Webtools – Success Stories

Software and IOT solutions developer Webtools stays local for public cloud functions and flexibility.

Webtools Health works across the Health, Energy & Agriculture sectors in NZ and Australia, delivering web/cloud based solutions as well as mobile apps.

Fast and secure access to health data

Webtools’ health app; Well was designed to make access to personal health information as quick and easy as ordering a ride on Uber. The patient-facing app draws patient data from a range of health systems and providers to present a record of ‘encounters’ in a way that makes sense to the user.

Sizing up cloud platforms to launch the trial and wider rollout of the app Webtools identified three broad requirements:

From a client perspective, they had to address concerns about storing data offshore in a public cloud.
From a product roadmap perspective, they required a cloud platform that met Ministry of Health standards for connectivity and security to pursue future work involving the Connected Health Network and National Health Index.
And from a performance standpoint, Webtools required the scalability and flexibility of the public cloud – but within a private cloud environment.

When Webtools met Spark Health they soon realised they could get the best of both worlds— a public cloud platform from a New Zealand-based cloud.

Azure Stack by CloudCreator ticked all the boxes.

The Microsoft-enabled hybrid cloud presented Webtools with the opportunity to launch its Well app on a local platform packed with the same features and functions as Azure public cloud, including pay-as-you-go pricing, and development and production environments that shared the same user interface and APIs with Microsoft Azure.

Webtools Health manager Harry Hawke said Azure Stack by CloudCreator made complete sense. “Some clients squirm when you say Sydney data centre,” he said. “With Azure Stack by CloudCreator we can spin VMs up and down, and keep everything onshore.”

Hawke also said, as a government provider of IaaS services, Spark Health had been measured against DIA’s cloud risk assessment guidelines.

Options Open

Software developers operate in an extremely fluid world.
Developers need almost opened-ended options to keep up with their demands. “You’re simply not in the game, if you are locked out of web architectures and third-party software tools, said Hawke. “There are so many great tools out there it’d be a pity if we couldn’t use them,” he said. “And that’s the beauty of working in Azure Stack by CloudCreator – because it offers features, tools, and options similar to Azure public cloud. So there’s nothing we can’t do in the cloud – there are no limitations here. It’s nice to be able to turn on new services to eliminate manual processes.”

One place to manage everything in the cloud

Webtools uses Spark Health’s multi-cloud management dashboard CloudCreator to control everything they need in the cloud. As the gateway to Spark Health’s Azure Stack offering, CloudCreator takes a much broader view, putting a single window to multiple clouds, allowing Webtools to mix and match cloud infrastructure and platform services from Spark Health, Microsoft, and Amazon.

Go global

While it’s early days for Webtools’ expansion offshore, Hawke said it’s good to know they can spark things up without coding and migration grinding progress to a halt.

Working in the Azure ecosystem means Webtools works confidently in the cloud, knowing that their application will run smoothly when it’s deployed in new international regions. So whether they host applications and data here or abroad, there’s no need to change a thing, because everything works the same way.