Website crucial to business

“It is extremely important that potential visitors find good information about the parks of RP Holidays. Our website plays an increasingly important role. In recent years, we have seen a huge increase in the number of visitors. This also applies to bookings that we receive through our website, which has become a key part of our business.” These are the words of Henk Koster, who is responsible for the system and all servers at RP Holidays. “It is a responsible job. If the site is out, or if there are problems, I immediately need to set to work to solve them. Every minute off-the-air costs us money and makes our customers unhappy.”

From a near disaster to calmness

Henk explains that the current situation is stable and easy to control. This has not always been the case, but since the purchase of Zend Platform two years ago, much has changed for the better. “The purchase was an immense relief. I am able to sleep comfortably again. Previously, when we had an emergency, a lot of time was lost in analysing where exactly the problem had occurred. Now that we have Zend Platform, it is immediately clear where the problem is and how it should be fixed. The whole process has become transparent.”

Coping with peak traffic

The original reason for purchasing Zend Platform was not being able to locate problems rapidly. The main reason was scalability: RP Holidays saw a surge in web traffic and wanted to cope better with it by using the existing servers more efficiently. However, it now seems that the other big advantage – spotting problems more quickly – has become at least as important. Henk explains that also the cooperation with Ibuildings has become more efficient. “I always know immediately what the problem is and can ask Ibuildings to start working on solving it immediately.”

Using server capacity more efficiently

Scalability is an important concept at RP Holidays. “Every week we send digital newsletters to thousands of customers. It is essential that all customers receive the newsletter at the same time, so that everyone has an equal chance to benefit from our offers. In order to accommodate for the peak of visitors, just after the newsletter has been sent, we need to prepare for it, as it puts a lot of pressure on our system. Previously, the system was overloaded because of the large amount of visitors, and as a result, some of the features, such as making bookings, were temporarily not working. Zend Platform uses server capacity much more efficiently. We can now achieve a lot more with the same hardware. This means that the system can absorb the peak in the number of visitors much better. This is a great advantage, as it results in more bookings and satisfied customers.”

Ibuildings as part of the team

Because the website and the optimisation of servers are increasingly crucial for the operations of RP Holidays, it is also essential to work with a good third party that can solve problems quickly. The relationship with Ibuildings goes far back. Henk describes: “We have worked together for eight years now. I see Ibuildings not as a supplier but as part of our team. The trust we have now built provides an open platform for collaboration. Ibuildings is ready for us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is exactly what we need.”