METAFORCE LTD LAUNCHED ITS
INNOVATIVE ‘TIMEKEEPER’ ONLINE
WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT
SOLUTION IN 2008
ABOUT
METAFORCE
Timekeeper allows both members and clubs to book any type of session or class in ‘real-time’, giving them the opportunity to pay for the session at the time of booking, modify at a later date, or cancel entirely. Employee profiles and Facebook-style walls can also be included to give a more personal feel to the end-user experience.
THE
STORY
Behind the scenes, a team of extremely experienced programmes and systems analysts work with clients to create unique policies and workflows that can scale to meet the demands of even the largest organisation. The Software-as-a-Service platform was originally hosted at the Metaforce offices, but in 2009, with the business growing steadily, it was felt that professional third-party hosting and management was needed. The goal was to ensure that the Timekeeper platform could be delivered reliably and that critical data be held securely off-site for business continuity purposes.
THE
help4IT EFFECT
“We looked at a number of potential hosting companies, but most seemed limited in their capabilities,” explains Dave Bain, CEO and Co-founder of Metaforce, “For example, we wanted to use our own server and most said that simply wasn’t possible.” Metaforce was also looking for an IT support services company that could help with a number of related Linux projects and even potentially work with its clients around aspects of system integration. “help4IT were one of the few providers we evaluated that had a depth of technical skill that we were looking for,” explains Bain. “They were also extremely flexible and cost-effective, in one case around a quarter of the price of one of the quotes we got.”
WHAT
THEY SAY
ABOUT US
help4IT began hosting the Timekeeper platform in 2009, and the system has had no unplanned outages during that period. “We had an issue a few years back where we lost a key member of internal technical staff that had an impact on our ability to integrate email platforms. help4IT really came to our aid with a technical solution that they turned around in a short period of time,” says Bain. “That project has been typical of our relationship – they tend to think out of the box and react when we need them, with knowledge and professionalism.” Metaforce Ltd is now working with help4IT on several new projects, including an upgrade to Timekeeper server platform to deliver higher availability through a hot swap backup system.
