CASE STUDY
The IT Agency applies some innovative thinking to meet MicroBioGen’s highly specialised needs.
It’s a relationship that goes beyond day-to-day IT services and support to provide out-of-the-box solutions to complex technology challenges.
MicroBioGen is a world leader in the development of superior yeast biocatalysts for a wide range of industrial applications. These biotech products can be applied to human food, animal feed, enzymes, protein vectors, probiotics, biochemicals and even space exploration.
Even though it’s a highly specialised operation, MicroBioGen’s yeast biocatalysts can be found in products that make up a market of more than US$1 trillion per year.
As Head of Operations at MicroBioGen, Drew Selwood coordinates operations and directs the implementation of technology solutions throughout the organisation.
At 30 people, MicroBioGen is still too small and specialised to have a dedicated head of IT. Instead, Drew Selwood relies on the knowledge, capabilities, and expertise of IT Agency to deliver managed services and support for the MicroBioGen team and the devices and applications they rely on.
“First and foremost, I’m a scientist”, explains Drew. “The approach we take to technology is driven by the operational needs of our biotech experts in our Research and Development team. So even though I know what technology needs to do to empower these professionals, IT has become too complex for me or our team to handle independently.
“I don’t have the time to maintain up to date knowledge of IT to know what it’s fully capable of. So, for this specialised knowledge and expertise, I rely on Ron, Richard, and the IT Agency team.”
A long-term and collaborative relationship.
Since 2016 the IT Agency has been delivering a secure cloud-enabled environment to MicroBioGen, supported by a Service Desk for Tier-1 support.
The IT Agency also looks after the management of all software licensing and subscriptions, and ensures the smooth onboarding of new people joining the organisation.
A tailored data and cyber security solution ensures the privacy of MicroBioGen’s data and protects the organisation’s intellectual property (IP). Because MicroBioGen is so research and development focused, this is essential.
Applying technology knowledge and expertise to specialised challenges
Where the IT Agency adds unique value to Drew and his team, is in custom projects that sit beyond the day-to-day management of the IT services.
Connecting specialised scientific equipment to mainstream workstations
MicroBioGen runs specialised devices and tools on its PCs that perform specialised tasks. For example, it uses spectrophotometers to measure the absorbance of light by a sample, allowing scientists to quantify the concentration of compounds, such as yeast biomass or metabolites, in a solution.
These instruments and devices have a long lifecycle, often being operational for up to 10 years. However, the PCs they’re connected to might require replacement every 2-3 years. The IT Agency performs an important role in maintaining connectivity and performance of specialised scientific devices like these with MicroBioGen’s more mainstream workstations and desktops.
It’s by connecting these specialised scientific instruments into MicroBioGen’s workplace technology stack, that ensures MicroBioGen can continue to gather and process data from them and use this insight to drive its yeast biocatalyst development.
Cost effective data storage solutions in the Cloud.
Over the past few years, the IT Agency has managed MicroBioGen’s migration to the Cloud. However, some of the DNA sequencing data is too large to be hosted in the public cloud, so the IT Agency has been instrumental in using unique local storage solutions to meet this need.
“In situations like this,” explains Drew Selwood, “the IT Agency will give us the ‘ideal’ option, which may be expensive, along with some more ‘cost-effective’ alternatives. All options will be guaranteed to fulfil our needs, but with the constant need to optimise our IT budgets and do more with less, we rely on Ron and Richard’s out-of-the-box thinking to deliver practical and cost-effective solutions to our challenges.”
“It’s this ability to think outside the box that makes them such an essential part of our IT environment,” explains Drew.
Applying innovative thinking to the cyber security challenge.
With security of unique IP being so important, MicroBioGen needs to ensure its teams are always cyber aware in all their internal and external communications.
To support this, the IT Agency has implemented a ‘usecure’ platform to provide deep web monitoring for MicroBioGen’s employees. It monitors their behaviour in relation to cyber threats and uses this insight to strengthen the team’s preparedness through personalised, behaviour-based training.
“By inserting fake emails into our system, which behave like simulated attacks, IT Agency is able to track who in our team responds or interacts with them,” explains Drew. “The usecure platform then identifies areas of risk and highlights which individuals need further training.”
This individualised feedback enables MicroBioGen to enhance its security framework and identify the appropriate education and awareness programs for employees, ultimately reducing vulnerabilities. The service operates on a per-user license, making it scalable and tailored to the organisation’s needs.
Ensuring the stability and performance of MicroBioGen’s technology.
Even though these custom-built services and solutions solve specific operational challenges for MicroBioGen, Drew Selwood identifies the stability of the IT platform as being the most broad-reaching benefit of engaging with the IT Agency.
“The managed IT environment is being supported by The IT Agency and our people are getting quick responses and resolutions to their tech issues. Ron, Richard, and the team are delivering predictability and stability in our IT environment which is developing a culture of empowerment.
“Also, because IT Agency is able to build custom solutions where specialised instruments are connected to our workstations and laptops, our team is able to get on with important research and development projects confident that their tech is going to do what it needs to do. And if they hit a problem, they have someone on hand to resolve issues quickly.
“Everyone is getting the training they need to manage our data management and cyber security challenges, and the introduction of the automation of tasks is enabling better throughput which leads to more efficient processes in the lab.”
What does the future hold for IT Agency and MicroBioGen.
Looking forward 1-2 years, with MicroBioGen continuing its existing growth trajectory it will be looking to develop a more defined IT services and support role within the organisation to take direct control of the IT environment.
“We’re in conversation now with IT Agency regarding their Co-Location Managed Services, which would give us a dedicated person here on our premises, managing the intricacies of our devices and environment generally,” explains Drew.
“As we grow the business our technology is likely to evolve to become a greater challenge to manage. At this stage we may start using IT Agency’s Virtual CIO or CTO as a Service in addition to a Co-Location Managed Services agreement to give us the strategic direction we need.”
Whether or not MicroBioGen engages IT Agency for a full-time IT support service or a Virtual CTO, the IT Agency remains focused on enhancing MicroBioGen’s operational efficiency, to ensure they enjoy an always on and fully supported technology experience for the team.
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