CoLab Lighting Case Study

Creating an empowering web environment for CoLab Lighting 

Habitat3 rapidly migrates and optimises web-hosting environment for premium lighting business.

Overview

As a premium lighting manufacturer and distributor looking to relaunch their brand and revamp their website, Australian-owned CoLab lighting had a critical need to ensure their online presence was working at optimal performance prior to their rebrand.  

CoLab Lighting creates all kinds of lighting solutions for commercial and residential customers, from schools and libraries to hospitals and more. Working with lighting designers, architects and electrical contractors they create custom pieces that combine function and visual aesthetic. As such, for their business, the website is a key marketing tool, conveying the full range of their impressive products (including datasheets and brochures and product configurators).  

However, with the web agency managing their site until that point they had little to no control over the website, which was limiting their ability to adapt quickly and be responsive to business opportunities. As such, it was time to look for other options. 

The Challenge

CoLab’s website hosting was with AWS, which they were very happy to continue using, even though they wanted to end the engagement with the web agency managing the site. The task ahead seemed daunting but to get the help needed, they approached AWS who recommended they speak to Habitat3 to assist and manage the migration of the website. 

In order to keep the website as functional as possible during the migration, CoLab needed a partner who could not only offer them a quickly deployable solution but also a team, like Habitat3, that could understand (and meet) the requirements of a small business: offering an affordable price point and experts who would work carefully with them to educate and empower them to take charge of their own web environment.  

The main challenges the project presented was that Habitat3 needed to set up the migrated website so that CoLab could be more hands-on in the future within a very short time frame. This was made even more difficult because the Habitat3 team had to create the new web-hosting environment despite having no access to the pre-existing web hosting environment.

Furthermore, to give CoLab more control over their website without risking functionality, it was necessary to set up a staging website. This would enable the CoLab team to complete testing before making the changes live. And all of this needed to be done as quickly as possible to create a website that was consistent with CoLab’s rebrand.

Adam Addario, Marketing Manager at CoLab, has found the capability to use the staging site of huge value to him and the team.

“Having control of our hosting and website enables us to quickly change, add or update the website as we need. The staging site is our saving grace. We can now test new features, products and client feedback, work out bug fixes, and evaluate if the change is the best approach for our needs, prior to going live”.

— Adam Addario, Marketing Manager, CoLab Lighting

The Process

Once Habitat3 had completed their standard free discovery call and fully understood CoLab’s requirements they were able to provide a fixed price proposal to complete the work. 

This included; 

• Creating a new, secure AWS Landing Zone 

• Building a Production Windows Server using IIS to host the website 

• Deploying an internal SQL DB on the production Windows Server 

• Acquiring a full website data backup from original hosting providers 

• Importing the backup of the website and database into IIS 

• Cloning the production Windows Server to create a staging/testing environment 

• Helped point the DNS to the new server IP for Go Live 

Some standout points of this project were;

1. The website was hosted using Windows IIS webserver.

2. The project had a two week turn-around due to the pre-existing webserver being. shut down by the previous web-agency within that time frame and a rebranding exercise.

3. CoLab required Habitat3 to create a duplicate Windows Instance to run the staging/testing version of the website.

4. CoLab did not have any in-house technical resources which typically form the combined project team. 

Outcomes & Benefits

CoLab was able to take advantage of Habitat3’s unique approach of providing a packaged solution which included all the key components of the project (security, data migration, testing, go live) within a quoted fixed price. This ensured there was no scope creep or unknown costs plus all aspects of the project were included to ensure the final outcome met CoLab’s expectations.

Colab can now fully manage their web hosting environment and website and are able to evolve and adapt it in a responsive, secure and efficient way to meet business objectives. 

“We are in control of our website and server, with the ability to choose who and how our website is being maintained and updated, something we’ve lacked in the past. We understand a website with a comprehensive database like our website is a continual evolution and doesn’t stop, it’s just nice to be able to have a choice in the decision-making process.” 

— Adam Addario, Marketing Manager, CoLab Lighting

Habitat3 now manages the AWS cloud infrastructure for CoLab through their managed services offering that includes monitoring & remediation of security and resourcing issues as well as patching the Windows servers plus providing ongoing support as required. 

“Habitat3, who are aware of our lack of understanding with some of these issues, are walking us through them as they appear. We’re glad we have such reliable support.” 

— Adam Addario, Marketing Manager, CoLab Lighting

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