IRIS leverages the cloud to provide scalable accounting software and services to customers. Initial challenges included planning requirements, automating processes, implementing redundancy, and extensive testing. IRIS partnered with Rackspace due to their capabilities around continuous delivery, automated testing, custom monitoring, product insights, and disaster recovery. This resulted in reduced costs, improved resilience and flexibility, and scalability to support business growth. Benefits included self-service for engineers, rapid deployments, and increased security. The future focuses on continued automation, appropriate staffing, comprehensive monitoring and testing to ensure smooth evolution.

1. How IRIS Leverages the Cloud
Paul Booth - Director of Cloud Operations

2.  Bookkeeping - KashFlow
 Payroll – KashFlow Payroll
 Tax Compliance – IRIS OpenTax
 Payslips – IRIS OpenPayslips
 Document Management – IRIS OpenSpace
 Auto Enrolment – IRIS OpenEnrol
Our Cloud Products

3.  Scalability
 Resilience
 Product intelligence
 Customer approval
 Cost
Initial Challenges We Faced

4. Our Initial Setup Looked Like This…

5.  Planned Requirements
 Automation
 Managed and IaaS hosting
 Consolidated monitoring and instrumentation
 Redundancy and disaster recovery
 Test, test, test
 Consolidation within Rackspace
 Made small incremental changes
How Did We Meet Those Challenges

6.  Hybrid model
 Resilience
 UK Datacentres
 OpenStack and APIs
 Customer Service and Support
Why Did We Choose Rackspace?

7.  Automated build and deploy (continuous delivery)
 Automation of functional and load testing
 Custom monitoring and instrumentation
 Inbuilt product insight and intelligence
 Efficient backup and disaster recovery
What Did We End Up With?

8. Looks like this…

9.  Reduced operational staff and startup costs
 Improved resilience and flexibility
 Scalability to meet business growth plans
 Business and capacity intelligence
 Rapid disaster recovery potential
What Benefits Did We See?

10.  More of the same
 Self service for the engineering team
 Rapid deployment of custom environments
 Improvements in system and network security
What’s in Store for the future?

11.  Automation is key, and APIs are critical
 Find the right staff with the right mentality
 Monitor everything
 Test everything. Twice. Or three times.
 Evolution rather than revolution
Wrapping Up…

12. Thank You
paul.booth@iris.co.uk