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Why a development agency needs the cloud to grow sustainably

Customer Profile

International Trade Centre 1

The International Trade Centre (ITC) is the only development agency that is fully dedicated to supporting the internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

This means that the agency enables SMEs in developing and transition economies to become more competitive and connect to international markets for trade and investment, thus raising incomes and creating job opportunities, especially for women, young people, and poor communities. Established in 1964, ITC is the joint agency of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations (UN).

The development agency and CloudSigma collaborate in order to provide cloud services for an ITC project, called LegaCarta. LegaCarta -a Multilateral Trade Treaties Database-, provides access to a core group of some 250 multilateral trade instruments with references to approximately 450 amendments and protocols, in addition to legal maps, ratification tables, accession statistics and country analysis and technical assistance tools. It offers national authorities, trade promotion organisations, private sector associations and educational institutions a truly global picture of the multilateral rules that impact trade.

The Challenge

In the beginning, the LegaCarta project was initiated with on-premise infrastructure, but the team responsible for the project quickly realized that it was not sustainable. For that reason, they started to look for a suitable cloud provider. One of the main reasons, LegaCarta required a cloud solution was the potential of the cloud to scale on demand. Further, the team needed a third party to manage their servers, so that they can focus on further improving the project.

“During the testing period we benchmarked for platform functionality, subscription pricing and reliability. After comparing different providers, CloudSigma showed the best results. We also needed a European provider, so the CloudSigma location in Geneva was the perfect option.”Lead Developer @ LegaCarta

“For this particular project, we needed a third party to manage the platform, so that we don’t need to do anything with the infrastructure or the network, and so on. That’s why we knew that we needed a cloud solution.”

The LegaCarta team started testing different providers, in order to find the best solution. One of the technical requirements of ITC was to find a provider based in Europe, as the organization is based in Switzerland. They were also concerned about price-performance ratio, as well as reliability.

The Solution

“The deployment of new servers, installing the needed tools and copying our data was a very easy and straightforward process. I was very impressed that we could start up a new server in just a few hours. That’s when I knew that choosing CloudSigma was the right decision for us.”Lead Developer @ LegaCarta

When it comes to the migration from on-premise to the cloud, the team at LegaCarta did not face any unexpected issues. The migration process was smooth, and handled speedily.

According to the LegaCarta team, moving to the cloud resulted in many positive changes for the project.

“Working with CloudSigma allowed us to focus on improving the site, rather than maintaining the infrastructure. It has been only a few months since we have started using the platform, but we have already noticed improvement. We don’t have to spend time doing operational tasks or support tasks. The platform is managed completely by CloudSigma, and this saves us time.”

Another positive change for the development agency’s LegaCarta project since the move to the cloud was having the friendly and knowledgeable technical support on disposal.

“CloudSigma met all of our requirements for a suitable cloud provider. Anytime we have had some issues, the support team was able to assist us and we have been very happy with that. The support has always demonstrated a high level of technical knowledge that could help us resolve our concerns.”

The Future

Despite the relatively recent start with CloudSigma, ITC is confident that it has found the right match for its cloud needs. More than that, the development agency is planning to migrate another one of its projects from on-premise to the cloud. The project is an e-learning application, in the area of Alternative Dispute Settlement Mechanisms (ADR): Mediation. The program provides Certification training for the profession of mediator in the commercial sector. Currently in a beta version, the site will soon be up and running with the help of CloudSigma.

“We were satisfied with CloudSigma as a partner, therefore we are currently migrating the Mediation website to the cloud. So far, the migration is going smoothly, and we are confident that it will be another success.”

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About Zhenya Mocheva

Zhenya is a Digital Marketing Expert at CloudSigma, focusing on brand strategy, social media marketing and digital marketing campaigns. She is passionate about the continuous innovation within the digital environment and the endless growth opportunities that inbound marketing brings.