The Client
EAP Expert is a healthcare technology company with the premiere application for helping the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) industry run more efficiently, save time and money, and provide a great user experience. Founded in 1997, EAP Expert has over 25 years of experience transforming how EAP services are delivered electronically with a strong blend of scalability, security, reliability, and performance.
The Challenge
In late 2021, EAP Expert faced problems around scalability and overall IT costs. Small incremental changes, such as increased memory or storage on a server, could cost thousands of dollars due to the need to acquire an entirely new machine. For this reason, they looked to Amazon Web Services (AWS), where they could scale with the click of a few buttons and expand to additional regions seamlessly. Since they did not have the staff internally to build cloud resources, they worked with two managed service providers (MSPs) to create their cloud resources: one to build their initial environment and another to maintain it over time.
They realized quickly that they needed more than what a standard MSP offers. They needed someone with a deep understanding of healthcare who could advise them on how to build for the future and what steps they should take to ensure a secure, compliant cloud. For this reason, they began their search for a more specialized offering.
The Solution
After conducting research, EAP Expert found Cloudticity, which not only had a focus on compliance and security but also a history of working with the high bar of HITRUST certification. Cloudticity also services the healthcare industry exclusively, allowing them to have deep knowledge of best practices in building healthcare cloud resources.
Cloudticity was able to quickly address the EAP Expert AWS environment, finding a number of areas that needed additional configuration to run smoothly. Cloudticity Oxygen™ was deployed to continuously monitor cost, availability, security, and compliance events. A Cloud Value Architect (CVA) was assigned to the account to act as an ongoing technical resource, and with the help of the CVA, the entire process took a matter of days compared with the previous MSP which could take weeks to respond to one ticket.
“We view Cloudticity as a major addition. We felt like your team was a part of our company and had our best interests in mind...With Cloudticity their mentality was to ask: how can we best help EAP Expert as our client?"
– Brian Hamm, Manager of DevOps & Compliance at EAP Expert
The Benefits
Once EAP Expert was fully onboarded, the benefits were almost immediate. The CVA advised them on strategies to implement best practices that quickly increased the performance of the AWS environment. Another benefit was efficiency. Using automation, the CVA helped them double the size of their AWS footprint while still being able to handle day-to-day operations with a single infrastructure person from the EAP Expert side.
There was also a financial impact. By taking advantage of a cost savings plan, EAP Expert was able to save thousands of dollars per month on their AWS bill, freeing up resources for future investment. Rather than just creating the resources as instructed, the CVA acted as a trusted advisor building for the future. Due to the excellent service from the Cloudticity team, the efficiency of Oxygen™, and the ability to quickly impact the bottom line, EAP Expert decided to extend their relationship for an additional 3-year commitment. “We view Cloudticity as a major addition. We felt like your team was a part of our company and had our best interests in mind” says Brian Hamm, Manager of DevOps and Compliance. “With Cloudticity their mentality was to ask: how can we best help EAP Expert as our client”?
Now EAP Expert is able to look to future projects that will have major business implications for them. They are currently working with the CVA on strategies to move away from the older SQL databases that they have today. They plan to use cloud-native services and move to RDS and Aurora. This would not have been possible without the guidance from the Cloudticity team.
