Who is Contrast Technologies?

Contrast Technologies is a Canterbury-based managed IT support (MSP) provider specialized in helping schools with their technology needs. They serve as a one-stop shop for all of a school's IT requirements, taking ownership of their tech infrastructure and managing it to make it better, more reliable, and more user-friendly.

What was the business need?

While managing servers, firewalls, and network infrastructure for schools, Contrast Technologies encountered persistent challenges with legacy protocols that hadn't evolved with modern technology.

"We manage quite a lot of servers, firewalls and network infrastructure, and within that, there seems to be a lot of legacy protocols that don't change," says Contrast director Scott Simpson.

"For example, a firewall might have a very limited way of taking backups of its configuration that's very old fashioned. So while technology has moved on, all these vendors support these legacy ways of transferring files."

These limitations created several challenges for Contrast:

  • Longer completion times for routine jobs
  • Compliance issues with file storage
  • Inefficient processes for backup management
  • Inability to automate critical configuration backups

"We wanted to seamlessly automate the backup and storing of these config files, but we couldn't because we had to work with these legacy protocols," Simpson explains.

Why did Contrast choose Couchdrop?

Finding a solution had been on the backburner for Contrast Technologies—a task that repeatedly landed in the "too hard" basket. When they finally reached out to Couchdrop, they were surprised by how quickly they could implement a solution.

"It just worked – it did what it said it would do on the tin," notes Simpson. "The first thing you see on the Couchdrop website is, 'SFTP was never made for the Cloud' and they're absolutely right. They fixed that problem for us, and knowing how easy it was, we should have done it sooner."

Contrast Technologies implemented Couchdrop and had it up and running within hours, providing the bridge between legacy protocols and modern cloud storage that they needed.

What improved after implementation?

After implementing Couchdrop, Contrast Technologies saw immediate improvements in their operations:

Seamless integration between old and new systems
"The beauty of it is it blends old world tech with new world tech. We can integrate and talk to legacy protocols but in the back end we're using the newest tech around file storage. Having that blend is really unheard of."

Simplified processes
The solution streamlined their backup workflows, eliminating manual steps and reducing the time needed to manage configuration files.

Enhanced disaster recovery
"You might scoff and say, 'All you're doing is backing up config files,' but how we respond to things going wrong is how we're going to be measured. It's about how quickly we can fix things and return back to where we were."

What has the overall impact been?

Implementing Couchdrop has provided Contrast Technologies with greater confidence in their backup solutions and improved their ability to respond quickly to potential issues.

"With Couchdrop, we've got confidence in the solution we've put in place and that the backed-up files are ready for use at our fingertips," Simpson confirms.

The solution has enhanced their service capabilities for educational institutions, giving them a more reliable system for managing critical infrastructure backups and ensuring they can quickly restore services if needed.

"If we can't do it quickly, it'll bite us in the backside," adds Simpson, highlighting the importance of having readily accessible backups for their managed services business.