As the developer of StaffSavvy, SmartBlue helps organisations simplify workforce management through a single SaaS platform that combines shift planning, HR, communication, online training, compliance, timesheets and recruitment. Designed for businesses that have outgrown basic HR or scheduling tools, StaffSavvy can manage complex contract types across multiple venues, with configurable rules that support automated scheduling and local employment compliance.
As demand for the StaffSavvy platform grew beyond the UK, SmartBlue needed an infrastructure partner that could support its expansion into Australia and New Zealand while meeting the performance and data sovereignty expectations of local customers.
Servers Australia worked closely with SmartBlue to design and deliver a high-availability hosting environment, giving the business a strong local foundation to support its regional growth.
The Challenge
SmartBlue already operated its StaffSavvy platform from UK-based infrastructure. However, expanding into Australia and New Zealand presented several challenges.
Without a local hosting presence, the business couldn't deliver the application performance expected by customers in the region. Just as importantly, it couldn't satisfy data sovereignty requirements, which are critical for many of the industries StaffSavvy serves.
As Peter Griffin, Senior DevOps Engineer at SmartBlue, explains:
We previously didn't have an Australian footprint which meant that we couldn't provide potential Australian customers the performance that they'd require. Also we couldn't satisfy data sovereignty which is a critical requirement for customers in the sectors that we serve.
Peter Griffin, Senior DevOps Engineer, SmartBlue
The business needed a resilient, locally hosted environment that would support future growth while maintaining the high availability expected from a SaaS platform.
StaffSavvy helps organisations simplify workforce management through a single SaaS platform.
The Solution
After evaluating Australian hosting providers, SmartBlue selected Servers Australia based on its reliable local infrastructure, 24/7 support and collaborative approach. The Servers Australia team worked closely with SmartBlue to design a bespoke high-availability environment tailored to the requirements of StaffSavvy and its availability objectives.
As SmartBlue's infrastructure requirements evolved, Servers Australia migrated their existing three Cloud Servers to a Virtual Data Centre (VDC) solution. Rather than managing standalone cloud servers, VDC provides SmartBlue with a flexible pool of compute, memory and storage resources that can be allocated across virtual machines as needed. It also simplifies infrastructure management through a single, centralised platform, while providing built-in features such as Veeam backups and advanced networking across all workloads.
As part of the solution, SmartBlue also adopted Servers Australia's Monitoring & Maintenance Agreement (MMA) and Professional Services Agreement (PSA). These services provide ongoing monitoring, proactive maintenance and access to specialist engineering support, complementing the Virtual Data Centre with the operational expertise needed to keep the environment performing at its best.
During the planning and implementation process, Servers Australia partnered with SmartBlue to ensure the environment aligned with the company's long-term infrastructure requirements.
The Servers Australia team were very friendly and knowledgeable. They worked closely with us to come up with a bespoke configuration to achieve the level of high availability that we required for hosting StaffSavvy.
Peter Griffin, Senior DevOps Engineer, SmartBlue
The Results
With its Australian infrastructure in place, SmartBlue has successfully expanded into Australia and New Zealand, providing customers with the performance and local data residency they require.
The migration to Servers Australia's Virtual Data Centre provides a flexible infrastructure platform with shared compute, memory and storage resources, while supporting the high availability required for the StaffSavvy platform.
The benefits have extended beyond technical performance, opening new market opportunities that previously weren't possible.
Previously we didn't have the capability to host customers in Australia and New Zealand, so we were missing out on a potential market. Thanks to our SAU infrastructure we can now satisfy the data sovereignty and performance needs of new and potential customers in the region.
Peter Griffin, Senior DevOps Engineer, SmartBlue
Beyond enabling its expansion into Australia and New Zealand, Servers Australia's infrastructure has provided SmartBlue with the reliability and resilience needed to support a business-critical SaaS platform. Combined with responsive Australian-based support, SmartBlue can focus on developing StaffSavvy, knowing its hosting environment is in safe hands.
The highest accolade I can give our Servers Australia service is that we can just forget that we have it. The service is so resilient that we rarely have to call on support, and when we do, issues are solved quickly with the minimum of fuss.
Peter Griffin, Senior DevOps Engineer, SmartBlue
By partnering with Servers Australia, SmartBlue has built a resilient infrastructure platform that supports its Australian and New Zealand operations, while providing the flexibility to grow alongside the StaffSavvy platform. With local hosting, high availability and a scalable Virtual Data Centre solution, the business is well positioned to meet the evolving needs of its customers.
