Challenges
General Background
As technical team lead at Matter Solutions, a typical day for Ben Maden varies greatly. It often involves him managing team members, monitoring the health of client sites (e.g., vulnerabilities and updates), consulting with clients on technical requirements, QA, deploying work, and managing hosting-related tasks.
Life Before SpinupWP
“Managing many small sites became tedious, logging in and out of control panel accounts here and there. We needed a smoother, single answer to streamline our workflow and improve security.” – Ben Maden, Director at Matter Solutions
Before using SpinupWP, Ben faced several server management challenges. Each setup seemed to have its quirks, particularly with 3rd party control panels, which were costly and difficult to maintain across different environments. Managing many small sites became tedious, as it required logging in and out of various control panel and hosting accounts. This complexity made delegation difficult, as everything required thorough documentation on the particular client’s setup.
A specific incident that highlighted the need for a new solution was when multiple clients on a single control panel account got hacked simultaneously. This incident made it clear to Ben that they needed a single solution to be able to monitor the client’s sites at scale.
What to Look For in a Solution
When evaluating server management solutions, Ben considered various factors, such as VPS hosting or building template machines in AWS. However, these solutions were still often inconsistent in their setup and still required a tech lead to perform hands-on tasks. They needed something quicker, easier, and accessible to non-tech staff.
Making the Switch to SpinupWP
A particular project required a solution that Ben could give team members access to, and SpinupWP happened to provide a fast and consistent way to get up and running. After testing it on one server, they found it an easy setup and decided to roll it out to more servers.
Onboarding with SpinupWP
Matter Solutions’ onboarding process with SpinupWP was smooth and painless. The full transition took about 8-10 months as they phased out previous provider contracts. Ben mentioned that during implementation they didn’t require much support, but when needed, the SpinupWP team provided clear and helpful answers, even to more difficult questions.
Benefits and Improvements
SpinupWP has significantly improved Matter Solutions’ server management processes. Non-technical team members can now handle tasks such as cloning a development site or staging a site for QA, which has greatly reduced the tech lead’s workload. This empowers project managers to move quickly and meet deadlines. For example, saving time by not needing to handle critical tasks allows project managers to get the work moving ASAP. Also, the ability to SSH in and troubleshoot quickly saves time for the entire team.
Ben found that his clients have also benefited from Matter Solutions’ use of SpinupWP through faster project initiation and smoother administrative processes. Some technical clients have even commented on the speed and flexibility they’ve been able to bring to their teams. A large software company, in particular, has been very happy with the way Matter Solutions can manage its dozens of websites with ease through SpinupWP.
What Matter Solutions Would Like To See in SpinupWP
While Ben and his team are very happy with SpinupWP’s platform, they did have a few suggestions for improvements:
- Simplifying backup setup, particularly in the API.
- Improved server logs for better functionality and feature visibility.
Who Should Use SpinupWP?
“SpinupWP has made it possible for non-tech team members to handle complex server management tasks, freeing up my time for more critical work. This has drastically improved our workflow and saved us (well actually, me) heaps of time.” – Ben Maden, Director at Matter Solutions
Whether you’re running a small business or managing a large team, you’ve likely faced the same hurdles as Ben. Traditional hosting solutions and self-managed servers each address some issues but also bring their own set of complications. SpinupWP offers the ideal blend of simplicity and control. Experience the difference with our 7-day free trial.
Do you have a success story to share with us, or want to let us know about your experience with SpinupWP, let us know in the comments below.
