The 10 Best Performing SaaS Solution Providers 2018

www.insightssuccess.com 

December 2018 

The10 

Best Performing 

Solution Providers 2018 

Tech-Trend 

Embedded Systems are 

Gaining Popularity across 

All Domains 

Revenue Tips 

SaaS Can Create Business 

Developments with Different 

Revenue Streams 

Steve Wilson 

CEO 

WhiteSky Labs 

Modernizing Legacy Infrastructure

What the 

Future Beholds 

for SaaS 

ot so long ago, people like you and me were used to buying software on a CD-ROM and had to 

Ninstall them manually. However, in recent times more businesses have moved away from their 

conventional on-premise software model in favor of the web based Software as a Service solution 

(SaaS). According to various researches, more than 64 percent of small and medium businesses are now 

relying on cloud-based technology in order to boost productivity. The best part is, around 88 percent 

businesses are planning to invest in SaaS in the coming 2-3 years. 

On the other hand, SaaS has been present for more than a decade now, and only achieved its maturity after 

legacy software providers finally abandoned their outdated pricing, licensing and delivery models in favor 

of SaaS and cloud subscriptions. 

So, what’s driving this continuous growth even after a decade of existence? The simple answer is 

convenience! SaaS helps organizations with flexible payments via subscriptions, automatic updates and 

support. It additionally, saves various organizations from having to install and run software on their own 

PCs and data centers, which eventually leads to savings of money, time and resources. 

So, what does the future hold for SaaS? While it’s not easy to answer, still there are few trends which can 

eventually impact the growth of SaaS. 

Ÿ 

With each passing day, organizations are growing and reaching a certain level of maturity and 

adoption, which is eventually shifting the focus from customer acquisition to customer retention. This 

is helping to the rise of Product as a Service (PaaS), allowing companies to choose add-on apps and 

services while allowing companies to expand their original product.

Ÿ 

Ÿ 

Security has always been an ongoing issue for SaaS, especially after regulations on privacy are 

increased. With increase in adoption of smart phones, multiple points of entry for security 

breaches are also increasing. Additionally, workers who are working from a remote location often 

expose companies to Wi-Fi networks that are unencrypted and are more vulnerable to attacks. 

Eventually, smartphones are becoming an integral part of our lives, be it joining a FaceTime call 

with colleagues who work in remote location or accessing files from Google Docs or Dropbox. 

Nowadays, near to half of the small business owners use smartphones as a primary device to run 

their daily operations, which is eventually increasing the demand of mobile apps or mobile first 

solutions. 

In the end, we can say that SaaS companies are embracing innovation and change, knowing that they 

cannot rely on first generation SaaS strategies in order to stay in the competition. 

So, with great enthusiasm, Insights Success has selected some of the most prominent organizations 

around the globe in the issue of “The 10 Best Performing SaaS Solution Providers 2018”. These 

organizations are transforming the SaaS industry with their revolutionary innovations and foremost 

initiatives that mainly focus on product acceleration and customer satisfaction. 

The journey starts with WhiteSky Labs, a specialized consulting organization that helps companies 

unleash the potential of flexible, scalable integrated applications. A growing number of successful 

Mule ESB implementations in Australia, New Zealand, United States and the Philippines make us a 

partner of choice for all Mulesoft consulting and support requirements. 

Then we have Avetta, who provides a cloud-based supply chain risk management platform. Our 

global solution is uniquely designed to connect the world’s leading organizations with qualified 

suppliers, driving sustainable growth; Digital Guardian, who provide data security solutions to 

protect data from insider and outsider threats; Highfive, which is on a mission to transform every 

meeting room with modern, beautifully-designed technology that empowers people to get their best 

work done together; PROMIS@Service, who helps European organizations to deal with a complex 

regulatory environment, to structure processes and data systematically and efficiently, and to achieve 

de facto compliance with legal requirements for Health & Safety, Quality, Environmental 

management and other international standards; ProMobi Technologies, who works as your 

technology partner to help you build and grow your products; Spiralinks, which has designed, 

installed, and hosted secure web-based systems for human resources, compensation and finance 

teams for more than 20 years; ActivTrak, whose intuitive software, helps users to analyze reports 

and real-time data, then use this information to find trends happening in the day-to-day operations of 

the company. 

Happy Reading! 

Kaustav Roy

08 

16 

Tech Outlook 

The Evolution of Testing: 

Unmatched Acceleration 

with Fifth Generation 

Automation 

32 

Tech-Know Insights 

Minimize Risk of Digital 

Transformation Failure 

46 

Leadership Viewpoint 

Challenges in Cloud 

Computing 

Articles 

Cover Story 

WhiteSky Labs 

Modernizing Legacy 

Infrastructure 

26 

Revenue Tips 

SaaS Can Create Business Developments 

with Different Revenue Streams 

40 

Tech-Trend 

Embedded Systems Are Gaining 

Popularity Across All Domains

C o n t e n t s 

28 

20 

38 

Digital Guardian: 

Protecting Sensitive Data from 

Potential Threats 

ActivTrak: 

Making Employee 

Monitoring Easy 

30 

PROMIS@Service: 

Offering Exemplary 

Multifunctional Performance 

Enabling Solutions 

22 44 

Highve: 

Meetings Reimagined 

Avetta: 

Using SaaS-Based Technologies 

to Empower the World 

36 

SpiraLinks 

Corporation: 

Redening Management 

Processes since Inception 

MobiLock: 

Driving Simplicity and 

Innovation in Mobile Device 

Management

Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal 

Managing Editor Anish Miller 

Executive Editor Kaustav Roy 

Assistant Editors Jenny Fernandes 

Kedar Kulkarni 

Contributing Editors Bhushan Kadam 

Hitesh Dhamani 

Visualiser David King 

Art & Design Director Amol Kamble 

Associate Designer Nagesh Tambekar 

Co-designer Shweta Shinde 

Art & Picture Editors Paul Belin 

Jayant Khanna 

Senior Sales Manager Passi D. 

Business Development Manager Peter Collins 

Marketing Manager John Matthew 

Business Development Executives 

Steve, Joe, Alan, Rushikesh 

Sales Executives 

David, Kevin, Mark, Vijay 

Technical Head Jacob Smile 

Technical Specialists Amar, Pratiksha 

Digital Marketing Manager Marry D’Souza 

Online Marketing Strategists 

Alina Sege, Shubham 

SME-SMO Executives 

Prashant Chevale, Uma Dhenge 

Research Analyst Patrick James 

Circulation Managers Robert, Tanaji 

Database Management Stella Andrew 

Technology Consultant David Stokes 

Insights Success Media Tech LLC 

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Dublin, OH 43017, United States 

Phone - (614)-602-1754 

Email: info@insightssuccess.com 

For Subscription: www.insightssuccess.com 

sales@insightssuccess.com 

December, 2018 

Corporate Ofces: 

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Copyright © 2018 Insights Success, All rights reserved. The content and images used in this magazine should not be reproduced or transmitted in 

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Reprint rights remain solely with Insights Success.

Cover Story 

10 

The 



WhiteSky Labs: 

Modernizing Legacy Infrastructure 

We offer agile and cost-effective solutions 

® 

to address all stages of your MuleSoft 

requirements from professional services 

to managed support.

Steve Wilson 

CEO

According to a report from Gartner, there will be 

50 billion connections to the internet by the end 

of 2020; the majority of these will be machine to 

machine. In the age of digitization, organizations are 

constantly being challenged by the explosion of data, 

apps and devices. Companies are innovating through 

digital transformation programs in order meet rapidly 

changing market dynamics and the demand to introduce 

new products to market faster, while delivering a 

seamless customer experience across all channels. In 

order to achieve these goals, companies are realizing they 

must integrate their data, and business processes with onpremise, 

cloud and mobile applications. Meet WhiteSky 

Labs, a Premier Partner of MuleSoft with the mission to 

be the number one, full-service Partner, delivering a 

complete range of integration services to their customers. 

In an interview with Insights Success, CEO, Steve 

Wilson described the journey of WhiteSky and how they 

are adding value to the customers they are working 

with. 

Below are the highlights of the interview between 

Steve and Insights Success: 

Give a brief overview of the company and its 

vision? 

WhiteSky Labs are specialists in the Enterprise 

Integration domain. Many of our executive 

management team have worked together for the past 

20 years in the UK, Europe, US and Asia Pacific. We 

specialize in strategy, architecture and the delivery of 

outcomes using the Mulesoft AnyPoint Platform. 

When I say specialize, to clarify, we are 100% 

focused as a business on MuleSoft. This is all we do 

and we provide a complete range of services across 

the entire MuleSoft solution delivery lifecycle. To use 

a medical analogy, the vast majority of system 

integrators could be described as general practitioners 

offering services across many different technologies, 

whereas at WhiteSky we are the specialists. 

WhiteSky continues to win awards including the 

MuleSoft 2017 APAC Delivery Partner of the Year 

and the 2018 MuleSoft APAC Solution Delivery 

Partner of the Year. We have over 100 staff working 

from our offices in; Sydney, Melbourne and 

Singapore, while our large MuleSoft engineering 

team is based in Manila, Philippines. 

We are a Premier Partner 

specialised in connecting 

apps, data and devices 

using MuleSoft’s 

Anypoint Platform, the 

world’s leading 

integration platform for 

SOA, SaaS, and APIs.

Our blend of on and off-shore delivery 

provides our customers with a very 

attractive commercial solution. This is 

further augmented by MuleSoft related 

IP that accelerates and de-risks our 

customers outcomes. All our 

consultants are MuleSoft certified and 

a large number also have advanced 

certifications. To put it simply, this is 

what we do for a living. 

Our vision is not just to be the best 

MuleSoft services partner worldwide, 

but also to challenge our people who 

have built WhiteSky to where we are 

today, to continually innovate and 

constantly seek to improve our 

systems, processes, IP and the value 

we provide. The benefits of being a 

100% dedicated specialist, when 

combined with the network effect or 

Metcalf’s Law, means our combined 

corporate knowledge and level of 

practical experience continues to grow 

exponentially. 

What services do you offer? 

WhiteSky works with customers 

throughout all stages in their adoption 

of MuleSoft, as well as potential 

customers, by helping to define 

pragmatic and cost effective integration 

strategies and implement them rapidly. 

Specific services include; Strategy and 

Architecture, MuleSoft Project and 

Programme Delivery, MuleSoft 

Software Upgrades, MuleSoft 

Performance Tuning, MuleSoft License 

Capacity Planning, 24/7 Managed 

Services for the Anypoint Platform and 

full enterprise wide MuleSoft Centre of 

Excellence enablement when required. 

How do you deliver benefit to your 

customers? 

Our experience over many years of 

specialization in the enterprise 

integration space, working with 

hundreds of companies, we have 

gained a deep level of insight into what 

customers need to do to be successful 

and drive measurable competitive 

advantage. 

Companies tend to focus more at the 

beginning of the cycle on technology 

selection, rather than how they will 

actually live with the software once it 

is purchased. 

We continue to see the same issues and 

while it is easy to buy software, to be 

successful and realize a return on 

investment, companies must have a 

robust operating model in place. 

Typically the business case supporting 

the selection and acquisition of 

enterprise integration software is put in 

Our team of 

MuleSoft experts 

helps you 

leverage digital 

innovations by 

accelerating your 

time to value and 

lowering the total 

cost of ownership 

® 

for MuleSoft 

solutions on a 

regional and 

global scale. 

a drawer once the software is 

purchased and not actively managed or 

reported on to ensure the business 

benefits are actually delivered. 

Without the correct architecture, design 

patterns, governance, delivery 

processes, estimation models and 

tooling, they will never be realized. 

Enterprise integration is a more 

complex problem than the majority of 

companies realize. We call it the 

execution gap and we help companies 

bridge this and ensure they are creating 

truly reusable APIs, complete with 

enterprise wide service level 

agreements as opposed to project level 

ones. 

Describe the experiences, 

achievements or lessons learned that 

have shaped the journey of the 

company. 

The greatest achievement without 

doubt is the quality of the people 

working at WhiteSky. It is our staff 

who have built the exceptional 

business we have today. They set very 

high standards for themselves and are 

accountable for meeting them. We have 

been growing exceptionally rapidly 

over the past three years; in 2018 alone 

we have grown from 50 staff at the 

beginning of the year to over 100 

today. 

Our focus and commitment to 

excellence as a team and ourdesire to 

continually improve all aspects of the 

business, is underpinned by a very 

strong company culture and a shared 

vision. We actively seek the very best 

people we can find to work with us and 

as a company. We are passionately 

committed to ensure our staff, as 

individuals, can clearly see their career 

growth and that each and every one of 

us are achieving our personal 

objectives. 

Give a detailed explanation 

regarding the 

Founder/CEO/Management’s 

influence towards the industry and 

the company? 

I wouldn’t say I am influencing the 

industry in any major way, however 

within the company I am responsible 

for defining our strategy and ensuring 

it is articulated and clearly understood 

by everyone. A clear definition for 

everyone of their role in the company, 

combined with a high degree of 

autonomy and accountability, ensures 

we are all focused on the same 

outcome and working together as a 

team to achieve it.

We connect apps, data and 

devices in this digital 

economy leveraging the 

uniquely comprehensive 

features of the Anypoint 

Platform, the only unied 

platform for ubiquitous 

connectivity on-premise 

and in the cloud. 

I am also responsible in conjunction with our leadership 

team, for setting the culture. I strongly believe this is the 

secret sauce which fundamentally differentiates us a 

company. Good enough is not enough. We set high 

standards for ourselves and hold each other accountable for 

maintaining them. We operate with full transparency, which 

is a fundamental level of respect everyone deserves. This 

gives us a platform of honesty and trust that we can build 

from. It is a huge honour and a privilege for me every 

single day that every single person chooses to arrive at 

work with WhiteSky. 

This naturally carries over to how we work with customers 

and the obligations and responsibilities we have to them. 

We do not have the word “blame” at WhiteSky, it is a fact 

of life mistakes happen, and we are all human. So we 

accept this at a fundamental level and expect our employees 

to call any mistakes out immediately. This means they are 

not covered up, they can be addressed and we can all learn 

and improve. We operate as a true meritocracy and with a 

very flat structure. As a team we genuinely enjoy working 

together and while it may sound trite, we regard everyone 

as part of the WhiteSky family. We strive to embody this 

every day in how we look after each other and the respect 

we have for each other. We are a very multi-cultural 

company and our overall culture and ethos has been driven 

strongly by our large team in the Philippines. I have 

personally learnt a lot since I began travelling there is 2014. 

We have an outstanding track record of successful delivery 

and continue to push both ourselves and our customers, out 

of a genuine desire to be as good as we can be and create a 

company that is truly different. I have been influenced in 

this by entrepreneurs such as Tony Hsieh and Ricardo 

Semler and it was mandatory since the day I joined 

WhiteSky we create a company people our people feel 

proud to work for. 

Considering the rising number of SaaS Solution 

providers how does WhiteSky Labs stands out from its 

competitors? 

We are differentiated from our competitors for many of the 

reasons I have already discussed. Our strong culture based 

on mutual integrity and respect, our high performance 

MuleSoft delivery centre of excellence in the Philippines, 

coupled with world class integration consultants locally, 

combine to create a unique and commercially very 

attractive solution for customers. The 20 years of 

experience working in the integration space as specialists 

and our 100% focus on MuleSoft, enables us to 

dramatically accelerate outcomes and continuously 

improve. Working with like-minded colleagues who are 

share the same values and are committed to the same goal 

of building a truly world class business, creates an 

environment that is inspiring to be part of and a lot of fun.

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Company Name 

Management 

Brief 

ActivTrak 

activtrak.com 

Herbert Axilrod 

Persident & Co-founder 

Through ActivTrak’s intuitive software, users can analyze 

reports and real-time data, then use this information to find 

trends happening in the day-to-day operations of the company. 

Avetta 

avetta.com 

Bottomline Technologies 

bottomline.com 

John Herr 

CEO 

Rob Eberle 

President & CEO 

Avetta provides a cloud-based supply chain risk management 

platform. Its global solution is uniquely designed to connect 

the world’s leading organizations with qualified suppliers, 

driving sustainable growth. 

Bottomline Technologies, is an innovator in business payment 

automation technology for 30 years, eliminates that struggle by 

helping companies make complex business payments simple, 

smart and secure. 

ClickFunnels 

clickfunnels.com 

Russell Brunson 

Co-founder & CEO 

Clickfunnels makes it simple for any entrepreneur to build 

their own marketing funnels in just minutes. 

Digital Guardian 

digitalguardian.com 

Mark Stevens 

SVP, Global Service 

Digital Guardian provides data security solutions to 

protect data from insider and outsider threats. 

Highfive 

highfive.com 

Joe Manuele 

CEO 

Highfive’s on a mission to transform every meeting room 

with modern, beautifully-designed technology that empowers 

people to get their best work done together. 

PROMIS@Service 

promis.eu 

Caterina Berbenni-Rehm 

Founder & CEO 

PROMIS@Service Sarl helps European organisations to deal 

with a complex regulatory environment, to structure processes 

and data systematically and efficiently, and to achieve de facto 

compliance with legal requirements. 

ProMobi Technologies 

promobitech.com 

Harishankar Kannan 


ProMobi works as your technology partner to help you build and 

grow your products. 

SpiraLinks 

spiralinks.com 

Julie Southern 


SpiraLinks has designed, installed, and hosted secure 

web-based systems for human resources, compensation and 

finance teams for more than 20 years. 

WhiteSky Labs 

whiteskylabs.com 

Steve Wilson 

CEO 

WhiteSky Labs is a specialized consulting organization that 

helps companies unleash the potential of flexible, scalable 

integrated applications.

Tech Outlook 


Evolution 

of 

Testing: 

Unmatched Acceleration 

with Fifth Generation 

Automation 

Shoeb Javed 

CTO 

Worksoft 

he Early Years of Packaged Applications 

TFrom the inception of packaged applications, companies of 

all sizes have taken advantage of the economies of building, 

maintaining, changing and deploying functionality through 

third party software providers. Why build a general ledger 

or payroll/human resources system when you can license it 

instead? Why not leverage out of the box functionality 

offered by third party software and rely on the vendor to 

offer support and maintenance and stay current on 

regulatory, industry and process best practices. 

The first generation of mainframe software transformed 

quickly as the technology evolved, introducing client-server 

as the better, more cost-effective deployment platform. The 

applications themselves were still being developed and 

deployed in functional silos – their interaction with other 

critical functions of the business an after-thought. Although 

less than ideal, interfaces were developed to transport data 

16 

|December 2018

from one system to the next – leading to the introduction of 

middle-ware as an economical means of “connecting” the 

silos. 

At that time, SAP emerged as the leader in delivering 

comprehensive, end-to-end business solutions on the most 

advanced platforms. They quickly captured the market and 

cross-industry adoption continued to deliver best in class 

results to their customers. PeopleSoft was also introduced 

to the market during this era, initially focusing on the 

payroll/human resources market. They ultimately started 

developing and delivering ERP and CRM systems as well. 

Change continued to accelerate as web-based systems were 

introduced which impacted the economic and technological 

dynamics of “user requirements,” development, 

deployment, and costs. 

Throughout this evolution, industries, companies and 

individuals not only developed an incredible reliance on the 

performance of their “systems,” but forward thinking 

organizations saw this as a quick path to competitive 

advantage. 

The Need for Speed 

The problem then as now – how do you accelerate the value 

of the technology investment to the business? The 

technology was purchased, licensed, and implemented to 

achieve a specific set of business benefits. When it comes to 

these large enterprise application investments, companies 

conduct in-depth evaluations and build business cases to 

map out exactly what results they expect to realize. This 

typically involves a look at what financial and human 

capital investments – time and money – will be needed to 

achieve success with a product as well as the financial, 

efficiency, and competitive gains that come with the 

ongoing use of the software. 

On one side of the equation, development methods have 

evolved to meet this need for speed. Waterfall 

methodologies are being replaced with Agile. DevOps has 

become the new buzz-word. But there’s something else to 

consider – the business side of things. There is an everincreasing 

reliance on packaged applications to execute and 

deliver critical business outcomes. It’s important that 

applications are developed and deployed quickly and 

changes can be made regularly, but how do you ensure that 

business processes are running flawlessly? 

Surprisingly, many companies are managing their enterprise 

application processes manually. This means hours of white- 

December 2018 | 

board meetings spent trying to understand existing business 

processes. Weeks during every project spent writing test 

scripts that break when something changes. Delays in 

delivery because manual testing can’t keep pace with 

business change. The implementation and ongoing 

management of enterprise applications is complex, and a 

crucial component is making sure that end-to-end processes 

work—every time, every day. Manual or first generation 

testing means system downtime, errors in production, 

wasted time and energy and companies left open to 

technology risk. 

The bigger picture is that those approaches are 

fundamentally standing in the way of achieving the results 

companies set out to achieve with packaged apps. How can 

you make the financial, productivity, and competitive gains 

About the Author 

Shoeb Javed, Chief 

Technology Ofcer, Worksoft, 

is responsible for the 

technology strategy, 

software development, 

quality assurance and 

customer support for all 

Worksoft solutions. As CTO, 

Shoeb also works with quality 

assurance and business 

leaders of some of the 

largest global Fortune 1000 

corporations to help 

automate testing of 

complex packaged 

enterprise applications to 

speed up project timelines 

and improve operational 

efciencies. 

17

that you were counting on if your 

processes aren’t performing flawlessly? 

The Evolution of Testing 

Thankfully, the answer is today’s fifth 

generation test automation that is 

enabling business users and 

organizations to adopt, accept, and 

utilize new applications faster. When 

processes across enterprise 

applications are executed seamlessly 

and as designed, companies can 

harness the potential of their enterprise 

applications to achieve strategic goals 

like entering new markets, increasing 

revenue, and maintaining a competitive 

advantage. 

Worksoft, the pre-eminent fifth 

generation automation platform, 

delivers unmatched speed in 

automating the identification of current 

business processes and automatically 

creating tests to ensure that each 

business-critical process works as 

required. An independent study of 

Worksoft customers by industry 

analyst IDC identified many unique 

benefits of Worksoft’s automation 

platform, but chief among them was 

accelerating delivery of these 

applications by an average of nearly 

two months. Consider how much more 

you could accomplish if you could cut 

weeks and months from every project. 

Leaders across the globe have adopted 

Worksoft as their weapon of choice to 

improve their financial and operational 

positions in their respective industries. 

Lead the Way 

First to market with autonomous cars? 

Moving your business model from 

DVDs to online subscription services? 

Evolving from an online bookstore to 

the world’s largest internet retailer? 

These companies didn’t simply try to 

keep up. They were determined to lead. 

Today’s digital economy brings 

massive opportunity to companies 

looking to disrupt the market. There 

has been a fundamental change to the 

business landscape and companies who 

are competitive innovators will win. 

About the Company 

Worksoft provides the world's leading 

automation platform for enterprise 

applications. Companies worldwide 

rely on Worksoft’s automated business 

process discovery, documentation, 

compliance, testing, risk analysis, and 

RPA to support critical packaged 

applications, including SAP, 

Salesforce, Oracle, Workday, 

SuccessFactors, ServiceNow and more. 

Our fifth-generation automation 

platform helps enterprises accelerate 

innovation and change, lower 

technology risk, and increase 

efficiency. Our ecosystem includes 

partnerships with Accenture, IBM, 

Cognizant, SAP and our Global 5000 

customers include 3M, Intel, 

Microsoft, Siemens and more. 

18 





saas 


ActivTrak: 

Making Employee 

Monitoring Easy 

Nowadays most organizations invest in behavior 

analytics software in order to fully understand how 

their teams are performing. However, collecting 

this data can be very costly and time-consuming. Meet 

ActivTrak, a cloud-based employee monitoring service. 

The easy-to-download software provides employers and 

offices with a tremendous amount of data to analyze. The 

software gives organizations the figures required to perform 

in-depth user behavior analysis to identify key trends within 

their company. Users can examine how administrative 

changes affect the overall workflow of their company. 

Along with these features, ActivTrak offers access to the 

raw data as well as integrating via webhooks to send 

behavior-based activity notifications to programs like Slack, 

Trello, IBM Qradar, Segment, Salesforce, and others. This 

gives companies full transparency into the inner workings 

of their organization. All of the tools available in ActivTrak 

are customizable, allowing the user to get the most out of 

the product. 

The software provides a tailored experience that gives the 

user full control over what they get out of the product 

whether that is detecting insider threats, improving 

workflow efficiency, or creating a more productive 

workplace. From selecting which workstations have 

screenshots taken to choosing where the data is housed, 

ActivTrak has a personalized experience which caters to 

every customer, giving them exactly what they need. 

A Pioneer 

When launched, ActivTrak was one of the first in the 

employee monitoring space to move to cloud-based 

reporting. Herbert Axilrod, the President & Co-founder, 

and Anton Seidler, the Co-founder, saw a need for a 

solution that was mostly effortless on the user’s part and 

didn’t require much time to understand. The program is 

purposefully built to be accessible. Within minutes of 

installing, users start to receive real-time reports and 

behavior data. 

When describing the importance and efficiency of the 

software Herbert asserts, “We were among the first, if not 

the first, in the employee monitoring space to move to 

cloud-based reporting. Before then, solutions were based on 

local networking with peer to peer communication. Not 

only was the cloud solution much easier to deploy, but it 

allowed us to collect and analyze employee activity data at 

a scale and in ways that hadn’t been done before.” 

Tackling Misconceptions and Making the Industry a 

Better Place 

In 2002, Herbert Axilrod and Anton Seidler bootstrapped 

ActivTrak without any outside investment. This sacrifice 

not only allowed them to conserve capital but also gave 

them a deep insight into the product and market. Both 

founders were able to witness the natural evolution of the 

marketplace and the growing acceptance of employee 

monitoring. While there were some things they could do to 

accelerate growth, they didn’t want to get ahead of 

themselves. Herbert emphasizes, “Too often, money is 

raised without a clear knowledge of how it should be spent 

and thus often wasted.” 

ActivTrak delivers a flexible user experience that can be 

utilized at all levels of business. From small businesses to 

enterprise companies, ActivTrak can provide real-time 

feedback. The software arranges a treasure trove of data 

into an easy to understand layout but also allows for raw 

data access. Anyone from a beginner to IT expert can take 

the software and use it for their specific purposes. 

Versatile Suite of Features 

ActivTrak is unique because it provides an easy-to-use 

program that effectively allows users to gather large 

amounts of behavioral data that can be used to improve 

workforce management and boost workflow efficiency. 

Through ActivTrak’s intuitive software, users can analyze 

reports and real-time data, and can also use this information 

to find trends happening in the day-to-day operations of the 

20 


“We take a lot of pride 

in our work, and we 

strive to meet the 

needs of every user we 

have the privilege 

to serve.” 

— Herbert Axilrod 

President & Co-founder 

company. Using this information, employers can be sure 

they are maximizing productivity by making decisions 

based on reliable, unbiased data. 

Painting the Picture of the Future 

When it comes to the future of the company, Herbert 

mentions artificial intelligence, “We see it playing a big 

part in the next evolutionary phase of this marketplace.” 

The organization also believes that AI techniques will not 

be limited just to user activity data-streams, but it will also 

be used to analyze the many screen images and videos that 

ActivTrak captures. 

Lastly, by combining incredibly powerful software, with an 

easy to use interface and personal customer service, 

ActivTrak aims to provide a complete resource that can 

boost productivity, improve security, and drive increased 

revenue. By creating a digital twin of an operation, 

ActivTrak also helps decision makers analyze trends to 

improve performance throughout the organization. 

Promising Appreciations from Clients 

“The information provided has been useful to provide 

feedback to the project sponsors and provide direction for 

the continued development of our system, including 

investment decision making.” — RAF Case Study 

“ActivTrak was simply plug and play, believe it or not. It 

took me 2-3 mins per machine to get started and overall 

took me 1 hour to block all the unnecessary sites. In no 

time, I was ruling the entire thing, and was on top of my 

employees’ activity.” — Regenersis Huntingdon Case Study 

“We are big fans of ActivTrak! Loyalty and trust are the 

foundations for any company to grow and succeed, and 

ActivTrak helps us to know which employees are honest and 

loyal behind our backs and reward the right ones.” — 

Parry International Case Study 


21




saas 


Avetta: 

Using SaaS-Based Technologies 

to Empower the World 

n an interview with Insights Success, John Herr, 

ICEO of Avetta, shares how his company is utilizing 

SaaS-based solutions to create a global network of 

connections. He also discusses the unique technical 

landscape prevalent in the industry today and gives tips 

on how to help your organization stand out. 

Avetta has proven its worth among tens of thousands of 

users. Learn how you can begin leveraging the power of 

Avetta’s solutions in your own company today. Below 

are some of the highlights from the interview. 

Give a brief overview of the company, its solutions, 

and services? 

We provide supply chain risk management solutions for 

companies by vetting and qualifying the suppliers 

involved in their projects. On their own, many 

businesses have to go through thousands of documents to 

verify that the contractors they work with meet their 

safety and sustainability requirements. This 

administrative burden is expensive and time-consuming. 

However, it’s even more costly if a problem occurs. Our 

platform takes care of these details efficiently. We collect 

all client-required safety, insurance, and sustainability 

documentation and verify them for accuracy. Companies 

then have all the information they need to make smart, 

responsible decisions on which contractors to hire. 

Give a detailed explanation regarding the 

Founder/CEO/Management’s influence towards the 

industry and the company? 

Our Founder came up with the idea to start Avetta (then 

PICS) while working as an occupational safety 

professional for a large supplier company. Part of his 

responsibilities included fulfilling all the prequalification 

requirements for the company’s clients. It took a lot of 

time and resources to collect and send off the data, which 

was often redundant. Avetta was born from the desire to 

alleviate the inefficiency of supplier companies 

prequalifying for multiple clients, and to help the clients 

have easy access to all of their suppliers’ current 

standings as well. 


providers, how does Avetta stand out from its 

competitors? 

Our goal resolves around solving problems and 

alleviating burdens for both our clients and suppliers. 

However, unlike other companies, that philosophy 

extends well past our product. We’re consistently 

looking for better ways to serve our audiences, whether 

that’s releasing new features or simply spending time on 

the phone teaching them how to create a pdf. As a result, 

our teams are focused on each individual client and their 

unique needs. We go to great lengths to understand the 

pain points of our clients and then embed that insight 

into configured risk management solutions. 

If you could sum up the Avetta platform and its 

services in one line, what would it be? 

Supplier and Contractor Qualification Made Easy 

How does Avetta contribute towards making the 

industry and the world better? 

Avetta is proud to support our customers on their journey 

to sustainability. Through our platform we help manage 

environmental, social and economic impacts. With these 

and other deficits resolved, our clients are able to focus 

on their own growth and build up long-term value in 

their supply chain. With operations in 163 countries 

worldwide, Avetta’s platform was built to operate on a 

global scale. In addition to enhanced economic 

performance, this ultimately leads to a better 

environment, better working conditions, and a better 

relationship between companies and their customers. 

Where does Avetta see itself in the long run and/or 

what are its future goals? 

Avetta is currently growing at a tremendous rate across 

the globe. As more suppliers are integrated into our 

22 


“We go to great lengths to understand 

the pain points of our clients and then 

embed that insight into configured risk 

management solutions.” 

— John Herr, CEO 

network, more value is added for everyone. Our focus 

for the future is to continue nurturing existing client 

relations, develop strategic partnerships and accelerate 

this global expansion. With these goals, we’re prepared 

to grow Avetta’s innovative solutions across the world. 

Testimonials from Avetta Clients 

“Before Avetta, we calculated a need for six employees, 

all working full time, to properly manage our supply 

chain. With Avetta, we have one person sitting in that 

seat.” – Supply Development & Performance Manager, 

Australian Railway Leader 

and accommodated our process in their solution to better 

satisfy our needs.” – Procurement Specialist, 

LafargeHolcim Brazil 

“Avetta gives us proactive risk management. We’re able 

to leverage the expertise and experience that Avetta 

provides based on years of tracking and evaluating 

contractors. Avetta also gives us instant data access in a 

database we could never develop internally, allowing us 

to benchmark against peers and uncover opportunities to 

improve.” — Corporate Safety Manager, Huntsman 

Because of Avetta and our use of an improvement plan 

with our contractors, we were able to demonstrate more 

than 30% improvement in just one year for the health 

and safety performance of our contractors.” – Bill 

Burket, EHS Compliance Contractor, Range Resources 

“We evaluated other vendors, possibilities, and 

platforms. Avetta really listened to our business needs 


23

SAAS 

Can 

Create 

Business Developments 

with Different 

Revenue Streams 

Revenue Tips 

SaaS or ‘Software as a Service’ is being used rigorously in current business ventures as it provides 

more accuracy and vision to any business project. Interestingly, with this solution, the importance 

of installing the hardware devices to run the data and different applications has lost its 

importance. It is a very selective section of cloud computing, through which the future business data 

collection process can be simpler than ever. SaaS is a very profitable genre in the field of futuristic 

business ventures, and thus a question may arise about the SaaS business, and that is what could be the 

revenue stream for such business enterprise, or in general words, the earning process for the SaaS 

business! 

Unfortunately some people believe that there are no such good ways of earning revenue for Saas 

business and if there are some sources, those are very minor in their conducts. Interestingly, the reality 

and the current situation are otherwise, and there are a number of ways in which the SaaS business can 

earn its revenue. ‘Payment’ to get the software is not the only mode of earning, and the enterpriser of 

this business can earn great revenue with multiple options, without stressing out on particular section of 

the business venture. Here are some of the solutions: 

Set-up Cost and Upsell 

A Set-up cost is one of the common ways to earn the revenue and it gives clarity to the providers about 

the authenticity of the users and determines the commitment too, thus it is a great way to explore the 

minds of the customers and the possible future relationship with the users. On the other hand the set up 

earning can actually lead to the upsell market for the SaaS providers. It is one of the easiest ways to 

enhance the revenue through the existing customers, and it is a great business opportunity, as this way 

of earning lessens the dependency of the brand on the pressure of adding up new customers. To 

maintain the continuity with the existing customers certain facilities like offering additional storage, 

speed, data, bandwidth or the frequency are enlisted as 'services'. Though, this process of earning is 

largely dependent on the benefit of the product or the service, along with the need or requirement of the 

client. 

Affiliate Marketing 

It is another great way to boost the earning for the SaaS business as, through this process, it becomes a 

two-way system to get business, where the users advertise or sell the product. As the process is 

26 


earning money, and it is the best way of earning through 

the free version users, but not very apt for the paid 

customers. As the paid customers already pay a certain 

amount, adding advertisements can create a negative 

impact on them. So even if the ads are there, they must 

be in a way that looks less annoying for the users. 

dependent on the users, it is not dependent on any 

other external way from the business providers’ 

side. The SaaS providers are only responsible to 

pay the commission after getting the revenue. So 

it is definitely a win-win situation for the SaaS 

providers. 

Customer Service and Information Charges 

Saas providers are on the verge of adding a new 

structure for great revenue, which are customer 

service and information charges. As with this 

system, the business providers offer to sale some 

of the researched information to the clients. It is 

not very difficult for the clients to value them by 

paying the money as they are getting a great help, 

and interestingly it can work for the clients to 

cling to the services which can create the path for 

more business. Basically, a great customer service 

is the key to earn good money and with the 

satisfaction of the customers; the process can be 

on the loop for a great revenue system. 

Advertisement 

Advertisements are the most common sector of 

API Model 

This is rather a complicated but effective method of 

earning lucrative revenue. If the SaaS can coordinate or 

work with other software applications, the importance 

of it can rise to a whole new level. This work model can 

do magic for some of the users and it can have a great 

value or earning in the future. But this great system 

comes with certain risks, and the reason is, the amount 

of money invested to create and run it. But if the 

developers can be assured of its service and the demand 

of the customers, it can turn out to be a great moneymaking 

option. 

Reselling 

When some of the SaaS is so apt that the potential 

customers want to avail it for their business purpose, 

the tie-up with the providers or the reselling of the 

product can be beneficial form the point of view of the 

revenue. This process is known as the White Label 

Licensing. 

At the end of this discussion, the conclusion is, a better 

service can open up new trails for Revenue Streams for 

SaaS Business. SaaS is not a new concept, but the vast 

implication is definitely new. So there are a number of 

scopes yet to be explored by the developers of this new 

business. Thus, the future and the success of SaaS 

business is dependent on exploring various ways for 

SaaS revenue, and with more innovative ideas for the 

revenue, the market of SaaS business will be more 

strengthened to touch the zenith. 


27




saas 


Digital Guardian: 

Protecting Sensitive Data from Potential Threats 

rotecting sensitive data is an ongoing challenge for 

Pevery security professionals. The challenge grows 

each year. Cybercriminals now a days are far better 

funded than before, which necessarily means attacks are 

much more varied, ranging from those that are very 

sophisticated, to those that rely on human weaknesses. 

Defending against these attackers requires much more than 

purchasing technologies. Successful defense require a 

combination of the right technologies, people, and 

processes. While some companies can build and maintain 

these resources internally, for many others leveraging 

external expertise and cloud infrastructure can deliver better 

results. 

Comprehensive SaaS and Cloud-based Data Protection 

As organizations adopt the cloud to run their businesses 

more efficiently, it is logical that the cloud and Software as 

a Service (SaaS) can deliver a more efficient data security 

platform. Moving from on-premises to SaaS delivery model 

can pose a transitional challenge at first but once the 

customer sees the benefits of a big-data back end 

architecture, the transition is much smoother. 

Digital Guardian’s Data Protection Platform leverages 

SaaS to provide data protection in a package that results in 

superior security, better economics, and reduced overhead. 

Compared to legacy, on-premises infrastructure, this 

solution is delivered via its secure cloud and provides the 

performance, scalability and cost advantages enterprises 

need. With Digital Guardian’s team managing the 

infrastructure, security resources of enterprises don’t need 

to spend time learning how to configure, manage, and 

update applications. 

Digital Guardian’s SaaS enables enterprises and its teams to 

focus more time, energy, and resources on identifying and 

mitigating risks to their sensitive data and less time on 

acquiring, building and maintaining the infrastructure. This 

service leverages the scalability, data visualization and 

ease-of-use security analysts need. Centralized reporting in 

the cloud removes storage limitations and gives enterprises 

the ability to aggregate, analyze and query system, user and 

data related events across the network and endpoints over 

longer periods of time. This service delivers workspaces 

and workflows tailored for the unique needs of CISOs, 

InfoSec Analysts, Incident Responders and Threat Hunters. 

Digital Guardian’s SaaS enables enterprises with big data 

security, analytics, and reporting without investing in a big 

data infrastructure. Its SaaS essentially reduces overhead, 

complexity and cost with cloud-based data protection. 

Digital Guardian is the first and only solution purpose-built 

for data protection from all threats delivered via a SaaS. Its 

SaaS offering includes everything in the subscription – 

provisioning and support for all back-end infrastructure, 

application monitoring, backups, upgrades, etc. This cuts 

costs and eliminates the complexity of patching, updating 

and maintaining on premises infrastructure. 

Consolidated DLP and EDR 

The Digital Guardian platform performs across the 

corporate network, traditional endpoints, mobile devices 

and cloud applications to make it easier to see and stop all 

threats to sensitive data. For more than 10 years, it has 

enabled data-rich organizations to protect their most 

valuable assets with an on premise deployment or an 

outsourced managed security program (MSP). 

Digital MSP offers data protection as a managed service. 

With its consolidated Data Loss Prevention (DLP), and 

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) or compliance 

security experts protects sensitive data of the organizations 

from internal and external threats. 

Assuring the Integrity of Business Processes 

Digital Guardian is a next generation data protection 

platform designed to stop data theft. It protects sensitive 

data and critical assets from both insider attacks and 

external adversaries. Its advanced data protection solutions 

and managed services secure sensitive/confidential data and 

assure the integrity of business processes. 

28 


“The Digital Guardian Data 

Protection Platform is the only 

SaaS solution that detects threats 

and stops data exfiltration from 

both well-meaning and 

malicious insiders as well 

as external adversaries.” 

— Mark Stevens 

SVP, Global Services 

Digital Guardian’s unique data awareness and 

transformative endpoint visibility, combined with 

behavioral threat detection and response, enables 

enterprises to protect data without slowing the pace of their 

businesses. 

Proficient Leadership 

Mark Stevens, SVP of Global Services at Digital 

Guardian is an accomplished, results-driven senior 

information technology leader with extensive experience in 

managing diverse technology organizations. At Digital 

Guardian, Mark is responsible for driving customer success 

across professional services, managed services, support and 

training. He is known for his high-energy emphasis on 

customer success, leadership and teamwork, and his tireless 

work ethic. 

Throughout his career in software development and 

consulting, he has succeeded and established higher 

standards by focusing on results and driving excellence 

through his efforts and his teams’ performance. With a 

distinguished academic record — and work experience in 

various developed and developing nations throughout 

Europe, Asia, and the Americas — he delivers results as a 

true, technology-savvy business leader in the software 

industry. 

management, project management, business development, 

and system architecture design. He is from a distinguished 

academic background, including a Master’s degree in 

International Economics. He has Strong managerial, 

interpersonal, writing and presentation skills. 

Prior to Digital Guardian, Mark was Area Services Director 

for BMC Software, a $2 billion leader in the business 

service management space. Previously, he served as Senior 

Director of Professional Services for Progress Software, a 

$550 million provider of application infrastructure software 

and services. In this role, he managed and directed a team 

of 80+ technical field personnel to help drive a $225 million 

sales region. 

Appreciations of Services 

“With Digital Guardian, we can be completely transparent 

with our clients about how we handle their data, giving 

them peace of mind that their sensitive reservoir data is 

fully protected.” - John Barton, CIO, io oil & gas consulting 

“With DG’s MSP service, I can rest easy knowing that we 

have 24/7 protection and my team’s resources are allocated 

effectively.” - Scott Wiggins, CIO, ANDRITZ GROUP 

Mark’s key proficiencies include sales, account 


29

saas 





Highfive:Meetings Reimagined 

SaaS has become a common delivery model for many 

business applications because of its numerous 

benefits in terms of cost and performance. Highfive, 

which combines software and hardware into a singular 

service, is one of the best performing solution providers 

putting its own spin on the SaaS playbook. 

Joe Manuele is the Chief Executive Officer at Highfive. 

Joe joined the company earlier this year amid a period of 

rapid growth for the company, which was recently 

recognized by Fast Company as one of the “World’s Most 

Innovative Companies in Enterprise Software”. 

Highfive’s Inception 

While enterprises were struggling to figure out how to make 

conferencing work for businesses on a broad scale, 

Highfive founder Shan Sinha, formerly of Google, saw the 

simplicity and reliability of consumer products, and knew 

there had to be a better way to make video conferencing 

just as easy for the business world. Thus, Highfive was 

born. 

Highfive was founded with a simple mission: meetings 

reimagined. Shan foresaw the open-source technology 

WebRTC as the future of communications and shared 

content, and made a concerted effort to build a conferencing 

system that could be powered on that protocol. WebRTC is 

the perfect tool for team collaboration solutions, since it 

enables seamless browser-based audio and video calls and 

content sharing. CEO Joe Manuele shares this vision. 

Together, Shan and Joe have formed a powerful partnership 

aimed at making video conferencing ubiquitous in every 

meeting room. Improving collaboration through video 

communications is now viewed as a must-have for the 

business; however, more than 80% of meeting rooms still 

do not have video capabilities, and that number rises to 

90% when adding small and medium-size huddle rooms. 

Reducing IT Headaches 

Highfive built the first WebRTC-based conferencing 

solution on the market. Highfive’s integrated platform 

marries dedicated video conferencing hardware and bornin-the-cloud 

software in order to provide a seamless 

experience for workers, while also making enterprise-wide 

deployment simple for IT administrators. The powerful, allin-one 

solution delivers a consumer-simple experience with 

superior video (4k cameras) and high-fidelity audio that 

reduces IT headaches and meets the challenges of today’s 

most demanding virtual meetings and collaboration 

workspaces. From large enterprises with offices all over the 

globe, to startups seeking a better way to communicate 

internally, Highfive enables instant collaboration for every 

worker at every organization, no matter their size or 

location. 

Highfive is hosted on Amazon’s AWS hyperscale cloud to 

ensure the best quality service and leverages WebRTC to 

enable the industry’s first true download-free and one-clickto-join 

experience that connects participants from any 

combination of physical meeting rooms, devices and 

locations. 

With this, Highfive is leading the charge as the only end-toend 

WebRTC-powered solution on the market. The versatile 

technology is fully integrated and built into every aspect of 

Highfive’s hardware, and by pioneering the shift to 

WebRTC, the company has rewritten the playbook for how 

cloud-based visual and audio communication is built and 

deployed. 

Cost Effective Solutions 

With WebRTC, Highfive calls are crisper and more reliable 

than competitors, and consume fewer network resources, 

battery, and bandwidth. The browser-friendly framework 

means no software downloads are necessary for workers, 

and that Highfive can run on any type of operating system 

for incredible flexibility. Best of all for IT administrators, 

WebRTC’s browser-based functionality and updates over 

the cloud eliminates the need for hardware maintenance and 

management with zero compromises to the user-experience. 

With WebRTC, Highfive is also able to provide a 

comprehensive dial-out experience that eliminates the need 

for conference phones, landlines, and VoIP providers. 

Pushing the Limits for Larger Impact 

For years, the collaboration equipment needed to enable 

distributed meetings has been clunky, complicated and 

difficult for users and administrators. Highfive puts an end 

30 


“Highfive makes video 

conferencing insanely easy 

for instant, reliable 

collaboration for every worker 

at every organization, no 

matter their size or location.” 

— Joe Manuele 

CEO 

to that with an easy-to-setup, affordable platform that can 

serve as the go-to form of office communication for every 

conference room, every employee, and every organization. 

Highfive’s signature software also combines with helpful 

productivity tools because the best work tools are the ones 

that play nicely together. This includes integrations with 

popular apps like Google Calendar, Outlook, and Slack, 

making scheduling or starting a virtual meeting intuitive 

and easy no matter what platform users are on. 

With innovations like WebRTC and these partnerships with 

industry leaders including Dolby, Slack, and Microsoft, 

Highfive has pushed the boundaries of what’s possible with 

a video conferencing platform. Highfive’s modern solution 

allows users to join a video meeting or conference call the 

way they want, from the location they want. 

Exceptional Audio and Video Quality 

Highfive has focused on providing top-tier enterprise 

solutions, developing deep partnerships with notable 

channel distributors, including Dimension Data, Ingram 

Micro, and Best Buy for Business, and PC Mall. Channel 

partners are a key part of the company’s strategy to deliver 

Highfive on a global scale. 

Highfive also recently launched its powerful new Premium 

meeting room offer, which includes advanced features such 

as whiteboard view, intelligent scene framing, dual-screen 

support, and digital PTZ (point-to-zoom) with an intuitive 

touchscreen control. Highfive has a full partnership with 

Dolby Laboratories, the world leader in audio, which has 

enabled Highfive to fully integrate Dolby Voice into 

Highfive’s conferencing technology. This leads to 

exceptional visual and audio call quality, and an 

unparalleled user-experience typically reserved for 

consumer platforms such as Apple TV. 

What they’re saying... 

Here’s what some of Highfive’s enterprise customers have 

to say about their experience with the conferencing 

platform: 

“We now have a singular, uncompromised experience no 

matter the conference room or user. Highfive is everything a 

video conferencing service needs to be right now.” 

– Naren Santayana, Sr. Manager, IT at Paperless Post 

“Realistically people are usually joining video conferencing 

calls remotely, from the airport, from their cell phones, so 

we want to make sure that everyone can actively participate 

no matter where they’re calling from. Highfive lets us do 

that.” – Dave Engberg, CTO, Livongo 

Here’s what some industry analysts have to say about 

Highfive: 

“Highfive checks all the boxes as a truly innovative 

conferencing solution that makes it easy for teams at any 

type of business to collaborate together, no matter where 

they are located. The company has shown significant 

growth, and is well positioned in the competitive 

collaboration market.” – Blair Pleasant, President and 

Principal Analyst, BC Strategies 


31

Tech-Know Insights 

Minimize Risk of Digital 

Transformation 

Failure 

in place to accomplish a successful and smooth delivery on 

Digital Transformation promise, and to avoid loss of money 

and prestige. Every kind of transformation project comes 

across a certain resistance; a mobile application delivered 

with no issues will minimize this resistance. 

Better Application through Continuous Testing 

Most of our customers in Continuous Software are 

switching to agile project delivery in order to rapidly 

evaluate and provide for the internal and external demands. 

The traditional test processes, which are done at the end 

phase of a project, remain insufficient for the agile 

management. For better quality and a rapid outcome, testing 

and development has to be a continuous process of DevOps 

course. Thanks to test automation scripts throughout the 

whole development process, softwares and applications can 

be tested before going through end-user tests with minimum 

amount of problems. 

Hakan Turgut 

Chairman 

OPTiiM 

ne of the greatest agonies in test automation is the 

Otime and effort spent to continuously testing what 

has been developed. The simpler and the more 

straight-forward the mobile applications look to the 

customer, the more complex they are in the background. As 

the number of of mobile platforms and devices increases, 

enterprises need to provide their developers with effective 

way to test across the platforms — testing fast, verifying 

the code quickly. 

Why is it so important? Because continuous digital 

transformation is an inevitable part of growing the business. 

Often more than 60% of customer interactions happen 

through the smartphones. What is the number like at your 

business? Anyway, an effective mobile testing needs to be 

One of the key trends in the market is the increase of native 

application development, which enables the usage of 

mobile devices in a broader spectrum. With the increasing 

demand towards more complex, stronger functionalities and 

interface, the responsive design techniques are outdated. To 

provide an optimum result for mobile testing, conducting 

the tests with actual devices, a device lab, has a large 

importance. The problem here is how the manual testers 

and test automation systems will share devices. This is 

solved by creating a mobile device lab according to 

producers, models and operating systems. 

Renting a device lab on cloud, uploading your scripts and 

running your tests in a parallel execution costs you serious 

amount of money. We couldn’t ignore the fact that this 

method makes our customers’ apps less profitable every 

minute. If you create an actual device lab by purchasing 

every kind of smartphones out there, you still ned a web 

interface to run all those scenarios and scripts to manage 

your mobile device lab. 

Continuous Software developed an interface, where you can 

run your scripts on different devices with its own cloud 

32 


device lab, observe text execution and integrate with source 

control systems. You can use it with your own mobile 

device server, or you can connect your device to your 

mobile lab with client integrations. As a result you’ll be 

able to observe your text execution in real time with 

detailed results, clickable stack trace exceptions and 

screenshots, and see how much of the resources (CPU, 

Memory, System Logs) your app consumes. No matter 

which language your scripts were written or no matter 

which tool was used to write them, by integrating with open 

source automation servers this interface allows you to 

include mobile testing to your continuous DevOps process. 

Continuous Software 

Our first business line is application testing. Today we offer 

a wide range of services such as Manual Sourcing, Test 

Automation, Performance Testing, Security Testing, Service 

and Network Virtualization and Mobile Application Testing 

and Mobile Device Lab Management. Our philosophy lies 

on the successful implementation of test automation 

frameworks, enabling the rapid creation of test automation 

scripts that are stable and easily maintainable. Our scalable 

test automation framework optimizes every level of 

application from network to code- speeding up he execution 

and reducing test maintenance. 

Our success comes from working together with 

organizations to optimize every level of application- from 

the network to the code. We have solved the complexities of 

software testing through our unique solutions and helped a 

multitude of enterprises in accomplishing desired results. 

We believe our Mobile Device Lab will be a game changer 

in the industry. 

Case studies 

One of Top 5 Banks in Turkey 

This bank has decided to make a transformation project 

with Mckenzie. Part of the transformation project they 

found out that one of the biggest bottleneck is Software 

testing. As they were planning to use Agile project 

management approach within this initiative; testing was 

becoming even more critical for the success of the project. 

That is why they have decided to implement Test 

Improvement Project. They have identified 5 areas and 

Continuous Software has been involved in all these five 

workgroups which are Functional Test Automation, 

Performance/Load Testing, Service Virtualization, Test 

Environment Management and Test Data Management. The 

project scope covered core banking, alternative channels, 

international banking and credit cards application suites, 

they all are in-house developed application based on Java, 

.NET and IBM Mainframe. This was a teamwork, which we 

have worked together with the bank’s testing team. 

Development team has also participated to the project when 

it was needed. We have identified sample applications, 


designed processes, decided on technologies that will be 

used and finally implemented the best practice within 

sample applications to prove the solution. We have guided 

the bank’s team and prepared documentation for them to 

continue after project has been finalized. During the project 

we have used HPE UFT, HPE Loadrunner, IBM Service 

Virtualization, CA Test Data Management and HPE Codar 

and OO solutions for respective areas. 

One of the Top 10 International Banks 

Entered to Turkey by acquiring an old bank, which was not 

able to invest in IT for a long time. After the acquisition, 

they have been audited by BDDK (Banking Regulation 

Authority) and BDDK gave them a deadline to resolve their 

compliance issues. Within a very limited timeframe to 

implement an end to end automated Devops process which 

starts from demand collection till deployment of the 

applications to production environment. The solution had to 

be fully automated, no human interaction other than 

development of the application and be traceable on each 

level of the process. Continuous Software delivered end-toend 

DevOps project to make sure to have a complete 

process from demand to production deployment. Created 

five different pipelines for core baking (oracle forms), 

alternative channels (java), credit cards (.NET) and ATMs 

(.NET). Jenkins, SVN, Nexus, HPE Codar, HPE ALM, 

HPE UFT, HP PM, HP SM are implemented in project 

scope. Thanks to Continuous Software, this bank passed the 

audit successfully and avoided to pay a big amount of 

penalty. 

Management 

Levent Ozalp is a serial entrepreneur and the Founder and 

CEO of OPTiiM. He created 3 startups in Turkey, 1 in 

Ireland and 1 in UK from military tech to system 

integration. Having launched Continuous Software now 

boasts 100+ employees and customers all over Turkey, 

Middle East, North Africa and Europe. 

Hakan Turgut is the Continuous Software Chairman. His 30 

years career span took him to executive positions in IBM, 

CA and Nortel. He brings maturity and wisdom to the team. 


Levent Ozalp is a serial entrepreneur. He created 3 startups 

in Turkey, 1 in Ireland and 1 in UK from military tech to 

system integration. Having launched OPTiiM now boasts 

100+ employees and customers all over Turkey, Middle 

East, North Africa and Europe. 

Hakan Turgut is the OPTiiM Chairman. His 30 years 

career span took him to executive positions in IBM, CA and 

Nortel. He brings maturity and wisdom to the team. 

33

saas 





MobiLock: 

Driving Simplicity and Innovation 

in Mobile Device Management 

Companies globally are preferring simple yet 

feature-rich SaaS applications to stay ahead of the 

technological curve and this gave ProMobi 

Technologies, a promising B2B SaaS provider, an 

opportunity to build MobiLock - a scalable and intuitive 

solution that helps companies to implement Device 

Management strategy with minimum IT Expertise. 

In an interview with Insights Success, Harishankar 

Kannan, the Co-founder and CEO, and Arnab 

Chakraborty, Co-founder and CTO have shared some of 

their insights behind setting a benchmark in the industry. 

Give a brief overview of the company, its solutions, and 

services. 

ProMobi was founded in 2014 as an outsourced product 

development company, building software for SMBs. But 

the reason behind our existence is to build world-class SaaS 

products from India, for the world. For that to happen, we 

first needed to be cash-flow positive before venturing out to 

product-building. Later in 2014, we built our first B2B SaaS 

product called MobiLock that we launched in January 2015. 

Today, we are a leading provider of Mobile Device 

Management Solution under the brand MobiLock Pro, 

which allows organizations of any size, be it a start-up, or a 

Fortune 500, to manage their Android, iOS and Windows 

devices from the cloud. 

How do you diversify SaaS Solutions so that it will 

benefit your customers? 

We have divided the product into core solutions and a 

bunch of add-ons, depending on the company’s 

requirements. The entry barrier to understand, use and buy 

the product has been kept extremely low. Any company can 

start using the core solutions and can opt to select the addons 

depending on its requirements, budget, and usage. Our 

top-notch support ensures that our customers succeed in 

using the product with ease and efficiency. 

Describe the experiences, achievements or lessons learnt 

that have shaped the journey of the company. 

As a product development company, we gathered 

experiences and lessons by trying our hands at all functions 

and working closely with customers to make them 

successful in using a Mobile Device Management (MDM) 

Solution. We shaped the product keeping the customer 

problems in sight and went on to provide a specific value 

for company-owned devices, before branching out to a fullblown 

MDM. 

An early implementation of Customer Support function in 

the form of a live chat allowed us to resolve our customer 

queries at a much faster rate. In terms of achievements, we 

have grown 300% YoY since the launch of the product and 

bootstrapping kept us focused on our customers. We can 

clearly see now that India can become a B2B SaaS powerhouse 

by leveraging the tech talent around while identifying 

the many white-spaces in the Industry to provide awesome 

solutions. 

How does the company contribute towards making the 

industry better? 

The sector we entered is a crowded space where numerous 

providers are struggling to carve their own niche. And that’s 

why we value innovation and improvisation and look at it 

as the most important differentiator. This also influences the 

industry to stay competitive focusing on customer service 

and experience. In 2019 we will take baby-steps from our 

side to indulge with the B2B SaaS community of India to 

help and seek help as and when/where necessary! 

Give a detailed explanation regarding the Co-founders’ 

influence towards the industry and the company? 

Being the two co-founders of the company, me and Arnab 

Chakraborty always had the vision to solve real-world 

problems faced by organizations. This vision drives the 

team to build or add features to our product that will solve 

the pain points of our customers. 

36 


“We at MobiLock want 

to ensure that you manage 

your endpoints with 

almost zero IT experience.” 

— Harishankar Kannan 


When we came together through ProMobi, we set 

equilibrium as I looked at the business side of things and 

Arnab chose to lead the technical and design front. Our 

impact is gradual and consistent. We encouraged and 

embraced the idea of Bootstrapping as we sent out a 

message to B2B SaaS companies that it is possible without 

getting external fund! 

We are finding the white spaces in this field and are trying 

to redefine the way MDM is seen at this moment. 

Where does MobiLock see itself in the long run and 

what are its future goals? 

Oh, we would love to do an IPO! The journey so far has 

been good, and we are going from strength to strength. We 

want to continue the growth momentum and all the learning 

we are accumulating along with the positive changes in the 

industry. Going further we want to be a significant player in 

this sector for not only Unified Endpoint Management but 

also for all the supporting ancillary segments. 


providers, how does MobiLock stand out from its 

competitors? 

process will not take more than 15 minutes. 

We are seeking our place at the top and this can be done 

only through innovation on to the product, on to the 

segment and on to the industry. We are planning to build 

meaningful features in our product by leveraging AI, 

Machine Learning and Blockchain technologies. We hope 

to move away from being just another player in this 

segment to being a trendsetter! 

Client Testimonials 

MobiLock is a great product and the support available has 

been exceptional. The dashboard is really simple to use, and 

with easy account management and set up for devices, it’s 

been a great product to use. - Claire Bell (Listening Books, 

UK) 

Great support; the support team is always very helpful to 

answer questions to help. I love the Dashboard, Enterprise, 

upgrading our APK’s, looking at all of our devices, keeps it 

all locked down 100%. Great company and people to deal 

with. - Rich Aldrich (UNIT Innovations, USA). 

We make it real simple for them to start using our solution 

and the platforms. One can easily sign up and start using the 

dashboards with a bunch of help-guides and the entire 


37




saas 


PROMIS@Service: 

Offering Exemplary Multifunctional Performance Enabling Solutions 

PROMIS@Service is an innovative high tech 

company whose mission is to support organizations 

in private and public sectors, to be better on their 

way to continual improvement towards excellence, by being 

compliant with the demanding requests of regulators and 

standards, by enabling integrated business management for 

compliance and governance in an SME, association, 

institution or corporation. The company’s multinational and 

multi-disciplinary team, reflects the demands of the 

heterogeneous SME market and the SMEs’ need to enter 

international markets. It asserts to nurture a culture and 

approach embracing interdisciplinary teamwork, 

multilingualism and the capability to understand and 

respect sectoral and national differences, while striving to 

integrate commonalities at international level. The company 

relies on an experienced professional management team 

with direct and hands-on knowledge of the compliance 

projects, as well as extensive experience in working with 

SMEs, applied research, technology transfer and 

international strategic marketing skills. 

An Impeccable e-Platform 

PROMIS@Service is a spin-off of well administered 

research and innovation co-funded by the European 

Commission and selected private investors that resulted in 

the Business Enabling Open Innovation e-Platform, 

® 

PROMIS . 

® 

PROMIS is a multilingual, multi-country and multi-client 

Software-as-a-Service and Intranet e-Platform of interactive 

services, enabling small organisations and international 

corporations to cut their budgets for compliance 

management by half, decreasing the compliance risks 

dramatically. It is an e-Platform that organizes and tailors 

integrated process management, legislation, online 

communication, learning and training and helps to capture, 

structure and interlink all relevant information in an 

organization. In addition, it supports knowledge structuring 

and sharing, online collaboration and communication, 

community building of experts, eMentoring and the 

generation of new services out of the knowledge and 

content available in an organization. 

The Solutions offered by the company focus on various 

purposes including structuring and sharing individual and 

institutional knowledge in multiple languages, 

collaborating, communicating and working interactively 

online in the mother tongue while being understood 

internationally, generating new services out of the content 

and knowledge existing in an organization, keeping 

transparency and order in an organisation through an 

integrated management system that supports evidencebased 

compliance and faster decision making which 

conforms to norms and other legal requirements. 

Comprehensive Leadership 

Caterina Berbenni-Rehm is the Founder and CEO of 

PROMIS@Service. She started her marketing career at 

FERRERO OHG, Germany followed by the responsible 

direction of a cultural exchange’s organisation with 153 

people. She was the CEO of FUTUREtec for 14 years, 

leading an interdisciplinary team of experts in the fields of 

ICT, knowledge transfer from research to SMEs, rollout 

plans and project management. 

Caterina is a recognised thought leader and keynote speaker 

at international conferences and has been the co-founder of 

the ‘European Entrepreneurial Regions Initiative’ taken up 

by the Committee of the Regions. She is the former Vice- 

Chair of the EC Commission’s High-level Advisory Group 

DG RES for SMEs, member of the Ethical Review and an 

Advisory member of AI& Society “Artificial Intelligence & 

Society” Springer Eds. Caterina holds a PhD in modern 

Philology. 

Knowledge is Capital 

PROMIS@Service has learnt so many things in its 

professional tenure. It believes that knowledge is capital 

and a most important asset for the organization. Hence it 

must be structured and channelized effectively at all levels. 

According to the company, communities of knowledge 

develop ideally when the source of knowledge is respected 

and the tools acknowledge the owners of the data and 

content. The knowledge providers are well versed with the 

needs of their clients. Therefore it is crucial to offer tools 

and services that support the interaction and collaboration 

among them. 

According to PROMIS@Service, entering into any type of 

organization is a challenge if the e-Platform does not 

38 


® 

“PROMIS - Integrated 

Compliance through 

Knowledge intensive 

Services and eLearning” 

— Caterina Berbenni-Rehm 

Founder & CEO 

involve and values all existing tools, and also does not 

reuse the data and information already available in the 

organization. It was a challenging and a long term endeavor 

for the company to develop such disruptive innovation 

which would not have been possible without the support of 

the European Commission and the EU Parliament. 

‘ALL in One’ Approach 

PROMIS@Service offers the cutting-edge e-Platform in the 

domain of integrated compliance and governance with a 

comprehensive ‘all-in-one’ approach in 9 languages 

(content included) and integrated human- and machine 

translation technologies, which at present is second to none. 

Software programs such as CRM and ERPs are strongly 

® 

synergetic to PROMIS . SAP, Tenaxia, Intelex, Enablon, 

and others are both partial competitors and synergetic 

partners. 

Aspiring Market Leadership 

PROMIS@Service aims to be at top as the recognized 

leader in providing SMEs and corporates with a new kind 

of multilingual knowledge management and integrated 

compliance- and governance-based business enabling e- 

Platform of interactive services at international level. To 

achieve this, it is intended to bring the work on 

‘Terminology Policy’ to OASIS (www.oasis-open.org) for 

the final phase international standardization. More than 20 

years working relations with the European Commission and 

related institutions has enriched PROMIS@Service with 

interdisciplinary people and expertise concerning not only 

funding, as well as technology & knowledge transfer of 

R&D projects’ results, but most important, new business 

models, pre-competitive deployment, and rollout of 

innovative research results and industrial projects. Such 

experience is highly valuable for companies striving for the 

wish to remain at the forefront of innovation. 

Reflection of Excellence 

® 

“I can only congratulate you on a solution like PROMIS , 

which –in the long run – stands to allow both industry and 

public bodies to save billions of Euros through highest 

efficiency ! 

– Rainer Tielsch, Prof. h.c. Dr. rer. sec., Dipl.-Psych 

“Being responsible for the supply of medical materials, 

I have always looked for a tool that could help me in a 

flexible way during my work, adapted to my needs, as well 

as to those of our organization, i.e. the growing need to 

comply with the ISO standards, the new GDPR standards 

® 

and Health and Safety at Work. With PROMIS I have 

reached a point of excellent management of everything that 

is under my responsibility, I have seen that nurses and 

doctors are satisfied with the simplicity of the management 

® 

system and, above all, I am pleased that PROMIS follows 

and meets all my needs to be at the service of AVIS and the 

blood donors.” 

– Vanghelis Spiridon, Technical Coordinator, AVIS Milano, 

Italy 

. 


39

Tech-Trend 

EMBEDDED 

SYSTEMS 

ARE 

GAINING 

POPULARITY 

ACROSS ALL DOMAINS 

n today’s emerging world, 

Isystems have bought an ease of 

work due to its inherent 

advancements and features. The 

embedded system is one of the most 

imperative subjects in the digital 

world. Thinking about technology, 

daily lifestyle essential devices like 

mobile phones, tablets and laptops 

come to our mind, but the internal 

features is not known to most of us. 

The presence of these devices is 

almost inevitable in all facades of the 

human endeavor. In order to 

understand more about the operations, 

functions and features of embedded 

systems, it is defined here ahead. 

Embedded Systems -It is an electronic 

system incorporating hardware 

integrated circuit with software 

programming techniques for 

delivering various projects solutions. 

The main advantage of using an 

embedded system is it helps to reduce 

the complexity of the circuits which 

becomes expedient. It also offers a 

cost effective and an appropriate size 

which is suitable for the system. This 

electronic system can perform single 

or multiple tasks based on the 

application. An embedded system 

consist of hardware such as power 

supply kit, central processing unit, 

memory devices, timers, output 

circuits, serial communication ports 

and system application specific circuit 

components and circuits. 

Types of Embedded Systems 

The Embedded systems are classified 

into categories such as 

· Based on its performance and 

functional requirements 

· Performance of the 

Microcontroller 

The category- based on its 

performance and functional 

requirements are classified into four 

types that are Stand alone, Real time, 

Networked, and Mobile embedded 

systems. Further, the categoryperformance 

of the microcontroller is 

classified into three types that are 

small scale, medium scale and 

sophisticated embedded systems. 

An Excellent Application Provider 

The embedded systems are highly 

applicable as it is a special-purpose 

system due to its unique 

characteristics. It is used in a 

diversified area of things as its 

components and functions of 

hardware and software are different 

for each system. It is applicable in 

areas like communication, space, 

transportation, robotic systems, and 

home appliances and many more. 

40 


Real Time Applications of Embedded 

Systems 

As it has a vast variety of application 

domains it differs from high expense 

to low, consumer electronics to 

industrial equipment, academic 

equipment to entertainment devices 

and from weapons to medical 

instruments and aerospace control 

systems. Here goes some of the 

categories embedded systems are 

used: 

Ø Consumer electronics- Mobile 

phones, videogame consoles, 

digital camera 

Ø Household appliances- Washing 

machines, microwave ovens, 

refrigerators 

Ø Medical Equipment- CT Scanners, 


heartbeat monitors, 

electrocardiogram 

Ø Automobiles- Antilock braking 

systems, air-conditioner controls, 

electronic fuel injection systems 

Ø Industrial Applications- Assembly 

lines, multiple parameter 

monitoring systems, data collection 

systems 

Ø Aerospace- Navigation systems, 

guidance systems, GPS 

Ø Communications- Routers, 

network hubs, satellite phones 

Progression of Embedded Systems 

over the Decade 

With changing times, inventions have 

become a routine in the world of 

technology; the embedded systems 

have also undergone some salient 

modifications. In the existing times, 

the embedded technologies are 

responsible for the intellectual 

capabilities of utmost modern devices, 

for both consumers as well as 

industrial. To present this in a simpler 

manner, the embedded systems not 

just control the lifestyle devices like 

microwaves, smartphones, tablets, 

and other consumer electronics but 

also directs the telecommunication 

systems, submarines, ATMs, and 

many more. 

The upper echelons in the field of 

embedded technologies have created 

some innovative technologies over the 

last decade which is highly admired. 

Multi-core processors, virtualization, 

the expansion of devices with 

improved security requirements, 

64-bit processors and new chip 

manufacturing processes are some of 

the innovative achievements. 

41

Embracing such innovative technologies addresses the scale of the market and the number of its players which 

include companies like semiconductor suppliers, system software development, and mechanical components 

suppliers, system software development companies, and mechanical components suppliers. The embedded systems 

market leaders include national and international renowned companies. 

Advancing with Multifunctional Features 

With the advent of multi-functional engineering, the next age of wireless communication systems is encouraging a 

new level of technology integration. Incorporating effective measures like progressive data rates, great connectivity 

for systems such as the Internet of Things (IoT), less power consumption, and other striving goals can be achieved by 

joining advanced digital, RF, and antenna technologies. 

An embedded system which performs multiple applications is known as a multi-mode embedded system as it 

dynamically recomposes the system functionality. Moreover, an embedded system which additionally assists 

multiple tasks to be executed in a mode is known as a multi-mode multi-task embedded system. The multi-material 

additive manufacturing processes offer the potential for multi-functional parts to be manufactured in a single 

procedure. To utilize the potential benefits of the developing technology, analysis, new designs, and optimization 

methods are needed. Such methods are facilitated in the optimization of a multifunctional part by pairing both the 

structural design aspects and system. An application development platform known as Multifunctional Embedded 

Application Platform (MEAP) is used to create customized applications. 

Trends to Watch 

Developers should constantly keep an eye on the trends and make appropriate use of the latest advances in 

techniques and technologies. Some of the trends include Internet of Things (IoT), processor technology, storage, 

artificial intelligence and, virtual and augmented reality. Also, there are several trends like embedded security, realtime 

visualization; cloud connectivity and Bluetooth mesh networking, low power consumption and optimization 

that will help developers working with microcontroller-based solutions. 

Elevating with Time 

Over the years, embedded systems have come a long way and contributed to every aspect of the industrial sector. All 

the devices or appliances used in our daily lives are designed in such a way that can be used without creating 

difficulties using the embedded systems. Taking this into account, in coming times every object around will consist 

of a either a small processor or sensor embedded within itself. Even though it is invisible to the naked eye it still 

connects with multiple other devices to make the lives more allied and accessible than ever before. Using embedded 

systems, wonders like driverless cars, fully automated factories, adaptive home appliances and many more devices 

have successfully been created. 

In the upcoming times, the embedded systems are looking forward to evolve with technologies that will assist large 

data storage dimensions, faster communication and highly linked connections among the devices. 

42 


SpiraLinks Corporation: 




saas 


Redefining Management Processes since Inception 

Founded in 1993, a woman-owned company, 

SpiraLinks Corporation specializes in 

designing, implementing, and supporting webenabled 

application projects; the company has a record 

of on-time, on-budget delivery that meets client 

requirements and specifications. In the past 10 years 

Spiralinks has elevated its flagship product the 

® 

FocalReview Total Rewards software suite to the cloud, 

while strengthening on-premise clients and 

implementations. 

The organization has designed, installed and hosted 

secure web-based systems for marketing, human 

resources, compensation and finance teams for more than 

20 years. With this deep understanding the company 

offers a compensation and performance management 

® 

planning suite, FocalReview . It can be tailored to what 

works for a particular business, and is a proven leader in 

compensation management for companies in the US, 

Europe, and beyond. 

Adding Value and Planning Ahead 

® 

SpiraLinks can implement the FocalReview product for 

any client in the cloud or on-premise. It is the same code 

base. The organization releases new updates twice a year 

in order to keep up with the industry mandates, apply 

new business features, and take advantage of new 

technical solutions to improve the software - and stay 

relevant in the market. SaaS powered systems allow 

SpiraLinks to support clients better, and reply to 

questions faster. 

® 

FocalReview , SpiraLinks’ flagship tool, helps its clients 

to manage their compensation planning and performance 

® 

processes more efficiently. With FocalReview , now 

clients can manage salary, bonus, and stock plans on 

different timetables for different employee populations – 

in multiple currencies and languages. Thanks to the 

groundbreaking product, now HR teams can budget, 

recommend, analyze, and approve changes in all forms 

and phases of compensation, even if multiple 

management organizations are responsible for input and 

review – either on-premise or securely in the cloud. 

In general, the HR business unit often has a limited 

budget and a short time frame for software 

® 

implementations. The FocalReview product can address 

both these hurdles. Clients ranging from 100 employees 

to 3000 employees have implemented in 4-8 weeks. 

Spiralinks’ longest implementation took around 6 

months - and it was a multi-national, Multi-currency 

corporaton of more than 300,000 employees! 

According to the organization, some key lessons are to 

plan ahead, map your data, and set expectations on input, 

process, and reporting. A train-the-trainer approach by 

the company helps the clients to take control faster, and 

rely less on the vendor. Spiralinks believes this is better 

strategy; because the faster a client becomes comfortable 

with the system, the can really discover the software’s 

capabilities. 

Leading from the Front 

SpiraLinks’ founders focused on the beauty of quick 

delivery that the World Wide Web provided over 

traditional Information Technology implementation 

projects. Early on and expanding on their experience in 

HR and Administrative Systems they developed custom 

solutions. About 10 years ago SpiraLinks created the 

® 

FocalReview product that could be scaled in both 

functionality and client size. After the death of a key 

founder back in 2013, Julie Southern, Co-founder 

became CEO of Spiralinks and led the company to it 

next level. She achieved this by moving the software into 

44 


“SpiraLinks improves 

management processes. 

From project planning to 

compensationmanagement 

to performance assessment, 

we've got you covered.” 

— Julie Southern 


the Cloud as well as making the tool 100 % configurable 

- avoiding custom charges to the client. This makes an 

easily supported implementation, while giving flexibility 

to address all vertical businesses – and a more affordable 

solution to their clients. 

Pushing Boundaries 

When it comes to standing out amongst the crowd, 

Spiralinks believes that it stands out in three ways; 

Ÿ The organization has a straight forward pricing, with 

no hidden fees. 

Ÿ Thanks to the configurability, Spiralinks can scale 

from medium to large implementations, with little 

effort. 

Ÿ Spiralinks’ exceptional customer service also plays a 

vital role when it comes to standing out. 

the software costs - something unheard of with their 

competitors, as well as in the IT industry. 

Ready for the Future 

SpiraLinks is the leader in sophisticated Total Rewards 

software that is multi lingual, multi-currency and an 

ideal add on to any HRIS or HCM that does not have the 

depth in compensation planning and performance 

® 

management. SpiraLinks’ FocalReview is best of breed, 

but can work very well with other best of breed software 

- providing a bespoke solution to each client. The 

company envisions continuing adding more value for 

money thru features in its flagship product and lead the 

industry with its distinctive solutions. 

The organization’s philosophy is to make its software 

easy to use and administer by making key business logic 

configurable. This allows a flexible and focused software 

solution for each HR cycle. Spiralinks want to sell great 

software at a fair price; not sell software to sell 

implementation teams. The company proudly mentions 

® 

implementation costs for FocalReview are a fraction of 


45

Leadership Viewpoint 

Challenges in 

Cloud Computing 

The Clouds keep rolling in for enterprises. In the 

2018 State of the Cloud Survey performed by 

RightScale, they found that 96% of respondents 

now use the public, private, hybrid, or a mix of cloud 

computing models. To add some additional complexity to 

the mix, from the same survey, organizations are already 

running applications in 3.1 clouds and experimenting with 

1.7 more for a total of 4.8 clouds. 

Businesses report the key advantages of moving workloads 

to the Cloud are flexibility, agility, easy access to 

information, and cost savings. All of these great advantages 

though come with a price. Just like any migration project, 

there are a lot of moving pieces and a lot of places a 

company can run into issues. 

There are really three silos of challenges that both cloud 

migrations and operating in the Cloud fall into. 

1 Planning – Without a well thought out plan, your 

migration is destined to have a rocky road to operational 

readiness. 

2 Risk Mitigation – It is key to understand all the risks, 

technology and business, that moving and operating in 

the Cloud creates. Adding risk mitigation to your initial 

plan will help ease the transition and make a surprise 

free environment when services go into production in 

the Cloud. 

3 Governance (Cost and Security) – The ease of use, 

agility, and elasticity of the Cloud are great benefits, but, 

they can also lead to runaway costs and a lack of 

adherence to security best practices. 

At CCSI we break the migration and operation in the Cloud 

into 5 key areas. 

1 Discovery 

It is a critical start with a full understanding of what 

exists in the environment today. All applications, 

services, and supporting infrastructure should be 

inventoried and documented. This will ensure nothing 

gets left behind and that there is a clear understanding of 

the current steady state infrastructure. 

2 Assessment 

Once a complete inventory is created, each application 

and service can be evaluated to determine if it should be 

moved to the Cloud. If it is to move, is it best suited for 

public, private, or hybrid deployment or would it be 

better to move to a SaaS (Software as a Service) 

solution. Perhaps it can be decommissioned because 

there are duplicate services, or it is not being used 

anymore. It may also be determined that the application 

or service is not a good target to move. Perhaps it is a 

legacy application that can’t support more modern 

infrastructures. 

This is also a good time to start reviewing Cloud service 

providers that may fit the requirements of your 

applications, your infrastructure, and your budget. 

3 Migration Planning 

Now that we know what we are moving and where it is 

moving, we can start to put together a plan. During the 

migration planning phase workloads are prioritized for 

the order they are going to be moved, a budget is put 

together, a business case is made for each workload that 

is to be moved, and pilot migrations are performed 

where further design, performance, or reliability testing 

is needed. Once this stage is complete, a full migration 

roadmap along with buy in from all the interested 

parties within the organization should be secured. 

4 Migration and Testing 

Once a workload is migrated, full testing should take 

place. Testing for performance, load, security, resiliency 

and reliability should be performed. This is one of the 

most critical steps. It is much easier to mitigate issues 

BEFORE going into production. 

5 Go Live 

This is probably the shortest but scariest part of the 

process. After all the hard work, the plug is pulled on 

the original system and the new system in the Cloud 

goes live. All support processes should be transitioned 

to support the new cloud infrastructure and all 

documentation should be updated. After any issues are 

46 



Joe Goldberg is the Senior 

Cloud Program Manager at 

CCSI. Over the past 15+ years, 

Joe has helped companies to 

design, build out, and optimize 

their network and data center 

infrastructure. Joe is also ITIL 

certified. Joe can be contacted 

via Twitter handle 

@DevOps_Dad or by email 

jgoldberg@ccsinet.com. 

Joe Goldberg 

Cloud Program Manager 

CCSI 

ironed out, a post migration review is 

always valuable to see if there are any ways to 

improve the migration process for the next workload. 

Now that your organization is officially “in the Cloud”, the 

challenge of governance begins. For effective cost control 

in cloud computing services, it is important to understand 

the different factors that impact an organization’s cost. 

Cloud cost management tools should be used to help 

discover the source of these inefficiencies. Unplanned costs 

are often due to a lack of visibility of current consumption 

and past trends. When organizations used on premise 

infrastructure, they financed it with fixed upfront CAPEX 

investments. Cloud consumption is an OPEX subscription 

model based on utilization. A shift in the approach to 

operational management is now needed. Optimizing for 

cost is as important as optimizing for performance. 

Cloud-based governance tools can track usage and costs 

then alert administrators when costs are greater than 

budgeted. These same tools can be used to ensure corporate 

security policies are being applied to all workloads and that 

best practice security frameworks like Center for Internet 

Security (CIS) are being applied. 

models deliver the best results and 

have adequate planning in 

place - but it’s not easy. 

About CCSI 

For more than 40 years, Contemporary Computer 

Services Inc. (CCSI) mission has been to help solve modern 

business challenges with technology solutions that optimize 

cost, reduce risk, simplify operations, and increase 

performance. CCSI provides the highest quality of service 

in the industry for the full spectrum of technologies–from 

containers to PCs, network infrastructures, managed 

services, IP telephony, cybersecurity, cloud services, 

SD-WAN, to storage solutions. At CCSI, we believe that 

technology exists to make our lives - and our businesses - 

simpler, more productive, secure, and ultimately more 

profitable. Let’s Grow Together. Learn more at 

www.ccsinet.com. 

As cloud services move deeper into the organization, it’s as 

important as ever that technology leaders make informed 

decisions about which products, services, and payment 


47

The 10 Best Performing SaaS Solution Providers 2018

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