Client Story

Thought Development

Thought Development Transforms Broadcast Workflow Solutions with AWS Cloud Adoption

Thought Development is a workflow solution provider for the broadcast and cable industry, offering a vertical product that manages promo, media, social media, and graphics workflows for premier clients in the media and entertainment industry. They needed expert support to extend their 25-year-old FileMaker solution and move to a SaaS model. Soliant Consulting provided FileMaker Server cloud hosting on Soliant.cloud and a Digital Workforce solution with Appstream to deliver a seamless web-based experience for end users, allowing Thought Development to offer a more robust and agile solution without maintaining backend infrastructure.

Customer Challenge

Thought Development faced several challenges with their existing solution:

  • They lacked development capabilities in certain areas and needed expert support and integration with external systems.
  • Their FileMaker-based solution required clients to have individual software licenses. They wanted to move to a SaaS model for a seamless client experience.
  • They wanted to start transitioning to a web-based solution.

Without addressing these challenges, Thought Development risked being unable to meet evolving client needs and falling behind industry trends.

Why AWS

Thought Development chose AWS because of the flexibility and efficiency it could afford them in pursuit of their long-term goals. Coupling EC2 with Appstream gave them the results they were looking for, and Soliant was able to design something special for them that checked all their boxes.

  • Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) provides scalable computing capacity in the cloud, allowing Thought Development to easily adjust their computing resources based on their needs.
  • Amazon AppStream 2.0 is a fully managed application streaming service that enables Thought Development to securely deliver their software to any computer, without the need for their clients to install and manage the application locally.

Why Thought Development Chose Soliant Consulting

Thought Development chose Soliant Consulting for their breadth of experience across multiple clients and industries. As a small company serving large clients, they needed a partner who could provide the necessary bandwidth and expertise to make their solution more robust and agile. Partnering with Soliant allowed them to provide a strong solution without expanding their own team to maintain the backend infrastructure.

Partner Solution

Soliant’s MSP for FileMaker Server hosting, Soliant.cloud, was a clear choice, as it met the client’s needs immediately for hosting and managing their FileMaker Server deployment. Soliant.cloud’s client portal enabled them to have granular control of their deployment when needed, gave access to detailed analytics and logging, and provided a hardened disaster recovery model that ensures their data is kept safe and secure in the event of a disaster.

Soliant Consulting cloud-enabled the Thought Development FileMaker application using AWS, primarily leveraging AppStream to provide a VDI web client for end users. This allows clients to access the solution seamlessly without individual software licenses. Soliant also helped Thought Development with Cost-Optimization by crafting scaling policies that directly aligned with their usage patterns, allowing them to save considerable costs on their monthly bill.

Results and Benefits

The AWS-enabled SaaS solution delivered by Soliant Consulting provided several key benefits:

  1. Seamless, web-based experience for Thought Development’s clients
  2. Elimination of individual software licensing requirements
  3. Ability for Thought Development to deliver a robust solution without expanding in-house resources to maintain backend infrastructure
  4. Increased agility to meet evolving client and industry needs

Next Steps

Thought Development is exploring streamlining the user experience by implementing federated single sign-on for Appstream. They are also exploring new product development opportunities with Soliant.

About the Customer

With over fifteen years of experience in streamlining broadcast, cable, radio, and motion picture marketing, Thought Development is the premier authority in developing workflow systems for the media promotions industry. Their flagship product, ON-AIR Pro™, manages the complex promo, media, social media, and graphics workflows for large clients.

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