Drag & Drop

Supporting operations to deliver Software as a Service (SaaS)

About Drag & Drop
Established in 1999, Drag & Drop has evolved into a Software as a Service (SaaS) provider focused on the newspaper industry delivering tailored software solutions. Its philosophy has always been to support its customers as closely as possible, understanding the nature of newspaper publishing and their need for a fast and reliable response.

Drag & Drop Business Challenge
At its inception Drag & Drop’s software solution was delivered to the newspaper groups to host on their in-house IT systems. Several years ago Drag & Drop started to move to a SaaS model. The new web based solution allowed the customers of their newspaper clients to directly access the software and create advertisements online, streamlining operations. The challenge Drag & Drop was up against was how to establish a solid SaaS delivery model.

“To evolve the software delivery to a SaaS based model, it was critical to work with the right suppliers to support our new business model,” commented James Wright, co-founder and CTO,Drag & Drop. 

Given this was a major change in approach and with clients from some of the biggest newspaper groups in the UK, it was critical to convince the newspaper industry the resilience of the SaaS approach versus internal hosting. With these challenges facing Drag & Drop, they needed to find a highly dependable managed hosting service provider, one who could deliver high resilience and performance supported by quality technical and customer service to support the SaaS business model.

The Solution
Due to the business critical nature of the new SaaS model and the importance of the hosting requirements, Drag & Drop spent a considerable amount of time and effort identifying the right managed hosting provider.

Many of our customers were initially very nervous about this change in delivery method. As this was our livelihood, we had to get it right. When we got down to the final selection of managed hosting providers we even tested their support lines. This was one of the areas that really set DediPower apart from the rest,” said James Wright.

DediPower is delivering Drag & Drop a reliable and scalable hosted solution with bespoke server customisation for Drag & Drop’s proprietary software. The solution provides connectivity through a high performance network with ongoing support, maintenance and expert technical cover around the clock to deliver Drag & Drop with the confidence in delivering to their customers and their customers’ customers.

"DediPower has delivered an excellent service which our customers have recognised. They really like the managed hosting approach, which provides resilience and excellent performance. Through the new delivery model we have the added protection of an enterprise class data centre,” said James Wright.

DediPower also provides all the hardware and operating system maintenance. DediPower's secure data centre access, closed circuit video surveillance, precision air conditioning systems and leading edge environmental controls, coupled with round the clock monitoring and expert customer support provides the optimum managed hosting environment.

“Recently we upgraded over 30 new servers over a period of 5 weeks. It was superbly executed and we were able to maintain continuity of services throughout this period. This was an excellent example of the working relationship we have established with DediPower,” said James Wright.

Business Results
Today, Drag & Drop estimate they have between 35-45% of the addressable market in which they operate. The SaaS model supported by DediPower in underpinning their business operations has delivered substantial results for Drag & Drop:

• Expanded business by over 400% in a three year period
• Secured over 40 new customers and have been able to extend geographical presence to leverage new market opportunities
• Reduced operational costs through an online delivery model and the delivery of online support and training.

"The enormous flexibility that SaaS offers has allowed us to address new market opportunities. DediPower has been critical in our subsequent delivery strategy. We would definitely recommend DediPower to other clients operating a SaaS business model without hesitation,” said James Wright.