Thalento assesses top talented professionals using innovative hosting based on Combell Kubernetes Start
What is your personality like? Are your intellectual skills, your language proficiency and your specific knowledge up to standard? What is your main motivation? These are all key questions for employers looking for talented people. Providing highly reputable online assessments, Thalento® is an integral part of the recruitment process at hundreds of large and smaller companies. In this context, Combell ensures both availability and flawless operation, using Kubernetes Start: a future-proof technical platform.
Thalento® launched online assessments in the field of Human Resources in 2010. Ten years later, the company has become a leading global Software-as-a-Service provider serving customers in virtually every time zone. "We operate globally, in more than 50 countries, and in 27 languages, providing a very specific service", stresses CEO and founder Ben Greeven.
Strong content and continuous availability
"More than ten years ago, HR technology was really booming, particularly in the field of payroll administration and process automation. Just think of the management of vacancies, applications, recruitment... Thalento® focuses much more on content, such as personality assessments, language tests, etc. These are specific for each language, but also for each country or region."
"We work at the intersection of ICT and psychology, with carefully developed tests that are fully supported by data. In addition to ten years of experience in developing reliable content, continuous availability is our greatest asset. We have been calling on Combell for this from the very beginning", adds Ben.
Elastic scale and future-proof development
"When you ask a top candidate for an international executive position to take an online test, you really do not want the platform to fail. Because our reputation is at stake here. As is the reliability of the test, because an emotional stress may affect your results. If you suddenly want to have hundreds of your own employees assessed simultaneously for a reorganisation of Proximus's structure or an outplacement at Swissport, the Thalento® platform must be able to cope with this without a hitch. Whether you run 5 or 1,250 tests per hour, everything has to work equally well."
Combell helps make this possible by proactively scaling up the infrastructure. And Kubernetes was recently chosen for this purpose. In 2020, the Thalento® software platform had to undergo a major overhaul. The challenge here was to reconcile the legacy of existing software with today's principles of DevOps, microservices and cloud computing.
"We explored the various opportunities offered by international cloud players such as Amazon Web Services, Google and Azure. Our ICT experts, who are based in Poland, wanted to go down this road. But then, there was also more than ten years of mutual trust with Combell."
"Combell eventually came up with a competitive proposal based on the new Kubernetes Start solution, which would allow us to combine the technological innovation of Kubernetes with the managed services provided by Combell. After all, customers of the 'mega clouds' are merely a number. With Combell, on the other hand, you know you can always get in touch with the right person. That trust has made all the difference for us."
Liesbeth Gysemans: "We have been enormously impressed by the project management involved in the migration process. We did not even waste half an hour."
Tight project schedule and seamless migration
"Combell has been helping us from the start", confirms Liesbeth Gysemans, who supervised the migration as project manager for Thalento®. "Generic public clouds such as AWS or Azure may seem financially attractive, but if things go wrong at some point, you want the right specialists to be there for you 24/7. And Thalento®'s in-house ICT team is not qualified for this. Thanks to Combell, we are able to combine a solid Service Level Agreement with an affordable basic infrastructure that can be scaled up very quickly when necessary."
"We have been enormously impressed by the project management involved in the migration process. Despite the fact that it was a new Combell service, the migration process was very smooth – on time, on schedule and on budget. The decision was taken in mid-April 2020, and the migration took place in May, during the Ascension weekend. The preparations went smoothly, and the level of communication was exemplary. We did not even waste half an hour."
"The switch was flawless. The new environment was ready. We knew exactly when our people had to step in. Combell specialists were on standby at all times. Their staff were thoroughly briefed. They knew everything. That is how things should always be, but in practice it is not a given."
"A few months later, when we came across a bug in a subsystem of Kubernetes, Combell once again demonstrated its expertise and proactive approach. This totally new problem was analysed correctly. Combell came up with its own workaround, which took our needs into account, long before the Kubernetes community was able to provide a solution."
Kubernetes offers a wealth of benefits for software development
By going for this new Kubernetes solution, Thalento® can more easily scale up its infrastructure to handle traffic peaks. Redundant components and Combell's support ensure the impact is kept to a minimum in the event of a technical problem. The Kubernetes Start platform, a streamlined and affordable variant of Managed Kubernetes, also provides a solid foundation for a complete overhaul of Thalento®'s own software.
"We are gradually redesigning our existing software, which is now based on microservices. For new components, we are now using the Symfony PHP framework. This is more straightforward and manageable than our legacy of software we have written ourselves."
"Kubernetes also allows us to use 'release planning'. The deployment of new software components is now standardised and partly automated. This work method leads to fewer human errors, which makes it more secure. Partly thanks to Combell, we have been able to reduce our dependence on legacy software."
“We can combine the technological innovation of Kubernetes with the managed services provided by Combell.”
Would you like to know more about Kubernetes Start? Would you like to evaluate whether this is a sensible choice in your situation? Feel free to make a no obligation appointment with our experts.
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