Finalsite: Helping educators focus on education
About Finalsite
Finalsite is a global leader in providing website, marketing communications, and digital marketing solutions to more than 5,000 schools and universities in 75 countries around the world. Based in Glastonbury, Connecticut, and founded in 1998, Finalsite's marketing and communications platform and consulting services transform how schools engage with community members, recruit students and staff, and fundraise, while managing the complex requirements around data privacy, accessibility, hosting, and security.
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About Taos
Taos, a Google Cloud partner and Managed Services Provider for Google Cloud, brings their expertise in the IT space to consult with clients and help solve their technology challenges. Founded in 1989, Taos is headquartered in San Jose, California.
Finalsite’s marketing and communications platform and consulting services transform how universities and schools engage with community members, recruit students and staff, and fundraise, while managing the complex requirements around data privacy, accessibility, hosting, and security. The company sought to migrate from its on-premises hardware to prepare for customer growth, placing a priority on cost-effectiveness, scalability, and the ability to maintain a reliable international presence.
Google Cloud results
- Reduces hardware costs by replacing on-premises systems with Google Cloud solutions
- Simplifies compliance strategy for regulations, including GDPR, with international Google Cloud footprint
- Improves platform performance via move to more scalable infrastructure
Simplifies management for nearly 100 school websites
Finalsite works with education clients around the world and wanted a backend platform that could support its international footprint. Along with high costs and requiring a considerable staff time for routine administration, the company’s legacy on-premises hardware was based only in the U.S. and offered limited room to support anticipated growth. If Finalsite was to build a comparable physical data center outside of the U.S. to better serve international customers, the effort would have potentially cost the company millions of dollars.
With Google Cloud, Finalsite has a robust infrastructure that offers scalability while streamlining operating costs and management. Google Kubernetes Engine provides versatile containerization support, while Compute Engine creates performance gains. PostgreSQL on Cloud SQL, Cloud Storage, Container Registry, and Stackdriver provide additional datastore and administrative support. Google Workspace is also used by Finalsite staff members to improve productivity and collaboration across teams.
Google Cloud partner Taos played a pivotal role in the migration’s success for Finalsite, taking a hybrid architectural approach that integrated with the company’s existing technology while minimizing disruption. Taos also solved key challenges for Finalsite that included developing a structure for the company’s rearchitecting strategy and providing technical expertise around Google Cloud data, routing, and container solutions.
“Taos saved us months of work through their expertise with Google Cloud including Kubernetes,” says Rob Widmer, Senior Systems Architect at Finalsite. “We now have a more solid foundation that runs smoothly and does not require our team to constantly monitor with high-touch.”
By using Google Cloud, Finalsite has benefitted from cost savings on multiple fronts. In addition to lower hardware operating costs, streamlined Google Cloud administration reduces the time IT staff spends on basic upkeep, allowing the team to focus on longer-term development and platform innovation. The international reach of Google Cloud also gives Finalsite a platform for worldwide growth and helps the company maintain compliance for regional regulations such as GDPR.
“Google Cloud allows our team, including deployment, support, and infrastructure employees, to more easily manage customer sites. Having more flexibility and scalability with Google Cloud helps us continue to be the marketing communications platform of choice for the education sector.”
—Rob Widmer, Senior Systems Architect, FinalsiteTell us your challenge. We're here to help.
Contact us
About Finalsite
Finalsite is a global leader in providing website, marketing communications, and digital marketing solutions to more than 5,000 schools and universities in 75 countries around the world. Based in Glastonbury, Connecticut, and founded in 1998, Finalsite's marketing and communications platform and consulting services transform how schools engage with community members, recruit students and staff, and fundraise, while managing the complex requirements around data privacy, accessibility, hosting, and security.
About Taos
Taos, a Google Cloud partner and Managed Services Provider for Google Cloud, brings their expertise in the IT space to consult with clients and help solve their technology challenges. Founded in 1989, Taos is headquartered in San Jose, California.