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The Kiwi CMS provider harnessing cloud power to serve the healthcare sector
Mon, 16th Aug 2021
FYI, this story is more than a year old

The New Zealand health and disability sector comprises many support providers that care for Kiwis with special requirements. Each provider is required to not only manage multitudes of data, but to keep it secure and organised while at the same time meeting stringent regulations across multiple stakeholder bodies. Sounds like a lot of work, eh?

Webcare recognised the need for these support providers to have easy-to-use, reliable, and secure client and staff management systems, so in 2007 they established themselves in Christchurch and began offering just that. “Our clients rely on our software for everything from daily notes, incidents reporting, rostering, scheduling, staffing, client data, facility management, and much more,” says Sean Renner, CEO - Co-founder of Webcare.

Amongst the deluge of data from their daily tasks, providers must also liaise with multiple stakeholders, adhere to different contracts, and meet different criteria for funding; so Webcare's mission is to make this daunting task easy.

The road to the cloud

To securely handle such large quantities of sensitive data, Webcare conducted extensive research and determined that their entire development architecture needed to be cloud-based. “We knew cloud was where we needed to go, but first we needed to find the right service provider to partner with who could supply us with capable data solutions,” explains Mayank Keshariya, PhD in mobile networks - security, Webcare CTO - co-founder.

After realising that they would need to keep all of their data within New Zealand to meet the data privacy policies, Sean and Mayank were led to Voyager Internet, an NZ-based telco. “After speaking with Voyager, we knew our data was going to be better managed and more secure with them, as well as offer us the scalability and cloud infrastructure we needed,” says Sean, “so we moved from the previous provider we'd been using over to Voyager.

To host and store all Webcare's data, the team at Voyager worked closely with Sean and Mayank to deliver high performance, enterprise-grade VMware cloud servers. Webcare is guaranteed Voyager's 99.98% uptime SLA, which enables them to sign an SLA with their own customers promising a certain level of uptime. “Data is our lifeline,” says Mayank. “If that goes down, everything goes down. Guaranteeing that level of uptime for our clients is quite critical.

A Voyager-managed off-site backup of all Webcare's data provides a disaster guarantee, as Mayank calls it, ensuring that it remains secure and protected and that Webcare can bring all their clients' data back if something catastrophic happens.

And when it comes to accessing all this data, the internet plays a vital role. “We need the internet to be fast and reliable because we work in the cloud so much,” says Sean. To ensure a connection that was not only reliable but also up to speed, Webcare selected a Voyager business broadband plan.

Webcare's Sean Renner (L), CEO - co-founder and Mayank Keshariya (R), CTO - co-founder.

A future-proof partnership

Webcare continues to successfully expand their client base, serving clients both throughout New Zealand and across the ditch in Australia. “We're now serving clients statewide in Australia with continued growth in NSW, NT and WA,” says Sean. “We continue to manage everything from our headquarters in Christchurch, so the ability provided by Voyager to work remotely is the key especially during COVID-19 times.

Voyager's solutions have kept it simple for Webcare to keep up with their rapid growth. “The flexibility we've experienced with Voyager has enabled us to easily scale up,” explains Mayank.

“Voyager provides us with a development and test environment so we can actually test new software, guaranteeing it will work properly when it goes to our clients.

Beyond great solutions, it's outstanding support that gives Webcare the confidence to continue partnering with Voyager. “Our relationships with the people at Voyager have built our trust in their service and support,” says Sean. “We know we're going to get the help we need. We have that faith that we can always tell Voyager what we need, have a discussion around it, and have them come back with a solution. We trust the advice from Voyager, and we trust the services.

From a technical side, the services and security Voyager provide are of great value for Mayank, whose concern is keeping Webcare's data safe and having backup plans. “Voyager has enough Plan B's and a great disaster recovery plan, so I trust them,” he says. But he's always got one eye on the future. “Things change so quickly with new technologies. Voyager keeps up with the new technology and helps us to be futureproof.

For a personalised, free consultation with one of Voyager's business experts, get in touch on 0800 477 333 or email business@voyager.nz. To see the full suite of business solutions from Voyager, click here.