Challenge
Hargis needed to quickly implement a cost-effective, off-premise disaster recovery solution for work it provides to hundreds of high profile, global clients.
Results
The firm migrated its entire complex application to the cloud, as is, in less than 30 days. By avoiding CapEx and downtime, Hargis achieved an estimated cost savings of $700,000 per year and the assurance of being able to meet client expectations in the event of an outage.
About Hargis Engineers
Hargis Engineers is a mechanical, electrical, telecommunications, security, and energy consulting engineering firm with hundreds of high profile, global clients including Amazon, Microsoft, Nordstrom, and Target. Hargis selected Skytap as part of its business continuity plan to provide a simple, reliable, and cost-effective disaster recovery solution for its mission-critical applications.
As a leading consulting engineering firm, Hargis serves numerous clients worldwide to provide professional services responsive to its clients’ diverse operating environments on a local, enterprise, and global level. Its clients expect the highest quality of service, which relies on around the clock availability of its IT resources. While Hargis has never experienced a significant outage, the firm knew it needed to have a disaster recovery solution in place to prevent downtime in the face of a major disaster and to satisfy its customers’ requirements.
Hargis Engineers’ Challenge
As part of a modernization initiative, Hargis needed to implement an off-premise and cost-effective disaster recovery solution under an aggressive deadline. Given the critical nature of the work the firm provides its clients, the risk of downtime in the event of an IT outage was unacceptable. In addition to maintaining customer satisfaction, Hargis estimated that each day of downtime would cost the company $70,000. In case of a severe disaster, the firm could experience up to two weeks of downtime, which would cost approximately $700,000.
Skytap Solution
Skytap enabled Hargis to deploy a cost-effective disaster recovery solution with ease. Thanks to its support for data center-native applications, the business was able to migrate the entire complex application to the cloud, as is, in less than 30 days.
Hargis was able to launch its disaster recovery solution with Skytap on time and within budget. There was no rearchitecting or refactoring required to support Hargis’ traditional applications, which made it seamless to migrate the firm’s disaster recovery solution to Skytap. The team was able to launch a new solution in less than 30 days.
Using Skytap, Hargis has immediate self-service access to its entire application environment in minutes. The team created a centralized library of primary application templates that can quickly be updated as new versions are released. As a result, Hargis employees and customers have complete access to the most current versions of its applications at all times. This was a significant benefit to Hargis as it ensures its back-up applications in the cloud are consistent with its on-site applications at all times.
“Skytap was the only cloud solution that allowed us to be up and running immediately in the event of a disaster. Our customers can rest assured that we have a business continuity plan backed by a highly scalable solution that can be activated with 100 percent reliability.”
Chris Sheldon, Principal, Telecom and Security, Hargis
Outcomes
Skytap also provides Hargis with responsive, high-quality customer support, which is critical for the company given client expectations for around-the-clock service. “Skytap provides Hargis with a bullet-proof safety net in the event of an IT outage,” said Chris Sheldon, Telecom and Security Principal at Hargis. “Over the last two years, we have been impressed with the reliability of Skytap, its ease of use, and the responsiveness of the company to our specific needs.”
By avoiding CapEx and downtime, Hargis achieved an estimated cost savings of $700,000 per year and the peace of mind that it can meet its client expectations, even in the case of an IT outage.
“Skytap can bring up our entire environment in minutes in the event of a disaster. This is essential in our business.”
Matt Hoffer, Network Administrator, Hargis
