Integral Axon loses Simpl contract

Simpl has outsourced its IT infrastructure to CodeBlue, who will take over all aspects of support for the group’s 91 servers as well as offering in-house support and a Help Desk service.

The CodeBlue contract replaces a third level support agreement with Integral Axon.

Internal IT support staff have been either redeployed or hired by CodeBlue as part of the deal.

Simpl CEO, Bennett Medary, said, “From a strategic viewpoint it’s about focus. Technology companies such as ours often fail to follow their own advice and outsource activities which are not central nor strategic to the value we offer our customers.”

Medary said that other New Zealand IT companies could benefit from “a reality check” with regard to how they go about servicing and supporting their own IT infrastructures.

“I think that because our customers tend to be large corporates and large government departments, we tend to take on the mindset of those customers and think in big and complex terms. But we, and our colleagues in the IT business, are actually mid-sized businesses. We don’t have thousands of staff, we have hundreds. We don’t have hundreds of millions in revenue, we have tens of millions.”

CodeBlue’s General Manager, Ian Funnell, added, “Simpl, with 91 virtual servers in the cloud, is New Zealand’s largest Microsoft Hyper V site. The servers support Simpl’s internal systems as well as their customer development environments. Being in the cloud means we can quickly and easily build new servers to fill spikes in demand, and also decrease server capacity so they pay for only what they need.”