges and complexity as a result.”
Microservices
To increase the flexibility and scalability of the applications, Ecare decided to implement a microservices architecture. In which different components of the application use the same services. A challenging migration. Ecare decided that they could use some help with this. Leon: “We were looking for an organization that could peer review our code. As well as advise us on things like scalability, governance and how to get the most out of Azure. ”
Big step forward
“Microsoft introduced us to Intercept. They helped us straighten out the code. Intercept also advised us to move our largest customer, for whom we were still using a physical data center, to Azure. This enabled us to phase out our data center. That is a big step in the right direction for us. As a result, we no longer have to invest in maintaining two systems that serve the same purpose, ”says Leon.
‘’The migration went smoothly. I think Intercept is the only organization in the Netherlands that can do this.”
Leon van de RietTechnical Lead
Cloud independent
The time that Ecare saved, by phasing out the data center, was well invested. In self development on the ins and outs of Kubernetes and Docker. “We truly are a Microsoft oriented organization”, says Leon. “We want to maximize the benefits of Azure, but at the same time retain the option to switch to another cloud partner. Intercept helped us with that, by confirming that we are on the right track with Kubernetes. ”
From EA to CSP
Intercept recently advised Ecare to transfer from an Enterprise Agreement (EA) to a Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) subscription. "In the past we had to make a pre-commitment to Microsoft. With the CSP subscription we simply pay Intercept a monthly fee, based on what we’ve actually used." Yet the costs were not the main reason why Ecare made the switch. “It was mainly about the support that Intercept offers. It is nice to have a local partner that has a lot of knowledge of Azure. ”
Smooth
“I was a bit hesitant about the migration,” admits Leon. “In the past I migrated an EA to a CSP. At the time I had to move and recreate all our resources. At Ecare we have a few thousand resources. Intercept assured me that the migration would be quick and easy. And it showed. The migration went smoothly. I think Intercept is the only organization in the Netherlands that can do this.”
Improved performance
The first pieces of the microservices architecture are now in use. “Thanks to the advice that Intercept provided, we are making great progress in our microservices architecture,” says Leon enthusiastically. This progress really shows. Both to the development team and the end users. “We used to have performance problems at peak hours, we are now able to spread this throughout the day. That has significantly improved our performance. ”
Are you looking for an Azure sparring partner too? Or are you curious about the benefits of a CSP subscription? Please contact us.
Tags
App Modernization
Migrate
Microservices
In short
Ecare: smart software for healthcare
Ecare developed a software solution for healthcare organizations. Through the PUUR application, among others, Ecare has become a serious player on the ECD market.
As the number of customers increased, so did the challenges. The monolith was not sufficiently scalable and pieces of code were not properly cleaned up. This created performance problems and duplicate costs.
By migrating to a microservices architecture, performance was greatly improved.
Possibly interesting as well:
SLA by Azure: This is how it works
Each Azure service has its own SLA with associated terms and conditions; limitations and service credit (service credits). But what does this mean exactly?
Are you considering using public cloud services but would you instead not stop with your private cloud? Then a hybrid cloud could be the answer. Two key reasons why a hybrid cloud is getting attention are its optimal scalability and flexibility.
Many people talk about Microservices and Service Mesch, but what is this? In this article we'll look at what Microservices are, what a Service Mesh is and what you can do with it, and finally whether you really need it now.
App and Platform Modernization: Rehost, Refactor, Rearchitect, Rebuild, and Replace
Once you’ve decided to start working with Azure, the process of Cloud migration begins. Several complex decisions play a role in this process, so it makes sense to work according to a carefully draw up a migration strategy.
Watch how we provide value to our software partners
To help Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) accelerate application development and increase business opportunities, Intercept introduces the Cloudify for ISV program.
What do you really get when you perform a lift and shift to Azure?
“Lift and shift or rehosting” can sound a little like moving resources from point A to point B, meaning you will move everything the good stuff and the bad stuff and you will end up with an environment that is almost identical to what you had. But rehosting your environment is so much more than that. Instead of simply moving resources around let’s let at it a little bit differently.
Checklist part 2: Choose your architecture before you migrate to Azure
As a second in a series of articles, we’ll take a look at architectures and why it is important to take a look at the overall picture. Do you want to define a roadmap and see where you are in 3 years? Probably not. But you do want to understand the implications your architecture has on added value, available features and pricing.
Checklist part 1: Choose your strategy before you migrate to Azure
Before you start your Azure journey it’s important to take a step back and think of what you’re trying to achieve. The first step to successfully modernizing your solution is to determine your strategy, short term and long term.
Top 5 Azure PaaS and serverless services you don't want to miss as an ISV
We work daily with multiple Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to optimize their solution using Microsoft Azure. Since we encounter a number of PaaS services on a daily basis with our clients, we want to share our top 5 with you.
